Posts
Remote Hearings in the Family of Courts of England and Wales: what the research shows
This is guest post by Eve French. Eve has just completed her Law Conversion course at BPP University and is currently working as a paralegal at Simpson Millar Solicitors LLP. Following a mini-pupillage, Eve was asked by 4PB to write a paper on the impact of the...
“Did everyone see that? Because I will not be doing it again.” – Jack Sparrow
So what about that Johnny Depp case then? All right, it’s a libel trial, and it involves celebs, and it's nothing to do with the Family Court – but there are some interesting similarities between how family courts treat domestic abuse and how it was dealt with in the...
Lockdown 2 and contact – what are the rules?
This is a short post to set out the impact that the Regulations coming into force at midnight at the start of Lockdown 2 will have on contact between parents and child. The regulations and this post apply to England only. General During lockdown 2 it will be unlawful...
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...