279 December 2017 - Gryffe Advertizer

26
Legal Blog
by Isabella McKerrow, Affinity Family Law
the advertizer
The Grounds For Divorce In Scotland
Divorce in Scotland is governed by the Divorce (Scotland) Act 1976 as amended
by the Family Law Scotland Act 2006. There are only two grounds of divorce.
The fi rst ground is “a recognised gender change of either party to the marriage.”
This is established by issuing an interim gender recognition certifi cate under
the Gender Recognition Act 2004. The second and more common ground is
the “irretrievable breakdown of the marriage”. Irretrievable breakdown may be
established if at least one of four specific situations is proved:
1. The defender’s adultery.
2. The defender’s unreasonable behaviour. (Such behaviour by the defender
that the pursuer cannot reasonably be expected to cohabit with them.)
3. Non cohabitation of the parties for a period of a least one year provided the
defender consents to the divorce.
4. Non cohabitation for a period of at least two years. Consent is not required.
It is up to the party raising the divorce proceedings to prove on the balance of
probabilities that at least one of the four situations exist.
In terms of adultery, the proceedings must be based on the defenders adultery.
It is not possible for the pursuer to raise the divorce proceedings averring their
own adultery. The adultery must be since the date of marriage.
If you are separated, but not yet divorced, and start a sexual relationship with
another person (one act of adultery is sufficient) your spouse would have
grounds to raise divorce proceedings on the basis of your adultery.
Divorce can be raised straight away on the basis of adultery or unreasonable
behaviour. With the other two grounds, you either have to wait one year from
the date of separation and require the consent of your spouse or wait two years
from the date of separation, whereby consent is not required.
END POLIO NOW
TIME FOR ROTARY?
Joining a Rotary club like Gryffe Valley appeals to a broad spectrum of
people – after all it’s fun, there’s fellowship and it’s a great opportunity to
put something back into the community.
Some people with busy careers feel that they just don’t have enough free
time to join a Rotary club. This is in fact not usually the case because,
although there are weekly meetings, attendance is purely optional and
involvement in community projects, whilst incredibly valuable, does not
necessarily involve a lot of manhours.
One group of people who can be particularly suited to joining a Rotary
club are those who have just retired or are just coming up to retirement.
After a busy and challenging career, joining Rotary can provide a great
way of building some new friends and colleagues and can provide new
challenges and great satisfaction in pursuing projects to support both our
local community and communities around the world.
It’s very easy to fi nd out if Rotary is for you. Just contact Peter Dickie
(pwdickie@aol.com) and you can come along to few meetings, meet the
members and see how we operate. There’s a nice meal at the River Inn
and most weeks a really interesting speaker on a very wide range of topics.
Why not give it a try and see if it’s time for you to join in!
World Polio Day was on Wednesday 24th October and the Rotary
community in Great Britain and Ireland gathered in London. Rotary had
a day of fun events in Trafalgar Square and at the Olympic Park where
members from right across the Rotary family joined together to mark
the final push to rid the world of polio. This celebration included planting
more than 30,000 crocus corms in the park, and Rotary was be joined by
Purple4Polio Ambassadors Ade Adepitan and Julia Roberts, along with a
host of other guests and Olympic Park volunteers.
There is a lot to celebrate. The Rotary inspired campaign and global
immunisation programme has reduced the incidence of polio dramatically.
The world has never been closer to making history and fulfi lling Rotary’s
goal of a polio-free world with just 11 cases of wild poliovirus worldwide
so far this year in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Since Rotary and its partners
launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative nearly 30 years ago, the
incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about
350,000 cases a year in 125 countries to just 37 cases in three remaining
polio-endemic countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria, in 2016.
To sustain this progress and protect all children from polio, Rotary has
committed to raising US$50 million per year over the next three years
in support of global polio eradication efforts. The Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation will match Rotary’s commitment 2:1 so every £1 becomes
raised £3. Without full funding and political commitment, this paralysing
disease could return to previously polio-free countries, putting children
everywhere at risk.
Locally, Gryffe Valley Rotary had
its Curry Night at Shafiq’s Shimla
Cottage in Bridge of Weir a couple
of nights later – an annual event
to raise funds for the END POLIO
campaign. The £875 raised will
be matched 2 for 1 by the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation to
make a total of £2625!
The club has purchased a further
batch of purple crocus to be planted
Tabi Shafiq presents the Star Raffle Prize.
Address to the Curry by
organiser Alan Watt, haggis
piped in by Ron Aitchison
in Houston by the
Bee Happy group to supplement/
replace those planted last year.
Purple is the colour of the dye
placed on the little fi nger on the left
hand of a child to show they have
been immunised against polio,
hence the name Purple4Polio.
With millions of children to
vaccinate, this makes it easier to
see who has been protected and
who has not.
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