Managing costs in complex children cases – Family Law

Posted March 31st, 2021 in child arrangements orders, costs, family courts, legal aid, news by sally

‘In November 2020 Spice Girl Mel B was in the news, despairing about how the legal costs of trying to relocate her daughter Madison from the US to England were likely to bankrupt her, leading to her withdrawing her relocation application. The figure of $500,000 quoted included legal fees of $400,000 and $100,000 in accounting fees.’

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Family Law, 30th March 2021

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

Court of Appeal delivers ruling on family court’s approach to domestic abuse – Law Society’s Gazette

‘The Court of Appeal has handed down judgment in a groundbreaking case that is expected to inform the way family courts treat allegations of domestic abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 30th March 2021

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Capacity to marry: NB v MI – Law & Religion UK

Posted March 29th, 2021 in families, family courts, Islam, islamic law, jurisdiction, marriage, news by sally

‘In NB v MI [2021] EWHC 224 (Fam), Mostyn J set out a series of propositions on the legal nature of marriage in England & Wales.’

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Law & Religion UK, 26th March 2021

Source: lawandreligionuk.com

Our treatment of the vulnerable – Local Government Lawyer

‘The pandemic has shone a powerful searchlight on to the unnecessarily damaged lives of too many of our most vulnerable people and children. In a paper given at a Royal Holloway University of London Symposium, Sir James Munby, former President of the Family Division, looks at the challenges facing the family justice system.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 26th March 2021

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

£1 million voucher scheme to help families resolve disputes outside of court – Ministry of Justice

Posted March 29th, 2021 in budgets, dispute resolution, families, family courts, Ministry of Justice, news by sally

‘Separating parents will be helped to avoid stressful court battles through a new million-pound mediation scheme launched by the government today.’

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Ministry of Justice, 26th March 2021

Source: www.gov.uk

Children: Public Law Update (March 2021) – Family Law Week

‘John Tughan QC of 4PB considers the latest judgments that Public law child lawyers need to know about.’

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Family Law Week, 24th March 2021

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Unequal chances? Ethnic disproportionality in child welfare and family justice – Family Law

‘Many have experienced their own Black Lives Matter moment in the last 12 months, a sharp realisation of entrenched prejudices and inequalities that still exist in our society. In the family justice system that moment came last October when a black barrister, Alexandra Wilson, was mistaken for a defendant three times in one day. And yet, more generally there has been surprising little debate about the disproportionate numbers of families from some ethnic minorities in the family justice system and what might lie behind this.’

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Family Law, 19th March 2021

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

Capitalisation of Child Maintenance: a very rare bird – Family Law Week

‘Jo Carr-West, partner with Hunters, considers the implications of Mr Justice Mostyn’s recent judgment in AZ v FM.’

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Family Law Week, 16th March 2021

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

The Unequal Power to Grant and Remove PR from Biological Parents – Family Law Week

Posted March 22nd, 2021 in children, equality, families, family courts, gender, news, parental responsibility by sally

‘Stephen Williams, Barrister, St Mary’s Chambers, calls for reconsideration of the restrictions on the acquisition of parental responsibility by fathers.’

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Family Law Week, 17th March 2021

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Our Treatment of the Vulnerable – Challenges for the Family Justice System – Transparency Project

Posted March 17th, 2021 in children, coronavirus, families, family courts, news, witnesses by sally

‘This is the text of a paper by Sir James Munby (lately President of the Family Division) delivered at the Royal Holloway University of London Symposium : “Inequality and Rights – Contemporary Challenges in the Child Protection and Family Justice Systems before and during the Pandemic”, which was held remotely on 16 March 2021. It is reproduced with kind permission.’

