by Julie Doughty | Aug 12, 2026 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging
In Part One of this report, I described the court hearings in Cardiff Family Court that led to HHJ Paul Hopkins KC producing a 188 page fact-finding judgment of more than 700 paragraphs. The judge concluded that most of the allegations that the father, (who I’m...
by reporting watch team | Aug 4, 2026 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Transparency News
Welcome to the Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family law, explain and comment on published family court judgments, and highlight other transparency news. MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY LAW, TRANSPARENCY etc The Law Society Gazette...
by Julie Doughty | Aug 4, 2026 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging
During the Covid lockdown in 2020, a father of three young children experienced a mental health breakdown that led to the police being called and his being sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983 and hospitalised for two weeks. He’d separated from his wife a few...
by Lucy R | Jul 19, 2026 | Cases, Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Open Reporting
A much delayed legal blogpost – an explanation In October 2024 I visited the Central Family Court in London. My objective was to observe a hearing before the magistrates. At the time, the Reporting Pilot was in operation and there had been almost no reporting of...
by Alice T | Jul 8, 2026 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging
I went to Brighton Family Court in April 2026, as a legal blogger for a public legal education charity. I observed the Pre-Hearing Review (PHR) of a mother’s 2024 application to vary a contact order made in 2022. This was the fourth set of proceedings between the...
by Julie Doughty | Jun 24, 2026 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging
Last month I attended an online hearing in Slough Family Court where the issue for the judge was whether the English court still had jurisdiction regarding a mother’s application, or whether family court proceedings should instead take place in Poland, where her son...
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