Family Lore Blogs

FJR Response Considered – at last

2012-02-22T11:40:00.002Z

I’ve said nothing so far about the Government response to the FJR, partly due to lack of time and partly due to lack of motivation.

Full post: Pink Tape

Introducing family law arbitration…

2012-02-22T10:36:00.002Z

From today, qualified arbitrators can now decide a range of financial family law issues with legally binding outcomes or ‘awards’.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Z (A child): Relocation after MK v CK

2012-02-16T16:52:00.001Z

Z (A child) [2012] EWHC 139 (Fam) is, to my knowledge, the first reported relocation case since MK v CK [2011] EWCA Civ 793.

Full post: Family Lore

Religious marriages: what constitutes a valid marriage in England?

2012-02-16T10:37:00.002Z

This post will examine cases involving religious ceremonies where the issue of the marriage’s validity has subsequently arisen.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Smacks of hypocrisy

2012-02-16T07:09:00.003Z

Not so long ago David Lammy was criticised for suggesting a relaxation of smacking laws, it was said he had sought to blame the summer riots upon the disempowerment of parents embodied in laws preventing the exercise of parental discipline.

Full post: Pink Tape

Court bans autistic woman from having sex

2012-02-15T09:02:00.002Z

The Court of Protection has ruled that an autistic woman with an IQ of 64 does not have the mental capacity to engage in sexual relations, on the basis that she does not understand the implications and cannot effectively deploy the information she has understood into her decisions.

Full post: UK Human Rights Blog

When is a marriage not a marriage?

2012-02-14T11:06:00.001Z

Getting married is meant to be an exciting, romantic time and no one wants to think about what would happen if it all goes wrong.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Back to basics: how I think we can help our stretched courts

2012-02-06T18:23:00.003Z

I recently posted on the dire situation facing the judiciary, noting the comments made by District Judge Nicholas Crichton about our courts being stacked out with Litigants in Person and the detrimental effect it is having on the entire family justice system.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Legal Aid Update

2012-02-05T06:50:00.002Z

In fact it’s been a while since I’ve done more than whine tangentially about the Government’s attempt to wreck the legal aid system. It’s time for an update.

Full post: Pink Tape

And when did you last see your father?

2012-02-04T09:54:00.001Z

There have been conflicting stories in the press this week about how and whether the government intends to change the law in order to ensure that both parents see more of their children after divorce.

Full post: Lords of the Blog

Legal Aid Bill domestic violence concession?

2012-02-04T09:53:00.002Z

So far the government has made two concessions on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, currently in the committee stage of the House of Lords. It seems more concessions might be on the way before the bill is approved.

Full post: LAG News Blog

Why I think grandparents’ legal rights are fit for purpose

2012-02-02T17:31:00.000Z

Should or should there not be automatic rights of contact for grandparents with their grandchildren? For some years now there has been healthy debate regarding whether they should be given the legal right to exercise contact.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Government at odds with itself on domestic violence

2012-01-31T10:51:00.000Z

The debate over the definition of domestic violence used in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill highlights the absence of joined-up thinking within the government.

Full post: Law Society Gazette News Blog

R v Kayani and Solliman: Any damage to welfare of children does not justify reduction in sentence for abduction

2012-01-27T16:37:00.003Z

Should a prison sentence for child abduction be reduced because it may adversely affect the children, who are now in the care of the abducting parent?

Full post: Family Lore

Against my Will

2012-01-26T17:27:00.001Z

The Inheritance (Cohabitants) Bill received its first reading on the 12th January. It is based on a Law Commission Report which, after consultation, recommended that the law be changed so that cohabitants would have an automatic claim to the property of their partner if he or she died intestate, provided they had lived together for five years or two years if there was a child of the relationship.

Full post: Lords of the Blog

The costs risk conundrum: how a change in the law has congested courts

2012-01-23T19:24:00.001Z

Marilyn considers whether the "no order" costs principle has led to an increase in the number of litigants in person.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Divorce, joint tenancy and how to prepare for the unexpected

2012-01-18T14:43:00.000Z

A new case has come to light that is important for anyone going through family separation who owns a property jointly with their partner– as well as the practitioners advising them.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Public sector pensions - CEV problems - progress at last?

2012-01-18T06:35:00.002Z

Contrary to what we are being told by the various pension scheme call-centres, it would appear that the public sector schemes have now received the revised calculation factors.

