08 February 2019 - Article
Michael Gouriet
Partner | London
Michael is a partner in the divorce and family team.
Michael advises on all aspects of family law (including prenuptial agreements) with particular emphasis on the resolution of financial issues for wealthy individuals, whether married or unmarried and often with international interests. Michael has acted in numerous divorce cases involving trusts and businesses. Michael also has extensive experience of children law matters, including international relocation.
Michael’s breadth of work involves close liaison with many other specialist practice areas at Withers including the contentious trusts and estates team and the wealth planning teams in London, US, Switzerland and Asia.
Clients include city professionals, entrepreneurs and business people, owners of landed estates, sports and music stars, politicians, and their spouses/partners.
Michael is a certified family law arbitrator, and a trained collaborative lawyer. He has been a member of Resolution’s Cohabitation Committee since its inception in 1995.
Michael has for several years been listed as a leading family lawyer in the legal directories (including Chambers & Partners, Legal 500, Spears, and Citywealth) in which he has variously been described in recent years as ‘a real class act’; ‘measured, sensible and knows his law’; ‘highly intelligent, very efficient and a pleasure to deal with - a really strong practitioner’; ‘is just excellent and often sought after by high net worth individuals’; and a ‘first-class lawyer’.
Track record
Admissions
Publications
Memberships
Talks
D v D [2015] - a case involving allegations of non-disclosure, and sharing of future income from offshore contracts entered into during marriage.
Tchenguiz-Imerman v Imerman [CA 2010], which changed the law on disclosure and confidentiality of documents between spouses in divorce proceedings.
Two further reported decisions of Tchenguiz-Imerman v Imerman [2013] relating to the joinder of trust beneficiaries to financial proceedings on divorce and consequential disclosure.
England and Wales, 1995
‘Tax Planning for Farm and Land Diversification’, LexisNexis, divorce chapter
‘Resolution handbook on cohabitation law’, contributor
Family law piece, FT Weekend Magazine - November 2010
International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL) - current treasurer of the European chapter
Chartered Institute of Arbitration
Resolution
Collaborative Family Law
Resolution National Conference, Newcastle, April 2016 – panellist on ‘Cohabitation Compared and Contrasted in England and Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland’
IBC Conference on International Cross Border Estate Planning for Divorce, London, January 2016 – speaking on ‘Third Party Rights: How Does the Divorce Court Deal With Them’
STEP (in partnership with IAML) conference in London, December 2014 on the Family Business and Family Law – speaking on trusts and divorce
Me in a minute
Family law requires a broad spectrum of skill sets
Education
Languages
- English