Knowledge and resources

It’s a Friday at 5pm, you’re in the office (pre-pandemic), the phone rings and a client says their kids have been taken…

This was the scene set by Simon Craddock (Brethertons) and Laura Morley (4PB) to start off their workshop looking at emergency private children cases where one partner unilaterally removes the children.

Two recent cases have clarified the position where parents disagree on whether to vaccinate their children, and a local authority’s position when considering children in its care.

The courts have a number of powers to enforce compliance with child arrangement orders but each needs to be carefully considered in the circumstances of the case.

The Court of Appeal decision in R v P (Children: Similar fact evidence) [2020] won’t open the floodgates for the admission of similar-fact evidence, provides useful clarity on when and how it can be used.

The new Scottish measures have similarities with and differences from E&W, Canada, Australia and NZ. One key point is the move to hear the voice of the child.

Cafcass has now rolled out its new co-parenting programme nationally. It looks like an effective strategy to get high-conflict – but not change-averse – parents back to the drawing board.

We set out below some of the offences most commonly encountered in cases where family and criminal law overlap.

As with most areas of contentious law, having to instruct a criminal or family lawyer is seldom a happy process for the client. Unfortunately, the nature of relationship breakdown means that all too often family proceedings result in the need for criminal advice.

It is hard sometimes to help parents focus on the legalities of the divorce when they are in emotional turmoil and looking to their lawyer for emotional support. So how do we define our boundaries in a way that is both supportive for our clients with children, and helpful for us?

The charity OnePlusOne has five decades of research into family breakdown and has developed models, programmes and publications that deliver. As lockdown-related family problems surge, the charity asks if the DD&S Bill might offer some glimmers of hope…

Family Law in Partnership reflections arising from Simon Sugar’s presentation for Resolution, January 2020 for The Review.

The fallout from the controversial judgment in F v H and what it will mean for judicial training. In this article for The Review Anna-Laura Lock and Selena Arbe-Barnes take a look at this new situation.

This article tries to answer some of the questions now faced by separated parents worried about how the current events and government advice will impact on their child arrangements – whether existing or sought. I have seen and read many social media comments about this topic. There seems to be a wide divergence of views from family lawyers up and down the country.

In these difficult times arrangements in nearly every aspect of life are changing rapidly. This will include living and contact arrangements for the children of separated parents. If possible, parents will need to work together to agree necessary changes.

As demographic and social change mean more grandparents getting involved in active parenting, what are their rights and what issues should family lawyers be looking out for?

Anyone reading the headlines of a number of broadsheet newspapers over the past couple of years could be forgiven for thinking that there is an imminent change of law to give grandparents greater rights in relation to their grandchildren. The truth is that no such change is expected in the near future, despite pressure from interested groups.

An update in The Review on the parenting workshops and outreach programmes run by Kids Come First.

In this article from The Review Edward Cooke analyses the activity of the private children law working group put together by the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane.