Posts
Family Courts scrutinised by the press – but what do we think of the reporting so far?
Nobody who has ever read a newspaper or visited twitter would be expecting new media coverage of the family court, made possible by the ‘reporting pilot’, to be in glowing terms. However, the pilot isn’t a PR exercise, and for transparency to mean anything, we have to...
Royal wills: unsealing the mystery
In a series of earlier posts we have discussed the transparency, or lack of it, in the way the courts deal with wills left by deceased members of the Royal Family. In the case of the late Queen Elizabeth II, her will was not even required to be proved by a grant of...
For her own good – a family court judge authorises the deprivation of a young person’s liberty
Last week at a hearing in Cardiff, His Honour Judge Furness KC made orders authorising measures which amounted to a deprivation of the liberty (DoL) of a teenage girl. I observed the hearing under the new Reporting Pilot that is operating in that court. As noted by...
Whatever happened to the ‘review of the presumption of parental involvement’?
In response to the Harm Report published back in June 2020, the government announced an urgent review of the legal presumption that continuing involvement with both parents is in a child's welfare (introduced and added to the Children Act 1989 in 2014). This...
From our Cardiff Correspondent…
Yesterday I spent the day at Cardiff Family Court. I attended as a legal blogger, making use of the new Reporting Pilot which launched on Monday (having been unable to attend earlier in the week). I observed two hearings, and I will be able to write a bit about those...
The importance of free and unconditional consent of the surrogate in parental order cases
This is a guest post by Lottie Park-Morton, Senior Lecturer in Law at University of Gloucestershire, who is currently undertaking a PhD on surrogacy and children’s rights. Lottie tweets as @cparkmorton The recent case of Re C (Surrogacy: Consent) [2023] EWCA Civ 16...
Family Law Breakfast
For too long, transparency in the family courts had been put in the “too-difficult box”, but with the forthcoming court reporting pilot it was to be hoped that the right balance could be struck between confidence and confidentiality. So said Sir Andrew McFarlane...
New Guidance note – What to do if a reporter attends your hearing
As the Transparency Reporting Pilot is about to launch, we thought it would be helpful if we gathered together some helpful tips for those who may be about to encounter journalists and legal bloggers in their courtrooms for the first time. Tip number one : Don't...
Observations on a case about suspected fabricated illness under the new reporting pilot
The winds of change are perhaps already blowing, with at least one family court case already operating under the open justice pilot due to start from 30 January for most children cases in Leeds, Cardiff and Carlisle. What can be reported of this case, at this stage,...
Parenting at a distance – a correct use of section 20
Use of section 20 Children Act 1989 for the voluntary accommodation of children has long been subject to controversy. Critcisms of practice have ranged from alleged coercion of parents into agreeing and lack of fully informed consent, through to allowing children to...