Coventry student who hid baby in cereal box convicted of murder – The Guardian

Posted October 25th, 2024 in birth, children, families, murder, news, pregnancy, universities by sally

‘A Coventry University student who concealed her newborn baby in a cereal box hidden inside a suitcase after giving birth on her bathroom floor has been convicted of murder.’

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The Guardian, 24th October 2024

Source: www.theguardian.com

Trans Parenthood in the UK: The “Unanswered Questions” of the McConnell Litigation – Cambridge Law Journal

‘This article considers three “unanswered questions” raised by R. (McConnell) v Registrar General for England and Wales (AIRE Centre Intervening) [2020] EWCA Civ. 559, which held that a trans man (with a Gender Recognition Certificate) who gave birth must be registered as “mother” on his child’s birth certificate. This article considers these questions to clearly situate McConnell within the context of the UK’s legal regimes concerning access to fertility treatment, gender recognition and legal parenthood in cases involving assisted reproduction. The article argues that clearly establishing the current legal position will provide the proper context to facilitate any subsequent legal reforms.’

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Cambridge Law Journal, 3rd October 2024

Source: www.cambridge.org

Parenthood and parental responsibility: legal messaging and the power of law – Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law

Posted October 25th, 2024 in children, families, news, parental responsibility by sally

‘In this paper I will engage with a position Felicity Kaganas has often elaborated upon, and with which I agree, namely, that lawmakers often mistake law’s messaging for law’s power. In doing so I will focus on the law’s management of parental status and the performance of parental responsibility. I will argue that English law’s disaggregation of parental status and parental function should have enabled law to distance itself from involvement-by-presumption in the particularities of the disputes between parents and other carers about children, and enabled it to perform a better, more situation-sensitive role in the management of those disputes. It should have allowed for a more pragmatic, less ideological and generalised, decision-making process for particular disputes, and paid better attention to the actual children at the heart of those disputes. I argue that, given the limits of the power of law in resolving family disputes (which I also elaborate in the paper), law has a limited role in these situations. There are other orders of power – beyond law – which affect the way in which legal power works and may misdirect (or, at least, redirect) its ambitions.’

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Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 17th October 2024

Source: www.tandfonline.com

Police reopen Wimbledon school crash investigation – BBC News

‘The Metropolitan Police is to carry out a new investigation into the Wimbledon school crash in order to further examine a number of lines of inquiry.’

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BBC News, 24th October 2024

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

The importance of due diligence in choosing children’s residential placements – Local Government Lawyer

‘Kristine Lidgerwood aims to provoke thought and encourage thorough system checks based on recent experiences that have raised serious concerns.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 23rd October 2024

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

National firm Foot Anstey wins injunction against litigant who harassed staff – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted October 23rd, 2024 in families, harassment, injunctions, law firms, news, wills by tracey

‘A disgruntled litigant who made threatening calls to a law firm has been banned from making any direct further contact with the practice.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 22nd October 2024

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Law firm granted injunction after “obscene and criminal” phone calls – Legal Futures

Posted October 22nd, 2024 in families, harassment, injunctions, law firms, news, wills by tracey

‘A law firm has been granted an injunction by the High Court after four female members of staff received anonymous, “obscene and criminal” phone calls.’

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Legal Futures, 22nd October 2024

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

‘Vindictive’ daughter posted nude photos of father’s ex on escort website – The Independent

Posted October 22nd, 2024 in disclosure, families, imprisonment, news, photography, police, sentencing by tracey

‘A woman who posted sexual images of her father’s former lover on an escort site after holding a deep-seated grudge against her has been jailed for three years.’

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The Independent, 21st October 2024

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Unsuitable temporary accommodation and discrimination – Nearly Legal

‘Begum, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Tower Hamlets (2024) EWHC 2279 (Admin) – Ms Begum had applied as homeless to Tower Hamlets in 2001. She was given temporary accommodation in a studio flat. 5 months later her first child was born. In June 2022, she complained about the suitability of the studio, which at that time was still s.188 accommodation. In October 2022, Tower Hamlets accepted the full duty. An internal memo recorded that Ms B had requested a transfer due to overcrowding. By March 2023, Ms B was pregnant with her second child, with a due date in September 2023. Between May and July 2023 there was correspondence between Ms B’s solicitors and Tower Hamlets on the suitability of the accommodation. The present claim was issued and interim relief ordered in August 2023. Three days later, Tower Hamlets made an offer of accommodation which Ms B accepted.’

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Nearly Legal, 20th October 2024

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

AI and Family Law – Financial Remedies Journal

Posted October 21st, 2024 in artificial intelligence, families, family courts, legal profession, news by tracey

‘AI has the real likelihood of transforming the practice of family law solicitors more than the major conceptual changes from the Children Act, the seismic shift from White or the speed of response needed from lis pendens of EU law – a transformation which will happen fast even in the slow-moving, conservative legal profession.’

