Ben Birtchnell

Ben practises across both of Chambers' main areas of work, namely Civil and Family Law.

In Civil he has particular experience of contractual disputes and negligence actions, insolvency, landlord and tenant and real property matters. He has also gained exposure to probate and inheritance claims.

In Family he is instructed in matrimonial finance and Schedule 1 Children Act applications, and public and private child law cases.

An incisive and tenacious advocate, Ben is able to keep channels open for negotiation as the case requires and has a calm demeanour that is reassuring to clients.

ben1_350

2009 Lincoln’s Inn

MA (Oxon)

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Degree/University
MA (Oxon)

Memberships
Denning Society
Bar Pro Bono Unit
Family Law Bar Association
Free Representation Unit
Scholarships/awards/prizes
Cholmeley Scholarship
Wigglesworth Scholarship
Sir Louis Gluckstein Advocacy Competition Finalist
Areas of Practice
Civil
Contract
Consumer Credit
Co-ownership of Property
Insolvency
Landlord & Tenant
Mental Capacity Act 2005
Negligence
Nuisance
Probate & Inheritance
Real Property
Social Security
Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA)
Family
Adoption
Ancillary Relief
Child Abduction
Children Act 1989: Schedule 1
Civil Partnerships
Court of Protection
Divorce
Domestic Violence Injunctions
Public Child Law: Care Proceedings
Private Child Law: Contact & Residence
Special Guardianship
Validity of Marriage
Languages spoken

Conversational French and Italian
Outside Interests
Design, Cinema, Travel and Tennis
 

An Englishman abroad

Mark Jones explores the tricky issue of domicile of origin over domicile of choice in Morris v Davies

 

The recent decision of the High Court in the case of Morris v Davies [2011] EWHC 1773 (Ch) emphasised the tenacious nature of a person's domicile of origin and the intensely fact-based approach to considering assertions of substitution of the same by an alternative domicile of choice.

The dispute arose from the administration of the estate of the late Owen Davies, who was born in England on 1 November 1963 and who died unexpectedly of a heart attack in Paris on the 26 November 2008, aged just 45. What happened thereafter informed much of the considerable antipathy in the case and the media interest at the time of the trial, where those close to the deceased agreed to and did conceal the fact of his death and his funeral from his family, with such a degree of success that for several months after both events they remained in complete ignorance.

 

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The Dowry in law

"The Dowry in law" by Miss Suki K Johal,

Barrister at 3 Dr Johnson's Building. Temple. London

In recent years there has been a proliferation of cases in the English courts on the issue of Indian dowries particularly in areas of high Asian population. The Oxford English Dictionary broadly defines dowry as encompassing 'money or property the wife brings with her to the husband's home; the portion given with the wife; a present or gift given by a man to or for his bride'. The Chambers English Dictionary provides 'the property which a woman brings to her husband at marriage; sometimes a gift given to or for a wife at marriage'. These definitions provide that dowry has two constituents- the giving of property to the bride from parents and kin and the giving of jewellery from the in-laws.

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