‘Paedophiles to be stripped of parental rights’? and other failed legislative amendments

by Julie Doughty | Apr 26, 2024 | Comment, FCReportingWatch

UPDATE 13 May 2024 – see below at end of point 1.** A few days ago, there were a number of amendments to legislation going through Parliament that  tried to address widespread concerns and (if they were passed) would have had significant impact on family...

Open Letter to the LCJ: HMCTS guidance on public access to courts

by Guest Post | Feb 29, 2024 | Comment, Transparency News

Dear Lady Chief Justice, We write on behalf of the Courts and Tribunals Observers’ Network, a UK-based initiative focused on how the public can be supported to observe courts and access court information in digital and physical environments, to express our concerns...

The MoJ review of the presumption of parental involvement

by reporting watch team | Feb 11, 2024 | Comment, FCReportingWatch, FOI

We have now had a reply from the Ministry of Justice to our second annual request under the Freedom of Information Act about the ‘urgent’ (2020) review of the presumption of parental involvement. Details are explained in this post. In short, we have been trying to...

Maintenance for a disabled adult child: a case of legal blogging

by Polly Morgan | Feb 6, 2024 | Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging

Between August 2022 and June 2023, I observed, online, a number of hearings in a single case heard by His Honour Judge Shelton who is a judge in the family court in Leeds. The case was about the amount of money that the father/ex husband (James) should pay towards his...

Hair strand testing – pitfalls and limitations

by reporting watch team | Jan 24, 2024 | Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

This is a guest post by Lucy Taylor. Lucy is a pupil barrister at Coram Chambers. When it is disputed whether a person uses drugs, the family court can – and often does – order hair strand testing to determine the issue. This article draws upon the work of...

What is a rubric and why does it matter?

by reporting watch team | Jan 11, 2024 | Comment, FCReportingWatch

We’re posting a link to this new article by Sir James Munby, retired President of the Family Division, which has been published by the Financial Remedies Journal here – The Use and Misuse of the Rubric in the Family Courts The article isn’t just...