Practice Profile
Gwynfor Evans is a member of both the Chancery Bar Association and the Family Law Bar Association. He specialises in financial remedies (MCA 1973 and CA 1989 Sch 1), trusts of land, proprietary estoppel, probate / inheritance disputes, and presumption of death claims.
He is praised by clients and peers for his strong client-care skills and his expertise across a broad range of property and private client matters, including trusts of land (TLATA), inheritance disputes, contentious probate, financial remedies (on divorce), and presumption of death claims. The first decade of his career has been heavily court-based; Gwynfor is confident and relaxed at trial, and very experienced at cross-examination.
Gwynfor acts for claimants as well as personal representatives / trustees in his contentious chancery work. He also acts for interveners in matrimonial finance disputes.
Gwynfor’s background in IT (particularly database design and programming) enables him to present complex financial matters in a simple way using modern technology. He has a pedantic eye for detail, and an ability to present complicated arguments about e.g. pension sharing or the structuring of Schedule 1 / TLATA claims, in an orderly simple fashion.
Gwynfor is down-to-earth and approachable with clients, whilst being precise, thorough and tenacious with opponents. Gwynfor has a knack for achieving excellent results whilst maintaining a good humour at trial, and finding creative solutions, where appropriate, in negotiated outcomes.
Prior to coming to the Bar, Gwynfor juggled a career as a professional actor / singer with database design and coding. Gwyn's legal training was at City University and BPP in London. He graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge with a first class degree in Social and Political Sciences in 1996, and then from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School with a distinction in acting in 2000.
Gwynfor has many years of experience in the complexities of child maintenance (CMS) disputes, and has litigated these issues in the First Tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber).
Gwynfor is Direct Public Access qualified.
Gwynfor has been published on many occasions in the hard-copy journals Solicitors Journal / Family Law, Family Affairs as well as online for Family Law Week, and Gwynfor won the LexisNexis (Jordan Publishing) Family Law Commentator of the Year award in November 2016 for his writing. Gwyn has also contributed articles and book reviews to Graya and Graya News at Gray's Inn.
Testimonials
Work Undertaken
Family Financial
- Financial remedies (matrimonial finance / financial orders / ancillary relief) including cases involving inherited / ‘non-matrimonial’ property, trusts, non-disclosure and delay
- Same-sex relationship (LGBT) disputes (civil partnership and cohabitee disputes)
- Schedule 1 claims (financial provision for children)
- Financial disputes over child maintenance (CMS / CSA) (Gwynfor has litigated these in the First-Tier Tribunal)
- Intervener (third party) disputes in financial remedy cases.
Property
- Contentious Probate (capacity, undue influence, want of knowledge and approval)
- Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
- Trusts of land (ToLATA claims)
- Orders for sale
- Presumption of Death Act 2013 claims (Gwynfor successfully acted in the first such claim, which was before Pauffley J)
- Powers of attorney – Property and Financial Affairs / Personal Welfare, and other Mental Capacity Act 2005 matters
- Protection from Harassment Act 1997 claims
Appointments & Memberships
Chancery Bar Association; Family Law Bar Association; Master of the Bench (Gray's Inn), STEP (Associate Member)
Notable Cases
Jackson v Brady 2022 EWCA
In February 2022, and instructed on a pro-bono basis for the respondent by Advocate, Gwynfor won in the Court of Appeal in Jackson v Brady 2022 EWCA [TBC]. The appellant sought suspension of a committal order made in judgment summons proceedings in 2021 in the CFC following his failure to pay child and spousal maintenance ordered in financial remedy proceedings. The appeal turned on the use of documents purported to have been produced under compulsion in general family enforcement proceedings, and on the distinction between witness statements and other documents in Mohan v Mohan 2013 EWCA Civ 586. The court was persuaded that it was legitimate for the Judge to have questioned the appellant at first instance on his bank statements, which had been obtained in the other enforcement proceedings. Other points of appeal were unsuccessful (on non-provision of travel expenses, an alleged "ambush" in the lower court and alleged defects in two applications for judgment summons, case-managed effectively at first instance. Gwynfor was delighted to have obtained a costs order for several thousand pounds pursuant to s 194(3) Legal Services Act 2007 for the Access to Justice Foundation which will help other people who are unable to fund legal representation.
