Posts
‘Agony of fighting for my child in the courts… by a family lawyer: In a candid account, a lawyer reveals how – when she found herself in her clients’ shoes – it almost destroyed her’
Earlier this week, the Daily Mail published a story with the headline above, written by Michelle Goodman, a mother who had been in dispute with her child’s father about contact arrangements. (Michelle Goodman is not the author’s real name). We quickly recognised...
Apostasy, co-parenting and parens patriae: A round-up of recent UK/Middle East cases
This is a guest post by Laura Vickers. Laura is a specialist children law barrister and mediator practising at No5 Barristers’ Chambers. She tweets as @LauraVickersNo5 Sometimes, English courts need to deal with families living overseas. They gain the...
No winners here: financial remedy, conduct and terminal illness: JB v MB
Her Honour Judge Vincent is known for publishing her judgments. Whether they relate to children disputes, child protection and care proceedings or – as here in JB v MB [2020] EWFC B69 – financial provision on divorce, they are always clearly written and easy to...
Re I-A: use of the inherent jurisdiction to try to set aside adoption orders
In June this year, the Court of Appeal heard an application by a mother that the court use its powers under the inherent jurisdiction to set aside adoption orders made in April 2020, in respect of three children. The judgment in this case has now been published as Re...
What does AA v BB tell us about the treatment of domestic abuse since Re H-N?
What does AA v BB tell us about the treatment of domestic abuse since Re H-N? Since the Court of Appeal judgment in Re H-N [2021] EWCA Civ 448 which was handed down earlier this year, we’re starting to see more and more published cases concerning domestic abuse in...
Setting aside a financial remedy consent order in Covid pandemic times: HW & WW(2021) EWFC B20
This is post by Elizabeth Wark. Elizabeth is a barrister at Three Doctor Johnson's Buildings specialising in civil and family law. She tweets as @ElizabethWark7 The Covid pandemic has profoundly affected lives and livelihoods. This blog explains a family court...
The Future of Legal Aid or the Future of Family Law?
This is a guest post by Dr Jess Mant, Lecturer in Law at Cardiff University School of Law and Politics. Jess has been researching the impact of LASPO on domestic abuse cases in family courts for the last ten years. Her evidence to this recent parliamentary inquiry can...
Family arbitration : It’s arbitration, but not as we know it.
This is a guest post from Rhys Taylor, The 36 Group. Barrister, Arbitrator, Mediator. Rhys tweets as @RhysTaylor32 and is co-editor of www.familyarbitrator.com. A plea to stay with me I will admit that if I were not a family lawyer, I probably would not be bothered...
Minister for Justice thanks The Transparency Project
Recently, we noticed there had been a Parliamentary Question about family courts on 7 June, from Robert Halfon MP, as follows: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve transparency in the Family Court process....
If you don’t like the rules, change ’em
In 2017 we asked the Family Procedure Rule Committee to consider temporarily amending the Family Procedure Rules by way of a temporary pilot scheme to test out allowing 'legal bloggers' into family court hearings, alongside journalists (they have been allowed to...