Posts
Completing care proceedings in less than 26 weeks
I went to Cardiff Family Court as a legal blogger in two care cases this week. Reporting on them might give an inkling into how the most recent ‘refocus’ on the Public Law Outline (PLO) 26 weeks time limit is working out in the real world. We wrote about the refocus...
Abbasi – the Supreme Court finally hands down judgment on appeal about injunctions made to protect the identity of hospital staff providing end of life care
A significant judgment about transparency was handed down by the Supreme Court this week - Abbasi and another v Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2025] UKSC 15. The case of Abbasi has been very long running, as has the case of Haastrup that has...
Exhumation where father’s coercive control undermined decision on place of burial
This is a guest post by Frank Cranmer, reposted from the Law & Religion UK blog, about a matter of ecclesiastical law which overlaps with family law. It concerns the grant of a faculty, which is an order granted by the Consistory Court for a particular Church of...
The Intermediaries Appeal – what does it tell us?
An appeal judgment has just landed in our inboxes on the correct approach to the use of intermediaries in care proceedings: Re M (A Child: Intermediaries) [2025] EWCA Civ 440. We wrote a post a couple of weeks ago when we became aware that this appeal was in the...
Transparency Orders – but can a parent tell their own story?
Since January the transparency order is 'a thing', in that courts will usually make one in every case where a reporter attends a hearing. Such orders allow the anonymised reporting of a hearing or a case by the media. But what about the parents? Does it allow them to...
SECTION 12 – YET MORE CONFUSION
This is a guest post by Sir James Munby, former President of the Family Division. On 2 April 2025 Harris J handed down her reserved judgment in M v F and C [2025] EWHC 801 (Fam). The case had first come to public attention when the hearing on 20 February 2025 was...
Transparency Orders – tool or straight jacket?
[Update 19 Apr 2025: In light of the judgment in Abbasi delivered by the Supreme Court this week, we've slightly adjusted the wording in a couple of places (shown in italics and square brackets)]. In a recent interesting judgment hiding behind the nondescript title of...
Evaluation of the Pathfinder Pilot in Private Law – published
This announcement appeared quietly on the Ministry of Justice website on 25 March - Private Law Pathfinder Pilot: process evaluation and financial analysis This report provides the findings of the process evaluation and exploratory financial analysis of the...
Are young people losing their freedom because of Deprivation of Liberty Orders?
This is a guest post by Victoria Butler Cole KC. Victoria is a barrister at 39 Essex and you can find her on Bluesky @torbc.bsky.social. The BBC recently published an article about the experiences of a young woman who had spent time in a range of placements including...
Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup: February-March 2025
Welcome to the Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family law, explain and comment on published family court judgments, and highlight other transparency news. MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY LAW, TRANSPARENCY etc The BBC reported on The...