Posts
Who’s the Daddy? When the right to know who your parent is, is a human right
This is a guest post by Georgia Fineberg about the case of X v Y [2022] EWFC 77 (07 July 2022). Georgia is a future pupil barrister who has worked for nine years in the women’s voluntary sector, primarily supporting survivors of domestic abuse and the LGBTQI+...
Transparently clunky – Mostyn J and transparency orders before the Court of Protection
This is a guest post by Alex Ruck Keene, reposted with permission from the Mental Capacity Law and Policy blog. In Re EM [2022] EWCOP 31, Mostyn J expressed a number of concerns about the transparency order made in the case before him by Keehan J, in ‘broadly...
‘Parental alienation experts’
There's been a lot in the media recently about individual people who are appointed in the family courts to give a professional opinion on relationships where there's suspected alienation by mothers. This process happens by way of agreeing and commissioning a report by...
Update on the Archie Battersbee case
We have previously written about the Archie Battersbee litigation here and here. This post highlights the latest developments including recent litigation and court applications. As a quick reminder, the case concerns a 12-year-old boy who sustained catastrophic...
Guardian loses appeal over “secret” hearing about Prince Philip’s will
Last year, the High Court made the decision that the late Prince Philip’s will should be “sealed up” for a period of 90 years, preventing anyone finding out who he had left his estate to. The decision was made by the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew...
FAMILY COURT REPORTING WATCH ROUNDUP
Welcome to the Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family court cases, explain and comment on published family court judgments and highlight other transparency news MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY COURT MATTERS Linktastic BBC News - BBC...
Transparency Implementation Group – what’s actually happening?
We're increasingly aware of a mistaken impression held by some people interested in family justice transparency that we (The Transparency Project - a charity) are the same thing as the TIG - Transparency Implementation Group (a group set up by the President of the...
Archie Battersbee – best interests assessment in the High Court
The Archie Battersbee litigation has featured a series of different applications. The first, back in April 2022, resulted in a decision that it was lawful for clinicians to undertake brain stem testing, despite the parent’s objections. The brain stem testing could not...
News from the 8th open FJC meeting: getting the covert recording guidance done
I registered for the latest Family Justice Council open meeting to find out what was going on, and to ask about the long-promised guidance on covert recording. The covert recording guidance turned out to be on the agenda. But the meeting was generally...
Defamation and domestic abuse – an update
The judgment in Lee v Brown [2022] 1699 EWHC (QB) has now been published on TNA. We wrote about the case after I attended one day of a hearing on 20 June. This update isn’t going to go into detail on defamation law but will, I hope, explain further why I...