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...

Transcript reveals what one judge really thinks of transparency

by Lucy R | Nov 30, 2023 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Notorious, Reporting Pilot, Transparency News

I begin this post by saying frankly that the transcript I have just read is shocking. If I had been told what was in it, I would not have believed it. Not so much the individual errors, but the combination of so many things gone wrong in one single transcript. Before...

When a judge prefers his own biases to the law, all is lost

by Louise Tickle | Nov 30, 2023 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch, Notorious, Reporting Pilot, Transparency News

“If you want to know my view on the transparency project, it is not supportive. I have always felt these cases are deeply private, and my judgments are there really for the parents, to help them, to help the families, they are not for public consumption or to allow...