by reporting watch team | Sep 7, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch
We spotted this dramatic court judgment published last week although, surprisingly, we’ve not seen any media coverage – Re M (Nationality Based Jurisdiction) [2025] EWHC 1821 (Fam). There are a few similarities with the widely publicised case in July of the 14 year...
by Julie Doughty | Sep 1, 2025 | FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging
7 November 2025: CORRECTION AND APOLOGY: We have now learnt that the email address we had been using for the local authority lawyer in this case was not an active inbox and she had not received the emails we’d been sending. We apologise for this...
by Julie Doughty | Aug 18, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging
A local authority (LA) applied for care orders for six children in March 2025. At the case management hearing (CMH) I attended in April, and wrote on here: ‘Completing care proceedings in less that 26 weeks’, a strict timetable was set out by the judge to ensure...
by reporting watch team | Aug 14, 2025 | Cases, Court of Protection, FCReportingWatch, Open Reporting
This post by Celia Kitzinger on the Open Justice Court of Protection Project site, ‘Sentencing in contempt proceedings’, is actually a Family Court case. Celia explains why the hearing caught her eye in the lists, how she observed it, and why she has...
by reporting watch team | Aug 4, 2025 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, 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 BBC reported that...
by reporting watch team | Jul 30, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Notorious
In June, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal by a 14 year old boy against a High Court decision that his parents had lawfully taken him from his home in the UK to Ghana, where he’d been left at a boarding school. You can read Sanchia Berg’s story here. We included...
by Julie Doughty | Jul 28, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging
I wrote in April about an earlier hearing I’d attended in this case at Cardiff Family Court before District Judge Saunders. This had originally seemed a sad but straightforward case of an abandoned baby for whom adoption would be the right outcome. Care...
by Julie Doughty | Jul 20, 2025 | Analysis, Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging
A 13 year old boy was refusing to obey High Court orders that he spend time with his mother following his parents’ separation. After three years of failed attempts to persuade him to see her, the court asked the Tipstaff’s office to enforce an order that he be...
by reporting watch team | Jul 1, 2025 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, 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 Times (£) reported...
by Lucy R | Jun 29, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Open Reporting
On the day I saw them trot across the court waiting room on the way back from meeting the judge, Jamie and Andrew* were 10 and 14. I didn’t know that at the time, to me they looked smaller, younger. But the visit seemed to have gone well, as best I could tell from...
Recent Comments