Resolution’s Response To Report On Medical Experts in the Family Courts

On the 17th February, Resolution, a community of family justice professionals, gave its response to a draft report from the President of the Family Division’s working group on experts in family law.  The response included specific points on legal aid and highlighted the “helpful and collaborative” guidance for experts from the Legal Aid Agency (LAA).  It was […]

Legal Action Concerning Storage Of Dead Persons Gametes

Legal Action Concerning Storage Of Dead Persons “Sperm And/Or Embryos”

A “highly unusual claim” is current being heard over the access to a fertility clinic’s private records concerning the storage of a dead person’s “sperm and/or embryos”. Lawyers have applied to court representing the estate of a dead individual, who’s gender cannot be revealed, for permission to see the records held by a UK fertility […]

Social Media Plays Part In Divorce

Social media has seen the downfall of a property tycoon, who informed his ex-wife – who was in the process of obtaining a divorce – that she should sell her engagement ring to maintain her way of life. Preston Haskell IV (53) and ex-wife Alesia Vladimirovna (39), enjoyed the finer things in life during their […]

Domestic Violence Victims Not Safe In Family Courts

A letter signed by 130 family lawyers and family law professionals has stated that family courts are not safe for domestic violence victims due to ‘outdated views’ held by some judges. Inspired by the case last year, where a judge ruled a woman had ‘taken no physical steps’ to stop a rape, the family law […]

Family Courts “A Black Hole In Relation To Data and Researchers”

Family Courts “A Black Hole In Relation To Data and Researchers”

Sir James Munby, former president of the family division, has spoken about the effect of section 12 on family courts. Since the withdrawal of legal aid to family cases in 2012, that have made family courts a “lawyer free zone”, the effects of section 12 are causing a “black hole” of effective scrutiny. Speaking at […]

Application For Contact Withdrawn By Transgender Woman

https://todaysfamilylawyer.co.uk/main-news/courts-failing-rape-victims/

A transgender woman has given up her five-year family court battle to see her five children. Following the revelation that the woman, only known as J, had been living as a woman, she had left her close-knit Haredi community in Manchester in 2015. The Haredi is an insular subset of ultra-Orthodox Jewry, where Jewish laws […]

What A Conservative Government Means To Family Law

Houses of Parliament

The Conservatives’ ‘less is more’ approach to the election campaign has more than paid off gaining 47 seats and taking a majority government with 364 seats in the House of Commons whilst also relegating the Labour Party to their worst defeat since 1935.    With the largest win since the Thatcher Governments, we look back at the Conservative manifesto to […]

Adoption Rates Falling Whilst Number Of Children Looked After Increases

Figures released by the Department of Education have released worrying results regarding the number of children looked after (CLA) as well as the rates of adoption in the UK in 2019.  Since 1994 there has been an increasing trend of the number of CLA, rising 4% in the last year alone.  On the 31st March 2019 there was a record number of CLA, a total […]

Large Decrease In Divorce Applications Due To ‘Administrative Reasons’?

Large Decrease In Divorce Applications Due To ‘Administrative Reasons’?

Recent figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) have shown a large decrease in divorce rates in 2018, the lowest rate in 48 years. In 2018 there were 90,871 divorces of opposite sex couples, a decrease of 10.6% on the previous year. The downward trend has also been consistent with the decline in […]

Ensuring Full And Frank Disclosure

Ensuring Full and Frank Disclosure

It is not surprising to any divorce lawyer that when it comes to splitting finances in a divorce, things can become ugly very quickly.   Surprisingly, large numbers of cases involve some form of distorting figures.  There are currently stories in headline news where there are allegations of hiding business assets and purposefully reducing income to decrease […]

“Fairness For Families” – Resolution Asks For Election Manifesto Pledges 

“Fairness For Families” – Resolution Asks For Election Manifesto Pledges

With the election manifestos being released this week, Resolution has been eagerly awaiting responses to their letter to all political parties, ‘urging them to prioritise much-needed family justice reforms in their election manifesto’.  In their letter, dated the 14th November 2019, National Chair Margaret Heathcote and the Chair of the Family Law Reform Group, Jo Edwards, called on all […]

Public And Industry Calls for Transparency in Family Courts

Public And Industry Calls for Transparency in Family Courts

A charity supporting victims of domestic abuse and MP Trudy Harrison have backed the launch of the #getmhome campaign tomorrow, the 16 November, seeking to end the injustice in secret family courts.    The campaign was started by Victoria Hudson, who had a member of her family forcibly removed by Cumbria Children’s Services in September 2018, and who has not been allowed contact […]