An update on the family courts from ‘top judge’

by reporting watch team | Aug 22, 2024 | Comment, FCReportingWatch

An end-of-term report was published by Sir Andrew McFarlane, the President of the Family Division, on 31 July. It covered myriad topics, so here’s a summary, with a few observations added. We should clarify that this is not the Family Court Annual Report (still...

Domestic abuse and the Financial Remedies Court

by Guest Post | Aug 8, 2024 | Analysis, Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch, Trends

This is a guest post from Femi Ogunlende. Femi is a barrister at No5 Chambers. This post discusses the current approach to domestic abuse in financial remedy proceedings. For those short on time and unable to read the post in full, the key conclusions you need to be...

Final divorce orders – a ‘particular category’

by Guest Post | Aug 8, 2024 | Cases, Comment, Explanation, Notorious

In this guest post, barrister Elizabeth Wark explains what happened when a solicitor accidentally applied online for a divorce for the wrong client, and why that couldn’t be fixed by the court. The facts In the recent case of Williams v. Williams [2024] EWHC 733...

Legal blogging from the magistrates – ‘live with’ and ‘spend time with’ orders

by Julie Doughty | Jul 4, 2024 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Reporting Pilot

I’m taking up this report from Lucy’s of 5 May. This is our first successful legal blogging from a hearing before magistrates in the family court – which the mainstream media appear to be ignoring. Magistrates hear the less complicated cases which are unlikely to...

A complex step-parent adoption hearing

by Julie Doughty | Jun 13, 2024 | Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging

As we wrote about here, the Government announced in April: ‘Child rapists to automatically have parental responsibility stripped: Vile abusers who rape a child will have their own parental responsibilities automatically removed under new laws.’ However, this...

Written Advocacy – who is it for?

by Guest Post | May 30, 2024 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch, Trends

This post is a guest post by Anna Yarde. Anna is a children barrister at Harcourt Chambers. This commentary is intended for lawyers to read and for lay parties to benefit from. A Guide for Lawyers – Improving Transparency in the Family Court Written Advocacy –...