Read our Family Law blog posts from the Taylor&Emmet family law team.
On 22nd January 2015 the High Court ruled in favour of the Government in a judicial review of the rules on legal aid entitlement for victims of domestic abuse. The challenge focussed on whether the evidence of domestic violence required to obtain legal aid in family cases is so inflexible Read more…
Many people may be thinking over the consequences of the House of Commons’ decision this week about IVF. Approval has been given to extend IVF procedures to the creation of embryos using not just a father’s sperm and a mother’s egg but DNA from the cells of a second female. Read more…
That was certainly the view of a French family judge who refused to allow a couple to name their daughter “Nutella” after the chocolate hazelnut spread. In France, if is considered giving a child name which is not their interest, the state prosecutor can refer the case to the family Read more…
In the blog entitled “Access to Justice” dated 7th November 2014 (www.tayloremmet.co.uk/blogs/access-to-justice/) it was reported that Sir James Munby, the President of the Family Division of the High Court, had expressed his frustration with the legal aid system in a case in which a three year old boy had been Read more…
A Law Commission consultation paper entitled ‘Simplification of Criminal Law: Kidnapping and Related Offences’ published on 20th November 2014 makes two recommendations which, if made into law, will have grave consequences for parents who take their own children out of the country without the other parent’s consent. Family law, which Read more…
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…
Section 11 of the Children and Families Act 2014 will come into force today, the 22nd October. This section introduces the presumption of parental involvement. It amends the Children Act 1989 by requiring a Court to now presume, unless the contrary is shown, that ‘involvement’ of the parent in the Read more…