Full post: The Ancillary Actuary

What does the future hold for parents’ rights?

2012-01-16T17:30:00.000Z

Just before I went on air at This Morning last week, Holly Willoughby – a new mum herself and one of the presenters of the programme – turned to me and said “just what rights do parents have to their children?”

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Social media – our master or our servant?

2012-01-12T06:54:00.001Z

Guest post arising from a discussion about the difficulty in obtaining s26 contact orders in placement proceedings and the spate of media reports of teenagers tracked down on Facebook by their biological family.

Full post: Pink Tape

Public Sector Pensions - Green Shoots?

2012-01-08T11:52:00.000Z

You may recall that the current difficulties with public sector pension schemes arose when the Treasury released a document on 26 October 2011 announcing a change to the discount factors used for calculating Cash Equivalent Values.

Full post: The Ancillary Actuary (scroll down)

The man who built his house on sand

2012-01-06T06:34:00.003Z

No man can stop the tide. Sir Paul Coleridge is to build a Marriage Foundation, to strengthen the institution of marriage and to counter the “scourge of society” family breakdown.

Full post: Pink Tape

The non-resident nightmare: how offshore income is taken into account for child support

2012-01-03T17:33:00.002Z

The case of GF v CMEC (2011) UKUT 371 (AAC), published last month, is yet another example of an inefficient and cumbersome draftsmanship at work.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

The Family Justice Review (2) - Main recommendations

2011-12-31T08:31:00.000Z

What follows is a reasonably detailed look at the main recommendations.

Full post: Law and Lawyers

The Family Justice Review (1) - Overview and Terms of Reference

2011-12-31T08:29:00.002Z

In November 2011 the Family Justice Review, led by David Norgrove, issued its final report - "Family Justice Review: Final Report."

Full post: Law and Lawyers

Family Law: contact orders - case raising novel issues

2011-12-28T06:33:00.002Z

The recent case of Re P and L (Minors) [2011] EWHC 3431 (Fam) was a dispute about contact with children but involved considerable factual complexity.

Full post: Law and Lawyers

Death and the unmarried couple: what happens to the house?

2011-12-19T15:54:00.003Z

Marilyn discusses the law of inheritance in relation to cohabitees.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Parental Kidnap

2011-12-18T07:03:00.002Z

International child abduction is a thorny issue, particularly where a child is abducted by a parent to a country that is not a signatory to the Hague Convention.

Full post: Pink Tape

Book Review: Local Authority Support for Children and Families

2011-12-14T07:17:00.003Z

A one line review would simply say that this is a useful and clearly written book.

Full post: Pink Tape

NG v SG: Dealing with wiful non-disclosure

2011-12-10T11:25:00.001Z

The judgment in NG v SG [2011] EWHC 3270 (Fam) is perhaps most notable for the fact that Mr Justice Mostyn spends the first sixteen paragraphs discussing how the Court should deal with wilful non-disclosure in relation to financial remedies following divorce, before he even mentions the case itself.

Full post: Family Lore

Types of trust – and a touch of Christmas spirit

2011-12-09T17:35:00.001Z

Stowe Family Law honour the Christmas spirit in quite a dramatic way...

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

AJ v JJ & Ors: The wishes of the children in abduction cases

2011-12-08T15:56:00.001Z

In AJ v JJ & Ors [2011] EWCA Civ 1448 the court was required to deal with the situation where the children wished to have their views heard in an abduction case.

Full post: Family Lore

Transfer Values suspended and Pension Sharing Orders deferred

2011-12-06T12:16:00.001Z

HM Treasury has recently published guidance in respect of the discount rate for the purpose of calculating CETVs.

Full post: The Ancillary Actuary

Family law arbitration: a new dawn for Alternative Dispute Resolution?

2011-11-30T18:18:00.001Z

Lord Wilson delivered a frank, easy to understand speech last night in London. It was noteworthy because he is the first senior figure in family law to publicly announce the imminent arrival of a new form of financial dispute resolution in family law: arbitration.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Case Comment: Kernott v Jones [2011] UKSC 53

2011-11-24T15:56:00.001Z

In this appeal (from [2010] EWCA Civ 578) – their Lordships were charged with revisiting the decision in Stack v Dowden [2007] UKHL 17 with a view to clarifying its reasoning.

Full post: UKSC blog

And for tonight’s rant…

2011-11-23T07:51:00.001Z

…I shall mostly be complaining about section 20 of the Children Act.

Full post: Pink Tape

Meeting “reasonable needs”: matrimonial v non-matrimonial assets

2011-11-22T07:43:00.001Z

Readers of this blog will know that in any financial divorce settlement, the court must ensure that so far as possible, within the context of their finances, both parties’ “reasonable needs” must be met.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Z v Z: a prenuptial agreement in a post-Radmacher world…

2011-11-19T08:45:00.000Z

In this case, it fell to Mr Justice Moor to adjudicate the merits of a French prenuptial agreement – a Separation des Biens – between two French citizens living in London.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

FOI about LIPs from MOJ is FFS and OMG then AAK

2011-11-16T07:13:00.000Z

I recently received a response to my Freedom of Information Request to the Ministry of Justice concerning private family cases and litigants in person.

Full post: Pink Tape

Z v Z: Radmacher applied

2011-11-15T12:32:00.000Z

Z v Z [2011] EWHC 2878 (Fam) is, I believe, the first reported pre-nuptial agreement case since Radmacher v Granatino.

Full post: Family Lore

Jones v Kernott: Ending the big debate?

2011-11-10T07:12:00.000Z

One of the things I really don’t like about academics is the way they sit in their offices with their heads so full of doctrinal legal theory that they forget (if they ever knew) about the ways real people lead their lives.

Full post: Nearly Legal

Kernott v Jones in the Supreme Court: what you need to know

2011-11-09T07:36:00.000Z

The long-awaited judgment in the case of Kernott v Jones is to be handed down by the Supreme Court tomorrow.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

BJ v MJ: Dealing with trusts on divorce

2011-11-08T11:39:00.000Z

As its name suggests, BJ v MJ (Financial Remedy: Overseas Trusts) [2011] EWHC 2708 (Fam) deals with the issue of how trusts should be treated in the division of assets following divorce.

Full post: Family Lore

A few comments on the Family Justice Review

2011-11-05T18:14:00.001Z

I know there have been and will be others far more learned than I who have/will comment on the Review, but I thought I would still give my views, for what they are worth.

Full post: Family Lore

The real reason why the Family Justice Review has failed

2011-11-03T15:44:00.001Z

The long-awaited Family Justice Review, published today, presented a golden opportunity to review and recommend changes to existing law. Instead the Review panel, chaired by former senior civil servant David Norgrove and populated by bureaucrats and children experts, has failed families in crisis.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Government Consults on Clare’s Law

2011-11-03T06:17:00.000Z

Theresa May this week launched a long awaited consultation on so called Clare’s Law, about which I have written before in the Guardian.

Full post: Pink Tape

Adoption stories from the Tories: Part 1

2011-11-03T06:15:00.000Z

The Prime Minister wants you to think about babies. Specifically, babies that are not yours.

Full post: Beneath The Wig

What happens when an international custody battle looms?

2011-11-01T08:51:00.000Z

Today I was sent this link to a newspaper story about the British television presenter Melissa Porter, who is reported to be facing an “international custody battle” over her only child.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Is Paternity Fraud really a “ticking time bomb”?

2011-10-27T07:09:00.000+01:00

Apparently there are millions of fathers around the world who are, unwittingly, raising other men’s children as their own.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Bundled off

2011-10-26T08:02:00.000+01:00

It’s a new dawn and Marilyn Stowe is feeling good about a future where digital files will replace bundles in court.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Legal aid and domestic violence

2011-10-24T09:57:00.000+01:00

LAG has been working with the Women’s Institute, Rights of Women and other organisations to try and influence the government into rethinking its proposals on restricting legal aid to women and other victims of domestic violence.

Full post: LAG News Blog

A capital idea: Will courts now consider other assets in child maintenance cases?

2011-10-21T15:22:00.001+01:00

In the recent High Court case of FG v MBW ([2011] EWHC 1729 (Fam) child maintenance payments were ordered to be made out of a non-resident father’s capital.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Narey Report Part II – Blueprint or Fairy Story?

2011-10-21T10:24:00.000+01:00

In part I of this blog post I dealt primarily with the *cough* provenance of the report, and with rigour of the referencing and the source material that Martin Narey relied upon in his report.

Full post: Pink Tape

Brough v Law: Child maintenance assessment ceased to have effect only at the end of six months continuous cohabitation

2011-10-20T14:37:00.001+01:00

In Brough v Law [2011] EWCA Civ 1183, decided today, the Court of Appeal considered the effect of the parents' reconciliation upon a child maintenance assessment, with reference to the provisions of the Child Support Act 1991 as operative in 1999.

Full post: Family Lore

Lottery, divorce and Mr Justice Mostyn’s lesson in the law

2011-10-19T14:42:00.000+01:00

Mr Justice Mostyn is not only a very good judge, but also a brilliant academic. ... Last week his latest judgment, S v AG [2011] EWHC 2637 (Fam), was published.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

The Garrick Club does a disservice to all judges, male or female

2011-10-19T07:42:00.000+01:00

Baroness Hale of Richmond, the only woman judge in the Supreme Court, is “dismayed” that so many judges belong to the Garrick Club.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Transparency... Coming to a "secret" court near you?

2011-10-15T19:33:00.001+01:00

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Family Courts Information Pilot, a project trialled by the Ministry of Justice and some participating courts whereby written judgments were produced for certain types of cases.

Full post: The Small Places

S v AG: Dealing with a lottery prize on divorce

2011-10-14T18:04:00.001+01:00

Lottery prizes have been much in the news this week, and today the High Court got in on the act, in the case S v AG (Financial Remedy: Lottery Prize) [2011] EWHC 2637 (Fam).

Full post: Family Lore

LiP Service

2011-10-14T08:04:00.000+01:00

Litigants in Person are in the news. The penny seems to be dropping that they are becoming the norm rather than the exception.

Full post: Pink Tape

Domicile and jurisdiction

2011-10-10T16:34:00.001+01:00

As I mentioned in my post about habitual residence, this blog receives a number of enquiries from people living outside England, enquiring whether it is possible to divorce in England.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

H-K (Children): Habitual residence does not require permanence

2011-10-10T13:49:00.001+01:00

At first blush the decision in H-K (Children) [2011] EWCA Civ 1100, handed down today, may seem a little contrary: a family come to England clearly intending only to stay for a year, and yet the Court of Appeal held that they were habitually resident in this country.

Full post: Family Lore

Mirror Orders to Help Prevent International Child Abduction

2011-10-06T18:08:00.000+01:00

So-called "mirror" orders can be a useful tool in the arsenal of lawyers who handle cases concerning international child travel and the prevention of potential international child abduction. So, what exactly is a mirror order, and how can it be employed to protect your client’s parental interests?

Full post: International Family Law

G v A: The Folly of Continuous Litigation

2011-10-06T14:55:00.000+01:00

Where to begin with this sorry tale? The most recent events have just been reported on Bailii, but to say that they will be the end of the story would, I fear, be somewhat optimistic.

Full post: Family Lore

How do you demonstrate habitual residence?

2011-10-06T06:59:00.000+01:00

This blog receives many enquiries from people overseas who wish to know if they are able to present a divorce petition in England. The answer, quite simply, rests on whether or not there is jurisdiction to do so.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Will the truth ever out post-Imerman?

2011-09-30T12:25:00.000+01:00

It has now been more than a year since the landmark Court of Appeal judgment in the case of Imerman v Tchenguiz. The decision, condemned by family lawyers at the time, has meant that litigants are no longer permitted to seize papers and documents left lying around, if it is deemed that such actions could breach a party’s “rights of confidence”.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

A matter of life or death: a minimally conscious patient

2011-09-29T07:05:00.000+01:00

The case of W v M, S and a NHS Trust [2011] EWHC 2443 (Fam) 28th September 2011 concerned a lady, referred to as M, who is in a "minimally conscious state" which differs significantly from "vegetative state."

Full post: Law and Lawyers

Open letter to CAFCASS

2011-09-28T13:00:00.001+01:00

Charles Place was suspended from CAFCASS in 2009 and allegations of misconduct made against him in connection with his voicing of concerns about the operation of CAFCASS were not upheld by the General Social Care Council.

Full post: Pink Tape

Re K (A Child): No jurisdiction to require father to vacate family home to faciliate contact

2011-09-22T13:04:00.000+01:00

Re K (A Child) [2011] EWCA Civ 1075 (28 July 2011), reported today on Bailii, concerned a judge's attempt to establish contact between an eleven year-old child and her mother, who resides predominantly in Bulgaria.

Full post: Family Lore

Reebok, Cartier and the Bolton Law Society Family Law Conference

2011-09-21T15:57:00.000+01:00

Another week, another football stadium! This time, it’s not Wembley but the Reebok Stadium: the home of Bolton Wanderers football team. It is also the venue for the Bolton Law Society Family Law Conference, which I chaired yesterday.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Lord Justice Wall lays down law on family court privacy

2011-09-20T18:47:00.000+01:00

Sir Nicholas Wall, the President of the Family Division, has suspended a nine-month prison sentence for contempt of court given to Elizabeth Watson, a “private investigator” who published online sex abuse allegations which had been rejected by a series of judges.

Full post: UK Human Rights Blog

Generation gap

2011-09-15T17:28:00.001+01:00

The LPC equips young lawyers for the commercial world but leaves them without fully developed family law skills, says Marilyn Stowe as she despairs of her potential trainees.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Opening up the family courts

2011-09-14T07:10:00.000+01:00

Last month the Ministry of Justice published a report of a pilot project that ran last year whereby participating family courts produced and published on Bailii written judgments of specified Children Act 1989 cases.

Full post: UK Human Rights Blog

Government wrecks cohabitation reform in just 150 words

2011-09-13T16:51:00.000+01:00

In 2005, the Government asked the Law Commission to report on possible changes to the law in relation to cohabitation.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

What Kind of Debate Should We Be Having About Domestic Violence?

2011-09-12T14:46:00.001+01:00

I was prompted to write by the e petition ‘review of access laws for domestic abusers’. It says: ‘70% of cases in the family courts cite domestic abuse as a major concern yet only 1% are refused access. A review is required.’

Full post: Pink Tape

Child protection: can't afford to cut spending, can't afford not to

2011-09-10T06:59:00.000+01:00

Record numbers of youngsters are being taken into care. As budgets tighten, how can councils rein in what some regard as unsustainable spending on children's social care?

Full post: Patrick Butler's cuts blog

Mansfield v Mansfield: Considering the origin of the family capital (i.e. as compensation for personal injuries)

2011-09-08T14:50:00.001+01:00

"This appeal raises a single point of significance, and that is the degree to which the judge in ancillary relief proceedings should reflect the origin of the family assets in a substantial damages award on the settlement of a personal injuries claim".

Full post: Family Lore

A cautionary lesson: the Vicky Haigh and Liz Watson judgments

2011-09-06T13:54:00.000+01:00

Sir Nicholas Wall has published his judgments in these cases involving Vicky Haigh, the woman John Hemming named in Parliament as a potential “secret prisoner” back in April after she spoke at a public meeting about the court case involving her child, and Elizabeth Watson, the woman who wrote e-mails and articles on the web in support of Ms. Haigh, and who made serious and false allegations against the father of the child.

Full post: Head of Legal

SK v WL: Valuing a post-separation contribution

2011-09-03T10:29:00.000+01:00

SK v WL, despite being decided on the 26th February 2010, has just been reported on Bailii. It is an ancillary relief case, involving a husband's attempt to secure substantially more than 50% of the assets, on the basis of his post-separation contribution.

Full post: Family Lore

Book Review: THE RED BOOK (Family Court Practice 2011)

2011-09-03T08:37:00.001+01:00

Many will already have their Red Book by now. But many will still be pondering it, increasingly conscious of the delicate balance between overheads and income.

Full post: Pink Tape

Announcing the Summer Competition winner: what next for the Chocolate Box Family?

2011-09-01T11:56:00.000+01:00

Earlier this month I gave you, my readers, a fictional scenario. I described a family falling apart at the seams, and asked what advice you would give them.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

What’s going on in the “divorce arena”?

2011-08-31T08:37:00.001+01:00

Family lawyers are often reticent to discuss what is really going on in their practices – so Grant Thornton’s Matrimonial Survey provides a welcome opportunity to find out.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

New Publication: Family Courts’ Guide to Media Access and Reporting

2011-08-30T15:29:00.001+01:00

In July 2011, the Family Courts in conjunction with the Judicial College and the Society of Editors published a “Guide to Media Access and Reporting“, written by barristers, Adam Wolanski and Kate Wilson with a Preface by Sir Nicholas Wall and Bob Satchwell.

