‘Public law children cases where a party has limited access to technology or where parties require an intermediary or a translator are instances where remote hearings may not be the best format, the Law Society has warned.’
Local Government Lawyer, 5th July 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The European Court of Human Rights has ordered the Government to pay €24,000 for non-pecuniary damage and €60,000 in legal costs to a social worker who was accused of professional misconduct by a Family Court judge in the course of a fact-finding hearing.’
Local Government Lawyer, 23rd June 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘In P (Circumcision: Child in Care) [2021] EWHC 1616 (Fam), a boy aged 21 months, P, was subject to an interim care order in favour of X Local Authority. P’s mother, supported by P’s father, who were Muslim, sought the court’s authorisation to have P circumcised [2 & 3]. P had lived all his life with relatives, Mr and Mrs R, who were likely soon to become his permanent carers under a Special Guardianship Order [1]: they were not Muslims but had agreed that they would care for P throughout his life and would respect his Muslim heritage [7]. P also had an older brother and an older half-brother who lived with other relatives (not Mr and Mrs R), also under a Special Guardianship Order [5]’
Law & Religion UK, 16th June 2021
Source: lawandreligionuk.com
‘The recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Haley v Haley [2020] EWCA Civ 1369 (case report at [2021] Fam Law 37) settled an important issue for family arbitration. It established that contested awards in the area of financial remedy could be reviewed by the Family Court by a process akin to an appeal against decisions made in court proceedings, and on the same basis as such an appeal: that the decision is “wrong”. This article assesses the significance of the decision by looking at its background and context. It sets out our understanding of the procedural implications. Finally, it identifies remaining areas of uncertainty and offers some views as to how they might be resolved.’
Family Law, 17th June 2021
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘A High Court judge has dismissed an application by a mother for a boy (P), who is aged 21 months and in interim care, to be circumcised in accordance with the custom of the Muslim faith before his second birthday.’
Local Government Lawyer, 15th June 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Not for the first time, the reported cases are dominated by parties with limited connection with England and Wales, or indeed with the quotidian financial experience of most of those involved in litigation before our courts. There is a handful of cases which address the impact of the pandemic but, as Judge Kloss observed in one, the fact that there has not been a ‘tsunami’ of Barder applications suggests that the exceptionality condition for such applications is being recognised.’
St John's Chambers, 8th June 2021
Source: www.stjohnschambers.co.uk
‘Fran Massarella reports on a recent case concerning an application to terminate a father’s responsibility for the child pursuant to s.4(2A) of the Children Act 1989.’
Local Government Lawyer, 11th June 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘It seems there has been a never-ending line of costs commentary flowing through the reported decisions from financial remedy courts as of late. There is a clear trend of encouraging the making of costs orders; something that was far from the norm of no costs orders in contested financial remedy proceedings a few years ago. The reasons for this encouragement are many and possibly speculative; perhaps a by-product of the cuts to Legal Aid and therefore the lack of access to legal representation inevitably leading to extensive, unnecessary, and unmeritorious litigation, perhaps a consequence of the continued backlog in the family courts, perhaps an ancillary product of the widening parameters of judicial discretion and uncertainty?’
Family Law, 3rd June 2021
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘Care order applications are usually made when social workers decide a mother is unable to look after her child on her own. The baby will probably go into foster care and it may be adopted.’
BBC News, 4th June 2021
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Alta Fixsler was born with catastrophic brain injury. She now two years old, currently a patient at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Paediatric Intensive Care Unit on intensive life sustaining treatment. In this case the court was asked to decide whether it would be in Alta’s best interests for that life-sustaining treatment to be continued. The inevitable consequence of it being discontinued will be the death of Alta.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 3rd June 2021
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘An order made by email to vacate a psychological assessment in a childcare case was wrong and unjust for “serious procedural irregularity”, the Court of Appeal has ruled.’
Local Government Lawyer, 2nd June 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘This briefing provides information on how the family courts address issues of domestic abuse in private law proceedings relating to children, in particular proceedings relating to child arrangements orders. The final two sections of the briefing provide information on proposals for reform in this area.’
House of Commons, 26th May 2021
Source: commonslibrary.parliament.uk
‘The Family Court has ruled that in co-parenting families one parent may adopt a child born to the other even if they are no longer partners.’
Local Government Lawyer, 21st May 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Almost all clients want their finances to be resolved without ongoing financial connections so they can each go their separate ways without continuing financial ties i.e., they want to have a “clean break”.’
Family Law, 20th May 2021
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘The purpose of this judgment is to approve and formalise the local authority’s decision to withdraw its application for care orders, following receipt of medical evidence that the baby did not suffer any non-accidental injury. As the judge points out, the local authority acted correctly in taking proceedings when it did, on the basis of earlier medical evidence (now known to be mistaken), and has also acted correctly in asking the court to agree to end the proceedings on the basis of the new, more specialist, evidence.’
Transparency Project, 18th May 2021
Source: www.transparencyproject.org.uk
‘Nichola Bright, Senior Associate at Myerson, explains some of the difficulties inherent in divorces involving agricultural assets.’
Family Law Week, 22nd April 2021
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal’s judgment highlights the importance of family courts understanding coercive control. The comments made by the Court are important and will give professionals, who have been frustrated about old fashioned attitudes that only take physical violence into account, the tools they need to argue on behalf of the alleged victims they represent. The idea that domestic abuse can only have occurred when physical violence has taken place is entirely outdated; equally a lack of recognition that physical violence is frequently part of a coercive and controlling dynamic is also unacceptable in modern times.’
Transparency Project, 2nd April 2021
Source: www.transparencyproject.org.uk
‘A short but important judgment emphasising the costs consequence that a litigant may face if they have failed to negotiate openly and reasonably in the context of financial remedy proceedings was handed down by Mostyn J on 12 March 2021 in the case of LM v DM (Costs Ruling) [2021] EWFC 28.’
Family Law, 30th March 2021
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
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