Posts
Meal tickets for life?
This post was written by our new contributor Polly Morgan. An article in The Times on 23 May 2017 headlined ‘Former wives give up chasing “meal ticket for life” in divorce’ (behind paywall) refers to falling numbers of spousal maintenance orders. The newspaper reports...
Seriously inaccurate reporting by omission of facts
[UPDATE 25 May 2017: Further blog post on this case here : Judge flags complaint on behalf of child against journalist who sneaked into hospital] We posted a short blog yesterday noting that The (Sunday) Telegraph's Christopher Booker had reported on a case involving...
‘Father begs judges to reveal details of his decade-long family court battle with his ex over access to their child’
The Daily Mail today republished a story (under the headline above) about a man in Norwich, that appeared in the Eastern Daily Press yesterday. The original piece is credited to Jessica Long but the Mail version is by the Press Association. The story refers rather...
A gifted child in a psychiatric unit – should we be worried about this case?
Christopher Booker's Sunday column this week features a teenage boy who is apparently detained in a hospital against the wishes of his family and himself. See A gifted child in a psychiatric unit is madness (premium content, scroll down once logged in). The case he...
Decision to place a child with prospective adopters is unlawful because unfair
R (On the Application Of EL) v Essex County Council [2017] EWHC 1041 (Admin) (08 May 2017) is a judicial review decision about a decision by a local authority to place a child for adoption, under a placement order granted by the Family Court. Because this is a...
Separating the divorce from the money bit
When married couples and civil partners separate there are two (or three) parts to the legal arrangements : getting divorced (called dissolution if you are in a civil partnership), sorting out the money, and sorting out arrangements for any children. The way the law...
Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup
Correcting, clarifying or commenting on media reports of family court cases Explaining or commenting on published Judgments of family court cases Highlighting other transparency news MEDIA (MIS)REPORTS OF FAMILY COURTS CASES As yet unclear Police...
Police investigating drug testing lab that carried out tests for the Family Court
There have been news reports recently about failures at a forensic lab in Manchester, which was used for forensic testing in criminal cases. It was reported earlier this month that "Scores of convictions [are] in doubt amid forensic test manipulation claims". Those...
“Top Judge threatens to down tools rather than allow victims to be quizzed by abusers in his court”
...Or so we imagine the headlines may run if and when a member of the press reads as far as the bottom few paragraphs of the unassuming A (A Minor : Fact Finding; Unrepresented Party) [2017] EWHC 1195 (Fam) (19 May 2017), a recent judgment of Mr Justice Anthony...
Poppi’s dad to rake in money?
POPPI'S DAD'S CASH Accused dad of ‘abused’ tot Poppi Worthington to trouser thousands more in legal aid for inquest Paul Worthington, 49, got £117,000 in public cash for a custody battle over his other kids and is now set to rake in more Above is the headline...