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Transparency Project, 17th March 2021

Source: www.transparencyproject.org.uk

Judge orders children to be taken into long-term foster care over concerns about weight – Local Government Lawyer

‘A Family Court judge has made a care order for two children described as “severely overweight” to be taken into long-term foster care, following an application by West Sussex County Council.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 15th March 2021

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Barder: Where are we now? – Family Law

‘Few would have thought back on 1 March 2020 that we would, some 12 months later, be facing the first birthday of the strictest restrictions on personal freedoms in living memory. As we approach the anniversary of the first lockdown on 23 March 2020, it seems appropriate that we reconsider one of key questions of family lawyers back in Spring 2020, that of whether the pandemic was likely to satisfy the principles set down in the 1987 case of Barder v Barder [1987] 2 FLR 480. Unprecedented times, there is no doubt, but unprecedented enough to constitute a Barder event?’

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Family Law, 12th March 2021

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

Contact after Findings of Domestic Abuse – Family Law Week

‘Teena Dhanota-Jones, Consultant at Simons Muirhead Burton, analyses a recent case involving the interplay of the law on contact and Practice Direction 12J on domestic abuse.’

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Family Law Week, 10th March 2021

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Judge says recent case shows how exceptional circumstances must be if court is to use its power to dismiss care proceedings without having heard all the evidence – Local Government Lawyer

‘A Family Court judge has refused applications to dismiss care proceedings at a half-way stage made by a number of people accused of sexual offences against children.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 12th March 2021

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Family, Drug and Alcohol Court launched to cover Birmingham and Solihull – Local Government Lawyer

Posted March 4th, 2021 in alcohol abuse, courts, drug abuse, family courts, news by sally

‘The UK’s 12th Family, Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) – covering the Birmingham and Solihull areas – will hold its first hearings early this month.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 3rd March 2021

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

The Covid-19 Pandemic as a Barder Event – Family Law Week

‘Richard Kershaw, partner at Hunters Law LLP, considers the implications of Mr Justice Cohen’s judgment in FRB v DRC (No 3).’

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Family Law Week, 25th February 2021

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Capacity to consent to marriage, nullity and declarations under the inherent jurisdiction considered (NB v MI) – 1GC: Family Law

Posted February 25th, 2021 in consent, family courts, islamic law, jurisdiction, marriage, news by sally

‘The High Court was presented with an application for a declaration of nonrecognition of a Muslim marriage and a petition for nullity. The parties were married in Pakistan under Sharia law in June 2013. The applicant sought to argue, relying on two expert reports, that she did not have capacity to consent to marriage at the time. The court had to consider the issue of her capacity and then consider whether to make a declaration of non-recognition, or alternatively annul the marriage. The High Court refused the applications as it considered, on the facts of this case, the applicant had capacity to consent at the relevant time. The marriage was therefore valid under English law at its formation. Even if he had formed the opposite view, Mr Justice Mostyn made clear the court would still not have made a declaration under the court’s inherent jurisdiction as he was prevented by statute. Tahmina Rahman, barrister at 1GC Family, considers the case.’

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1GC: Family Law, 16th February 2021

Source: 1gc.com

Domestic Abuse Bill – What does it mean for victims of domestic abuse in the family courts? – Garden Court Chambers

Posted February 25th, 2021 in bills, domestic violence, family courts, news, victims by sally

‘In the year ending March 2019, an estimated 2.4 million adults aged 16 to 74 years experienced domestic abuse in the last year (1.6 million women and 786,000 men). The government was elected with a manifesto commitment to pass the Domestic Abuse Bill, which passed the House of Commons in July 2020, and is set to become law once it has passed through the House of Lords.’

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Garden Court Chambers, 24th February 2021

Source: www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk

Family Law Newsletter – Spire Barristers

‘Issue #43 of Spire Barristers’ Family Law Newsletter: edited by Connie Purdy and Taz Irshad; news and Case Reviews by Francesca Massarella. Francesca is due to begin pupillage at Spire Barristers in September 2021.’

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Spire Barristers, 16th February 2021

Source: spirebarristers.co.uk

Litigants baffled as civil procedure rules move to new site – Law Society’s Gazette

‘Lawyers and litigants awoke this morning to the wholesale move of procedure rules to a government website described by one as “unusable”.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 17th February 2021

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk