Beware - Adultery abroad is not necessarily an option!

Helen Habershon on adultery in Dubai!

A British woman was recently jailed for adultery in Dubai, a month after her husband told police in the emirate that she was having an affair.

Both the woman, and her lover were sentenced to two months in prison in Dubai. The woman’s husband, had attempted to withdraw his complaint about her adultery following her arrest but was told it was too late!

He has visited her in jail and their relationship has remained amicable. The couple were not estranged, neither were divorce proceedings afoot, but clearly the relationship she was having with her lover in Dubai was destroying their marriage.

The woman and her lover were ordered by the court in Dubai to be deported after being freed. As with criminal convictions in England, they will undoubtedly have served much less than the two months for which they were sentenced. Even so, be careful of the pitfuls of entering into relationships abroad where the laws may be different to those here.

Forced to work part-time? It just might be discrimination.

According to the Office for National Statistics, close to a million people have taken part-time jobs because they cannot find full-time work. The figure is a third higher than a year ago and is the highest since 1992 when they started keeping records.

According to the TUC this represents a huge number of people not showing up in unemployment figures and whilst these workers do at least have a job it fails to demonstrate the severe economic problems many of them are inevitably facing. Many workers have also had to continue in the same job they once held full time although for much lower wages.

Quite a number of firms are asking staff to reduce their hours, and of course salary, as the recession continues. For instance British Airways has asked many of its staff to work part-time or take unpaid leave.

Although things are improving in certain sectors of business and industry there are still many people who have received a raw deal from unscrupulous employers during this recession and who have possibly been discriminated against in one way or another. If you think you are such a person, contact June Hood to see if she can help you.

Pre- nuptial Agreements, are they legal?

Helen Habershon, Family Law specialists writes....

The heiress, Katrin Racmacher made history recently when a court backed her prenuptial agreement with husband of 10 years, Nicolas Granatino. On 2 July, three judges from the Court of Appeal ruled in a test case that one of Europe’s richest women should not have to pay millions to her former husband because of a contract they signed together before their wedding day.

When the couple separated in 2006, Katrin assumed her husband would stick to the terms of a deal signed before their 1998 marriage, in which they both agreed to waive their rights to claims against each other’s wealth in the case of divorce. Not so, in fact, last year, he won a £5.56 million share of her fortune in the High court in London. Last week, the ruling was overturned and her husband’s share was slashed to £700,000 plus housing and maintenance.

This case has effectively established a change in the law on prenuptial agreements, without the need for parliament to pass legislation. The court of appeal judges on hearing the case said that the courts should now take account of premarital deals on splitting a couples assets.