New powers to enable the Home Office to tackle sham marriages have been announced by Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire.
Full story: Family Law Week
‘Families are paying the high price of legal aid cuts’: Nicholas Lavender QC
Bar Council responds to National Audit Office’s report on civil legal aid.
Full story: Family Law Week
Full story: Family Law Week
Report on experiences and needs of LiPs published
The Ministry of Justice has published findings from a study into the experiences and support needs of litigants in person in private family law cases.
Full story: Family Law Week
Full story: Family Law Week
North East Lincolnshire Council social workers criticised by judge
Three council social workers have been criticised for "bias" by a judge asked to decide the future of a three-year-old boy whose mother has died.
Full story: BBC News
Full story: BBC News
Jamie Cooper-Hohn wins £337m in High Court divorce case
The American wife of a London financier has been awarded £337m by a High Court judge in a divorce case.
Full story: BBC News
Full story: BBC News
LiPs not to blame for delays in family courts
MOJ publishes experimental statistics providing the results of analyses of estimated hearing duration in Private Law cases in England and Wales.
Full story: Family Law
Full story: Family Law
One in four face financial trouble following relationship split
Britons are turning to credit cards, overdrafts and personal loans following a relationship break-up according to the findings of a new survey.
Full story: Resolution
Full story: Resolution
Baby P effect takes children in care numbers to 25-year high, says NAO
Local authorities in England were looking after 68,110 children in March 2013 – a 14% increase since 2008.
Full story: The Guardian
Full story: The Guardian
Children on protection register in Wales total rises again
The number of children on child protection registers in Wales has risen for the sixth year running.
Full story: BBC News
Full story: BBC News
County loses appeal over support for disabled Roma child who moves out of area
A county council has lost a Court of Appeal bid to overturn a ruling that the authority had the power to provide support for a disabled child even when his Roma Gypsy family are working in different parts of the country and outside its borders.
Full story: Local Government Lawyer
Full story: Local Government Lawyer
Government announces £10m fund to help eliminate violence against women and girls
The government has announced a £10 million fund to support women’s refuges in 100 areas across England.
Full story: Family Law
Full story: Family Law
Divorce hurting British workplaces
British businesses are suffering as a result of divorce and separation. That’s the finding of a new piece of research from family law not for profit group Resolution.
Full story: Resolution
Full story: Resolution
Expert online welfare rights service goes live
The Child Poverty Action Group has launched an innovative online welfare rights information and advice service for advisers and claimants.
Full story: Family Law Week
Full story: Family Law Week
Divorce: the devastating cost for children
Watching parents split up has a devastaing impact on a child's future, according to a new report.
Full story: The Telegraph
Full story: The Telegraph
New domestic violence law will outlaw coercive control
Theresa May expected to unveil plans to put psychological and emotional abuse on a par with domestic violence.
Full story: The Telegraph
Full story: The Telegraph
Law Commission seeks to simplify the law of child abduction and kidnapping
In a report published today, the Commission is recommending reforms that will clarify the offences of kidnapping and false imprisonment, and allow for the prosecution of parents who keep their children overseas in contravention of a court order or without permission of the other parent or guardian.
Full story: Family Law Week
Full story: Family Law Week
Lack of legal aid in child cases soars
Increasing number of family law cases being heard without parties having legal representation, official auditors reveal.
Full story: The Guardian
Full story: The Guardian
Free relationship counselling for parents to rescue marriages
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith says ministers will announce guidance for health visitors on how to 'recognise and respond to the signs of relationship difficulties'.
Full story: The Telegraph
Full story: The Telegraph
Confusion for social workers as judge urges Supreme Court to reconsider deprivation of liberty stance
Expert says Court of Protection ruling "flies in the face" of landmark Cheshire West judgement handed down in March by Supreme Court.
Full story: Community Care
Full story: Community Care
70,000 troubled families have had their lives turned around, report says
The government has issued a report detailing the progress it has made since it published 'Social Justice: transforming lives' in 2012.
Full story: Family Law
Full story: Family Law
Parents face funding test to stop their children going into care
Parents facing the prospect of having their children taken away from them should have legal aid to fight their case, the Bar Council has said.
Full story: The Bar Council
Full story: The Bar Council
New Practice Direction on deprivation of liberty comes into force
Practice Direction 10AA (Deprivation of Liberty Applications), supplementing the Court of Protection Rules 2007, comes into force today.
Full story: Family Law
Full story: Family Law
McKenzie Friends’ trade association introduces new rules
Society of Professional McKenzie Friends responds to Legal Services Board recommendations.
Full story: Family Law Week
Full story: Family Law Week
£19 million of support available for adoptive families
The new funding will be available to help adoptive families across the country settle their children into their new home.
Full story: Department for Education
Full story: Department for Education
Serious case reviews to be commissioned by the government, says Timpson
Children's minister criticises the efficacy and quality of Local Safeguarding Children Boards and serious case reviews.
Full story: Community Care
Full story: Community Care
Education Committee endorses Anne Longfield’s candidacy as new Children’s Commissioner
The House of Commons Education Select Committee has endorsed the candidacy of Anne Longfield as the new Children's Commissioner for England.
Full story: Family Law Week
Full story: Family Law Week
High Court judge blasts lack of judicial resources to meet care proceedings timings
A High Court judge refused to embark on a final hearing in a complex child care case because of lack of time and the absence of any slack in the family court system to allow for an early hearing, it has emerged.
