Family Lore Blogs: January 2015

Clarity: The vulnerable and legal aid law

Family courts: the vulnerable and the legal aid swamp.

Full post: dbfamilylaw

What price liberty? Damages, DOLS and a cat named Fluffy

On 7 January 2015 District Judge Mort of the Court of Protection approved a £60,000 settlement agreement reached between Essex County Council and Mr P.

Full post: UK Human Rights Blog

Catch-33: Stringent documentary requirements upheld for legal aid in domestic violence cases

R (on the application of Rights of Women) v Secretary of State for Justice [2015] EWHC 35 (Admin).

Full post: UK Human Rights Blog

Children and parties

RE M (Republic of Ireland) (Child’s objections) (Joinder of children as parties to appeal) 2015.

Full post: suesspiciousminds

Risks of refusing reasonable offers to settle in divorce cases

The judgment in SR v RS demonstrates that parties cannot, in the face of reasonable offers to settle, continue to litigate matters indefinitely without the spectre of cost sanctions.

Full post: Halsbury's Law Exchange

A family law reform manifesto

With a hundred days to go to an election, my top ten list for law reform (mostly family) would be as follows.

Full post: dbfamilylaw

Mother allowed to move to Russia under the Hague Convention 1996

The mother of a two year-old boy has been allowed to move back to Russia against the wishes of the father.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Fifty-fifty – equal parenting time

As far as I know, Re M (A Child) 2014 is the first time the Court of Appeal have dealt with a case involving equal parenting time since the Children and Families Act with its controversial clause came into being.

Full post: suesspiciousminds

Assigning jurisdiction in child abduction cases

The European Court of Justice has given a preliminary ruling on assigning jurisdiction to a specialist court to consider a child abduction case even though another court in the same member state was already seised in parental responsibility proceedings.

Full post: Halsbury's Law Exchange

Working with mediators

As family practitioners are aware it is now compulsory for the majority of clients to attempt to mediate prior to issuing a court application.

Full post: Family Law Blog

Inherent jurisdiction of High Court

UL v BK (Freezing Orders: Safeguards: Standard Examples) [2013] UKHC 1735 (Fam).

Full post: dbfamilylaw

Male circumcision can be part of “reasonable parenting”, but no form of FGM is acceptable – Family Court

B and G (Children) (No.2) [2015] EWFC 3.

Full post: UK Human Rights Blog

Unrepresented parents in family cases: are errors going unnoticed?

Is a lack of legal representation in family cases increasing the likelihood of procedural errors going unnoticed?

Full post: Halsbury's Law Exchange

FGM – an important authority

Re B and G (Children ) 2015.

Full post: suesspiciousminds

A whole heap of trouble (secure accommodation)

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham 2014.

Full post: suesspiciousminds

Munby: Listen to the individuals affected

It is time to take stock in the ‘transparency’ debate and to review a couple of eloquent comments in [2014] Family Law: a Comment from Peggy Ray (a child law solicitor) at 1655 and an article by Dr Julia Brophy, a ‘Principal Researcher in Family Justice’.

Full post: dbfamilylaw

I AM calm!

I have learnt that it is usually a good idea to sleep on it after reading a Christopher Booker article, and not to write in anger.

Full post: Pink Tape

Fair criticism?

Richard Todd QC of 1 Hare Court and Christopher Wagstaffe QC of 29 Bedford Row believe the court failed to address the issues in an appropriate manner in a case where a separating couple had amassed a combined legal bill of £1.3m on all aspects of their dispute (including the children proceedings) following what was described by the judge as ‘titanic litigation’.

Full post: Family Law Blog