Frances Gibb comments:
All’s fair in love — and divorce. Or is it?
It may surprise those unfamiliar with acrimonious divorce battles that courts condone a degree of DIY detective work.
If someone suspects a spouse is lying about his or her financial affairs, courts will approve the secret rummaging through of papers to find evidence. This long-held principle in divorce battles, that spouses may resort to undercover methods, stems from a case called Hildebrand, in which a crate-load of illicitly obtained documents was used in a financial case by a man against his wife.
The question is when such behaviour crosses the legal line and whether family courts are sanctioning illicit activities that in the civil courts next door could see lawyers and their clients on the wrong side of a claim.
Read more in The Times.
Related: Marco Pierre White challenge could change divorce battles for ever, also in The Times.