Exhumation where father’s coercive control undermined decision on place of burial

by Guest Post | Apr 15, 2025 | Cases, Explanation

This is a guest post by Frank Cranmer, reposted from the Law & Religion UK blog, about a matter of ecclesiastical law which overlaps with family law. It concerns the grant of a faculty, which is an order granted by the Consistory Court for a particular Church of...

The Intermediaries Appeal – what does it tell us?

by Malvika Jaganmohan | Apr 12, 2025 | Analysis, Cases, Explanation

An appeal judgment has just landed in our inboxes on the correct approach to the use of intermediaries in care proceedings: Re M (A Child: Intermediaries) [2025] EWCA Civ 440. We wrote a post a couple of weeks ago when we became aware that this appeal was in the...

Transparency Orders – but can a parent tell their own story?

by reporting watch team | Apr 10, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Open Reporting, Transparency News

Since January the transparency order is ‘a thing’, in that courts will usually make one in every case where a reporter attends a hearing. Such orders allow the anonymised reporting of a hearing or a case by the media. But what about the parents? Does it...

SECTION 12 – YET MORE CONFUSION

by Lucy Reed | Apr 10, 2025 | Analysis, Cases, Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Open Reporting, Transparency News

This is a guest post by Sir James Munby, former President of the Family Division. On 2 April 2025 Harris J handed down her reserved judgment in M v F and C [2025] EWHC 801 (Fam). The case had first come to public attention when the hearing on 20 February 2025 was...

Transparency Orders – tool or straight jacket?

by Lucy R | Apr 10, 2025 | Analysis, Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Open Reporting, Reporting Pilot, Transparency News

[Update 19 Apr 2025: In light of the judgment in Abbasi delivered by the Supreme Court this week, we’ve slightly adjusted the wording in a couple of places (shown in italics and square brackets)]. In a recent interesting judgment hiding behind the nondescript...

Evaluation of the Pathfinder Pilot in Private Law – published

by Julie Doughty | Apr 8, 2025 | Comment

This announcement appeared quietly on the Ministry of Justice website on 25 March –  Private Law Pathfinder Pilot: process evaluation and financial analysis This report provides the findings of the process evaluation and exploratory financial analysis of...

Are young people losing their freedom because of Deprivation of Liberty Orders?

by Guest Post | Apr 6, 2025 | Comment, Court of Protection, FCReportingWatch

This is a guest post by Victoria Butler Cole KC. Victoria is a barrister at 39 Essex and you can find her on Bluesky @torbc.bsky.social. The BBC recently published an article about the experiences of a young woman who had spent time in a range of placements including...

Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup: February-March 2025

by reporting watch team | Mar 29, 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 on The...

Family Court Rule Committee proposes rule change on unregulated experts

by reporting watch team | Mar 27, 2025 | Consultations

Some news on the much awaited reforms relating to the instruction of unregulated experts in the Family Court: the Family Procedure Rule Committee has launched a consultation on proposed rule changes that are said to tighten the standards for the instruction of expert...

Access to Family Court documents under the open justice principle

by Julie Doughty | Mar 24, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

UPDATE – 2nd July 2025 – see bottom of this post Journalists and legal bloggers (reporters) are normally allowed to see certain types of documents under the Reporting Provisions that came in this year, and earlier during the Reporting Pilot. Sometimes...