Posts
Media coverage of family courts and domestic abuse – fake news?
(Please note that this post was edited on 9 November 2020 to remove some inaccurate material) There are many legitimate criticisms of the way in which family courts have dealt with domestic abuse. They are well documented in the Harm Report (see our posts here and...
Headlines from the latest Cafcass open Board Meeting
The Transparency Project get regular invitations as stakeholders to the two board meetings Cafcass (England) try to hold in public every year to promote transparency, engagement and trust. There’s been a gap because of Covid but we attended (virtually) the latest...
Appealing an arbitration award
This is a guest post from Deborah Dinan-Hayward. Deborah is a family barrister at Albion Chambers, Bristol. The question the court had to decide recently was what was the test to be applied by the court in those cases where the parties had agreed to arbitration, but...
Challenging adoption – two recent cases
In this post, I am going to explain two recent decisions by the Court of Appeal about adoption. These are Re Y – which is about leave to oppose (I will explain), and Re JL which is about leave to revoke a placement order (I really will explain). These decisions are...
Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup
Welcome to this month's 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 Byline Times and the...
FS v RS and JS – A Most Unusual Case about the bank of mum and dad…
This is a guest post by Jessica Smith, a newly qualified solicitor hoping to specialise in family law. Described as “a most unusual case”, the Family Court at the Royal Courts of Justice recently dismissed a forty-one-year-old son’s claim that the “bank of mum and...
Re B: Judgment or Press Release?
This is a guest post from an anonymous lawyer. On 25 September 2020, HHJ Wildblood QC released a judgment in Re B (a child) (unnecessary private law applications). The judgment is only nine paragraphs long, and the full version can be read here. The judgment has...
‘Eastenders’ and domestic abuse
‘Eastenders’ and domestic abuse This is a post by Yanoulla Kakoulli. Yanoulla is an experienced family law solicitor practising at Pinney Talfourd LLP, which has a tier 1 Legal 500 family team. She has also volunteered as a family law advisor for...
Re A, B & C (Children: Adoption) – trust and honesty
This is a post by Priyanka Patel. Priyanka is a commercial lawyer with an interest in family law, particularly child law. In the recent case of Re A, B & C (Children: Adoption) [2020] EWHC 2335 (Fam), the court made placement orders for the adoption of...
The Prodigal Son in Modern Life
This post originally appeared on Medium and is republished with thanks. It's an explanation of, and commentary about, the recent family court judgment from the former President, Sir James Munby, in FS v RS and JS [2020]. In 1984, the now-defunct Trustee Savings Bank...