In an unusual case a judge accused social workers of being “biased” against grandparents who sought to contest the proposed adoption of their two year old grandson. His Honour Judge Jack gave his judgment on 14th June 2014 in the Hull Family Court; this was published on 25th November 2014. Read more…
Up until last week the legal focus of the inquiry into child sexual exploitation (CSE) was from a criminal law angle. However, on Wednesday 19th November it was made public that injunctions had been obtained in the Family Division of the High Court against 10 men whom were suspected of Read more…
A McKenzie Friend is someone who assists a Litigant in Person in court. McKenzie Friends are not necessarily legally qualified and their role is more limited than that of a solicitor or barrister. The name derives from a divorce case in 1970 in which a barrister who was qualified in Read more…
There have been two stories in the media this week about access to justice – or lack thereof. It was reported in the mainstream media on 31st October that Sir James Munby, the President of the Family Division of the High Court, had accused the Government of “washing its hands Read more…
Cases in which one parent wants to move away with the children of the family are extremely difficult. In family law terms these are known as relocation cases and usually involve powerful arguments on both sides. For the parent whose children move away it may mean that they do not Read more…
It was reported in the news on 30th September 2014 that 180 divorces obtained by Italian nationals in the English Courts had been declared null and void. A firm based in Italy had been offering Italians a “quickie” divorce in this country to avoid having to wait the three year Read more…
The animal charity Blue Cross has introduced the world’s first ‘Pet Nuptial Agreement’ to deal with how pets are treated on divorce and separation. The law views pets as chattels i.e. possessions, rather than considering their welfare as the primary consideration. There is limited case law on the treatment of Read more…
The result of the Scottish referendum will not change the legal system in Scotland; Scotland has always had its own legal system which is known as Scots Law. The legal jurisdiction in which we live covers England and Wales and is known as English Law. Northern Ireland has its own Read more…
As family solicitors we deal with victims of domestic abuse in our day to day work. The remedies available in the family court to protect victims of domestic abuse fall under the civil rather than the criminal law. The most common family law injunctions are called non-molestation and occupation orders. Read more…
The case of the seriously ill 5 year old boy Aysha King has been all over the news this week. From a family law perspective the case is interesting as, on 1st September 2014, Aysha was made a ward of court on an application to the High Court by Portsmouth Read more…