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Financial Remedies Journal, 14th October 2024

Source: financialremediesjournal.com

A 40-Year Revolution in Financial Remedies – Financial Remedies Journal

‘My subject today is revolution. Don’t worry. I am not advocating a take-over of the country by Tommy Robinson or Piers Corbyn. I am talking about the fundamental transformation of financial remedy work since I undertook my first ever case on 19 July 1983 in the Edmonton County Court, just over 41 years ago.’

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Financial Remedies Journal, 16th October 2024

Source: financialremediesjournal.com

Form FM5 and MIAM’s – Becket Chambers

‘It has been a requirement for a number of years that before financial proceedings or children matters that the applicant, save for a few exemptions, is required to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting [MIAM]. Often by the time parties attend their MIAM, they have reached the stage of utter frustration and have felt that the only way forward was to go to court. The MIAM for some people became a mere hurdle to be overcome so that they could go to court, it was a tick box exercise.’

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Becket Chambers, 24th September 2024

Source: becket-chambers.co.uk

Practice Direction 12J, fact find hearings and child arrangements – E, F and G (Interim Child Arrangements) [2024] EWCA Civ 874 – Becket Chambers

‘E, F and G (Interim Child Arrangements) [2024] EWCA Civ 874 was a recent appeal brought by the Mother on 2 grounds; the first in respect of a child arrangements order made for unsupervised contact and the second regarding an adjournment due to a Qualified Legal Representative (‘QLR’) not being available for the fact find hearing. This article will focus on the first ground in respect of the child arrangements order.’

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Becket Chambers, 30th September 2024

Source: becket-chambers.co.uk

Sex and the erasure of legal parenthood: P v Q and F (child: legal parentage) [2024] EWCA civ 878 – Journal of Scial Welfare and Family Law

Posted October 17th, 2024 in appeals, artificial insemination, birth certificates, families, news by sally

‘Imagine a scenario in which a same sex female married couple, P and Q, decide to become parents together. They find a sperm donor (F) online, and after two unsuccessful attempts at insemination, P conceives and gives birth to a daughter, X. Happily for P and Q, the law in the UK was changed in 2008 in order to enable both of them to be registered as X’s parents on her birth certificate, P as her mother and Q as her second legal parent. Three years later, P and Q’s relationship breaks down. While we are used to the law stepping in to resolve questions about money and the child’s living arrangements, in relation to a same sex female couple, UK law also does something completely extraordinary. It enables the mother to have the second legal parent’s name removed from the birth certificate, and replaced with that of the sperm donor.’

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Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 16th October 2024

Source: www.tandfonline.com

Government issues statutory guidance for local authorities on kinship care – Local Government Lawyer

Posted October 15th, 2024 in carers, children, families, government departments, local government, news by tracey

‘The Department for Education has published statutory guidance for local authorities and their staff, setting out how councils should support children in kinship care and kinship carers.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 14th October 2024

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Homelessness, disability and reasonable preference under allocation schemes – Nearly Legal

‘RR, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Enfield (2024) EWHC 2501 (Admin). This was a judicial review challenge to LB Enfield’s allocation policy for priority on the housing register, on the basis that it discrimated against disabled applicants who had the full housing duty under Part VII Housing Act 1996, who were also disabled.’

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Nearly Legal, 13th October 2024

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

Law Commission seeks views on disabled children’s social care law – Law Commission

‘Today the Law Commission publishes a consultation paper on disabled children’s social care law and whether it meets the needs of disabled children and their families.’

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Law Commission, 8th October 2024

Source: lawcom.gov.uk

Delaying a Divorce Because of Financial Prejudice: The New No-fault Law and Practice – Financial Remedies Journal

‘There can be real loss and prejudice in some divorce cases if the final divorce order, previously the decree absolute, is granted before the final financial settlement and its implementation in circumstances when the paying party then dies. Automatic entitlement to pensions, the primary circumstance, but also insurance policies, beneficial interest in trusts and similar are then not available as the applicant is now divorced, financial remedy claims are no longer available after death and there might have to be a difficult and separate civil claim.’

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Financial Remedies Journal, 7th October 2024

Source: financialremediesjournal.com

Resolution’s Report on Domestic Abuse in Financial Remedy Proceedings: An Overview of the Key Findings and Recommendations – Financial Remedies Journal

‘Resolution’s Report on Domestic Abuse in Financial Remedy Proceedings: An Overview of the Key Findings and Recommendations.’

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Financial Remedies Journal, 8th October 2024

Source: financialremediesjournal.com

Daughter murdered parents ‘in cold blood’ and lived with bodies for years after hiding them in makeshift tombs – The Independent

Posted October 14th, 2024 in families, imprisonment, murder, news, sentencing by tracey

‘An “intelligent manipulator” murdered her parents “in cold blood” then hid them in makeshift tombs and lived alongside their bodies for four years.’

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The Independent, 13th October 2024

Source: www.independent.co.uk