Full post: Inforrm's Blog

Bared Teeth – Grrrrr!

2011-08-24T08:47:00.000+01:00

Contempt of Court are the “teeth” behind privacy rules in family proceedings. The court will bite, but only when necessary.

Full post: Pink Tape

A note on the Vicky Haigh case

2011-08-23T18:20:00.000+01:00

The case of Vicky Haigh has made lurid headlines today. She is the woman publicly named and shamed by Lord Justice Wall, the President of the Family Division, after making “entirely false” and “scandalous” allegations about her former partner.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Book Review: Legal Aid Handbook

2011-08-23T15:50:00.000+01:00

I’ll be honest, when I was reminded that I’d said I’d review the Legal Aid Handbook 2011/12, my heart sank.

Full post: Pink Tape

Unravelling legal fees: Is it all just a question of respect?

2011-08-19T12:04:00.000+01:00

Legal fees can get many people hot under the collar. Never more so than in family law cases where the subject matter is personal and emotionally charged, and when a client can think of far more pleasant ways to spend his or her hard earned cash.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Maintenance law must be clarified

2011-08-12T15:46:00.000+01:00

Spousal maintenance is the most contentious area in family finance. Ex-husbands bitterly resent paying it and ex-wives fight tooth and nail to keep it.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Only fools and clients

2011-08-10T10:54:00.000+01:00

The government wouldn’t like us to start pulling our own teeth, so why encourage more litigants in person, asks Marilyn Stowe.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Book review: The Family Lawyer and the Court of Protection

2011-08-09T07:07:00.000+01:00

In these wobbly and ever changing days, family lawyers in particular are re-appraising their skillset and breadth of practice.

Full post: Pink Tape

From Florence to the Court of Appeal

2011-08-08T13:34:00.001+01:00

Marilyn looks at the cases of Yankah v Yankah and N v N.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Presidential Lapse

2011-08-07T10:22:00.000+01:00

The President’s Interim Guidance in respect of CAFCASS will be allowed to lapse on it’s expiry on 30 September.

Full post: Pink Tape

External Relocation: An update.

2011-08-04T17:33:00.000+01:00

A recent case has provided a useful update to external relocation cases, and I would like to draw upon it to explain how the court approaches cases regarding external relocation, when parents share the care of the child more or less equally.

Full post: Marilyn Stowe Blog

Media Access & Reporting

2011-08-03T08:00:00.001+01:00

Thanks to Adam Wagner at UKHR Blog for alerting me to today’s publication of “A joint publication of The President of the Family Division, the Judicial College and the Society of Editors” entitled “Media Access & Reporting”, which comes just as I was about to put finger to keyboard and begin to type a blog post containing a proposal in respect of that very topic.

Full post: Pink Tape

Russia Accedes to Hague Child Abduction Convention

2011-08-02T14:41:00.000+01:00

On Thursday, 28 July 2011, the Russian Federation deposited its instrument of accession to the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Convention will enter into force for the Russian Federation on 1 October 2011.

Full post: International Family Law

Liberty: deprivation or restraint?

2011-08-02T12:08:00.000+01:00

Little is known by the general public about the Court of Protection. It was created, from 1st October 2007, by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 s45.

Full post: Law and Lawyers

Hungary Violates the Hague Convention on Abduction

2011-08-01T14:15:00.000+01:00

Having worked on international child custody matters concerning Hungary for several years, and having consulted with Hungarian counsel on such issues, it is unfortunately clear that Hungary does not comply with its obligation under the Hague Abduction Convention to promptly return children who are wrongfully taken to Hungary or retained in Hungary.

Full post: International Family Law

Doing Violence to Legal Aid

2011-07-31T07:54:00.000+01:00

I’ve noticed another teensy glitch in the grand plans to save money through what has now become fondly known as “the LASPO car crash“.

Full post: Pink Tape

Family courts guide to Media Access & Reporting

2011-07-29T17:32:00.000+01:00

The family courts in conjunction with the Judicial College and the Society of Editors have has published a Guide to Media Access and Reporting.

Full post: UK Human Rights Blog

N v N: The limits of appeal

2011-07-28T12:39:00.001+01:00

Family Law Week has published two judgments in the case of N v N, which went before the Court of Appeal at the end of June.

Full post: Family Lore