FZ v MZ & CZ (Children: Leave to Remove), Central Family Court (HHJ Wright)
S v S (S intervening) (Central Family Court, Jul 2016, before HHJ O'Dwyer)
Successfully secured a settlement for a wife in a financial remedy dispute involving two third parties and significant allegations of non-disclosure, together with arguments as to whether beneficial interests in two properties followed the legal title. Following nearly three days of evidence from the wife and the husband, the intervener sought discharge on terms, paying the wife's costs incurred by the intervention on the indemnity basis. Ultimate settlement achieved by consent on Day 4, on terms in excess of the wife's initial open position.
M v J (High Court, Sep 2016, before Mrs Justice Parker)
Gwyn obtained permission under Part III MFPA 1984 for a husband to bring a financial remedy application in England following a divorce decided in Dubai.
Publications
Recent published articles include: -
1. Who needs a lawyer, anyway? Limited retainers, financial remedies and drafting consent orders http://bit.ly/1PZ2yJy
2. Burns v Burns – elderly testators, mental impairment and the ‘golden rule’ http://bit.ly/1Svcf4S
3. Pension offsetting: a question for the Family Court, or for an actuary? http://bit.ly/1Wpw1Ni
4. Barnes v Phillips [2015] EWCA Civ 1056: Imputation! Imputation! Imputation! http://bit.ly/1R6groi
5. Is there something I should know? Disclosure and non-disclosure in the family court: Part 1 - http://bit.ly/2ghejki
6. Oral agreements and interests in land: a walk in the park! - http://bit.ly/2eGmqqh
7. Needs Must! Family Justice Council provides guidance for financial orders in 'needs' cases - http://bit.ly/2fxx2XK
8. Shares, chairs and automobiles: Montalto v Popat and Others [2016] EWHC 801 (Ch) http://bit.ly/2fFUEae
9. A two-part article in the journal "Family Law" entitled "Oral Agreements to transfer property: A Walk in the Park!" in Dec 2016 and Jan 2017
10. Blessed are the dependants, for they shall inherit the earth (possibly): Ilott v The Blue Cross and Others [2017] UKSC 17 - http://tinyurl.com/yb5bxbaf (March 2017)
11. Duel and Duality: 'Miller-lite' and Sharp (Family Law, December 2017, Vol 47, pages 863 - 868)
12. You're no son (or daughter) of mine! The Inheritance Act - a charter for 'spendthrifts and wastrels'? (Family Law, December 2017, Vol 47, pages 1346 - 1352)
13. Heartache, Hart-break and equal shares. (Family Law, March 2018, Vol 48, 304 - 310)
14. Varying your child maintenance: it can pay dividends! (Family Law Week, June 2018 - https://www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed190413)
15. Book Review - Inheritance Act Claims (Sydney Ross, 4th Edition), (Family Law, August 2018, Vol 48, pages 1080 - 1082
16. The Inheritance Act and Adult Child Claimants (Family Law Week, February 2019 - https://tinyurl.com/y59amnaa)
Seminars
In 2019 Gwynfor lectured on Vulnerable Gifts from Vulnerable people at the STEP Guernsey conference in St Peter Port in Guernsey in June 2019. He also lectured on spousal maintenance (specifically the Court of Appeal decision in Waggott v Waggott [2018] EWCA Civ 2017) for the White Paper conference in June 2019, and on Formalities for Simon Gore Events in Spring 2020.
Additional
Gwyn attained merit in the STEP Advanced Certificate in Will-writing exam in 2020. Gwyn chaired the Gray's Inn Barristers' Committee in 2021 before being elected Bencher of Gray's Inn at the end of 2021 and has organised several LGBT+ events at Gray's Inn. As well as litigating, Gwynfor enjoys hiking, cycling, song-writing, singing (esp at Gray’s Inn Miscellany), synthesizers, plumbing, Greenbelt festival and fixing domestic appliances.