Posts
State of the Union: Scotland, England, and the Villiers divorce case
On 9 and 10 December 2019, the Supreme Court - Lady Hale, Lord Kerr, Lord Wilson, Lady Black, Lord Sales – heard an appeal between Charles Villiers (‘a relative of the Duchess of Cornwall’: The Times) and his wife Emma Villiers (‘the sort of person who had 11...
When verdicts and findings collide
Last week Mr Justice Baker (now Lord Justice Baker) published three judgments from care proceedings, naming the parents of a child known as Q. Q had suffered a range of injuries, including rib fractures and head injuries, and those injuries had been inflicted by one...
Judge believes blameless parents and sends baby home
His Honour Judge Dancey has published a judgment in which he explains why he has decided that social services have failed to prove that either parent caused a skull fracture sustained by their baby, with the result that the baby is going home. The judge decided that...
‘Do Separating Parents Need the Family Court?’ – the annual Family Justice Council debate
Update 1st October 2020 - The transcript and podcast are now available at the FJC website here: https://www.judiciary.uk/related-offices-and-bodies/advisory-bodies/fjc/conference-debates/debates/ Transparency Project members have attended the annual debates arranged...
Court of Appeal gives guidance on Secure Accommodation Orders
A Local Authority v B’s mother; B’s father; B’s stepfather; and B (through her Cafcass guardian); the Association of Lawyers for Children (intervening) [2019] EWCA Civ 2025 The local authority was applying for a secure accommodation order in respect of B (aged 15). B...
How does the family court treat domestic abuse: A ‘snapshot’ continued: Part 8
This is a post from Sophie Smith-Holland, who tweets as @SSmithHolland. The question of how the family court deals with domestic abuse has had a huge amount of public and media attention recently. Concerns have been raised that the system is placing children...
How does the family court treat domestic abuse?: A snapshot (continued – Part 7)
This is a post from Sophie Smith-Holland, who tweets as @SSmithHolland. The question of how the family court deals with domestic abuse has had a huge amount of public and media attention recently. Concerns have been raised that the system is placing children...
Orphans from Syria
Mr Justice Keehan has this week published an extraordinary judgment of a mere 17 staccato paragraphs. It is called Re Orphans From Syria [2019] EWHC 3202 (Fam). It begins : This matter concerns British citizens who were in Syria who are orphans. I made a...
The President’s New Clothes
This week has seen reports in the legal press of a speech in which the President of the Family Division set out an idea for a research project about news reports containing accounts of how family courts have handled domestic abuse claims. See for example : Press...
Byline Festival
This blog post originally appeared as our monthly column for November 2019 in Family law at Family Law [2019] Fam Law 1334. During the summer vacation, the Transparency Project took its message to the people. We organised two events at the Byline Festival in East...