BBC News reports that it has seen data which show that the number of special guardianship orders made in England has tripled in two years. The number of babies involved, it says, rose from 160 in 2012 to 520 in 2014. Most of the children are aged four or under. Meanwhile, the number of children […]
The Senior Judge of the Family Division Sir James Munby has sent out a reminder to separated parents that it is their obligation to encourage contact with the non-resident parent? In Re H-B (Contact) the court heard that contact between a father and his daughters had stopped in 2008 following an incident between the father’s […]
Last week the BBC’s Panorama investigated the issue of so called “DIY Justice” in family law. This refers to the situation many parents now find themselves in whereby if they wish to make an application to the family courts they have to do so without the assistance of a solicitor. This problem has been made […]
A survey of young people whose parents have divorced has revealed that two thirds of children feel that their parents’ separation led to their GCSE results suffering. 44 per cent also found that their A Level results were negatively effected. More worrying was that 14 per cent of those surveyed said that they had begun […]
A Judge has described two young sisters as irredeemably marred by a long and expensive custody dispute between two sets of gay parents. The dispute arose when a gay couple agreed to donate sperm to a lesbian couple who wanted children. After the children were born the two couples could not agree which of the […]
The case of Ashya King the five year old cancer patient has led to a media frenzy with comment coming from everyone from Boris Johnson to Nick Clegg. But what are the legal implications of the situation? It appears that upon Asyha’s removal from hospital by his parents Portsmouth City Council made an application for Ashya to be […]
Welsh rugby star Ian Gough has been found guilty of assaulting his ex-partner and the mother of his son. Sophie Cahill who is a former Miss Wales alleged that Mr Gough assaulted her during a handover of their son. At Higgins Miller we often encounter clients who have difficulties at handovers. This is of course […]
At Higgins Miller we have become aware that an increasing number of people who have special guardianship orders are having difficulties in relation to obtaining financial support for the children that they are caring for. The law requires a local authority in which the special guardian lives to consider what payments would have been made […]
There has been a massive increase in the numbers of people representing themselves in court in cases concerning children. Between April and December 2013 the courts saw a 57% increase in the number of those without lawyers compared with the previous year. This increase is likely to be partly due to the removal of legal […]
What has been described as “the largest Family Law reform for a generation” by the Ministry of Justice has come into force today. From today all family cases will be heard in the new Single Family Court and will be allocated to the correct level of Judge in the most suitable location by the court. […]