Full story: Local Government Lawyer
Full story: Local Government Lawyer
Marriage becoming 'preserve of the wealthy'
Since 2001 those in the top social class have gone from being 24 per cent more likely to be married to 50 per cent more likely, figures from the Office for National Statistics show.
Full story: The Telegraph
Full story: The Telegraph
Couple rack up legal bills of nearly £1m fighting divorce battle (over assets worth just £2.9m)
High Court judge presiding over case says he was 'almost lost for words when the scale of this madness was revealed to me.
Full story: The Telegraph
Full story: The Telegraph
Care applications in October 2014
In October 2014, Cafcass received a total of 999 applications. This figure represents a 2% increase compared to those received in October 2013.
Full story: Cafcass
Full story: Cafcass
Cafcass private law demand
In October 2014, Cafcass received a total of 3,419 new private law cases. This is a 13% decrease on October 2013 levels.
Full story: Cafcass
Full story: Cafcass
Judges’ 'resentment' toward Government adding to adoption slump, ex-minister warns
Tim Loughton, the former Children’s Minister, argues that ‘blame-game’ between judges and social workers lies behind fall in adoption requests.
Full story: The Telegraph
Full story: The Telegraph
Domestic violence should be specific criminal offence, says Law Commission
Consultation paper suggests move as response to concerns that violence within relationships is not being effectively policed.
Full story: The Guardian
Full story: The Guardian
Number of adoptions plunges to crisis level after Michael Gove reforms
Adoption reform watchdog warns of ‘alarming’ decline after judges voice concern over ‘lamentable’ failings in assessments.
Full story: The Telegraph
Full story: The Telegraph
President’s Guidance of 10 November 2014: The International Child Abduction and Contact Unit
An increasing number of children cases have an international element and courts often require information from other jurisdictions before being able to proceed. The International Child Abduction and Contact Unit has provided the following guidance, which will help practitioners to follow the correct route to obtain information.
Full story: Family Law
Full story: Family Law
Article 15 requests under Brussels IIR must be considered as early as possible
Pauffley J reminds practitioners of the urgency of addressing jurisdictional issues.
Full story: Family Law Week
Full story: Family Law Week
Council ordered to pay £12k damages to parents over removal of baby
A judge has ordered Leicester City Council to pay £6,000 each in damages to parents with learning difficulties whose baby was removed by a care order.
Full story: Local Government Lawyer
Full story: Local Government Lawyer
Mother allowed to change twin sons' surname over father's blogging
Woman given permission to change her children's names after telling judge of 'bizarre conduct' of father on internet blogging sites.
Full story: The Telegraph
Full story: The Telegraph
Acting as a Litigation Friend in the Court of Protection – new Guidance now out
The Guidance aims to demystify the Court of Protection generally and the role of litigation friend specifically so as to enable more people to consider taking up the role – thereby ensuring the better promotion and protection of the rights of those said to be lacking capacity to take their own decisions.
Full story: Family Law
Full story: Family Law
Unhappy father must stop 'snide remarks' about ex-partner's lesbian lover, judge rules
Mrs Justice Pauffley suggested the man and his ex-partner should talk about the 'distress, unhappiness, mistrust and bitterness' rather than sniping at each other.
Full story: The Telegraph
Full story: The Telegraph
Nine-fold hike in Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards caseloads confirmed by official figures
Government statistics confirm findings of Community Care investigation into impact of Supreme Court ruling on Dols case numbers.
Full story: Community Care
Full story: Community Care
Pay your child maintenance or damage your credit rating
Separated parents who fail to contribute financially to the upbringing of their children, face ruining their credit rating from next year.
Full story: Department for Work and Pensions
Full story: Department for Work and Pensions
Solicitor mediation referrals plummet post-LASPO
Divorcing couples are increasingly seeking mediation themselves rather than through a solicitor, new figures have revealed.
Full story: Law Society Gazette
Full story: Law Society Gazette
Courts deliver blow to government adoption drive
The government’s push on adoptions is facing a setback after it was claimed rises in the number of children being adopted will stall due to courts granting fewer adoption orders.
Full story: Children & Young People Now
Full story: Children & Young People Now
Student with schizophrenia must have son adopted
Judge tells mother of one-year-old boy that custody risks are too great, despite her showing ‘good response’ to medication.
Full story: The Guardian
Full story: The Guardian
Adopted parents receive heartfelt thanks from minister
Adoptive parents across the country have received a personal letter of thanks from the Children and Families Minister, Edward Timpson.
Full story: Department for Education
Full story: Department for Education
Sperm deal children ‘irredeemably marred’ by four-parent feud
Judge warns of trauma ‘unleashed’ by fallout from ‘known-donor fertilisation’ arrangement between former friends.
Full story: The Telegraph
Full story: The Telegraph
Free mediation for more separating couples
More separating couples will benefit from free mediation from 3 November, Simon Hughes has announced.
Full story: Ministry of Justice
Full story: Ministry of Justice
Concerns over adoption service cash support for families
Children may miss out for adoption in Wales because the equivalent service in England will have a dedicated fund for supporting families, experts fear.
Full story: BBC News
Full story: BBC News
Legal aid cuts denied mother a fair hearing, says senior judge
‘If legal aid is being refused to people such as this, I am satisfied that injustices will occur,’ say family court judge Louise Hallam.
Full story: The Observer
Full story: The Observer
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