International child abduction

There have been two decisions this week on cases where a child has been brought to the UK by its mother without the father’s consent and in both cases the court has ordered that the child in question must return to its country of origin. In the  first case Re F the parents had been […]

Charges for using the Child Maintenance Service

Despite warnings against the measure from the House of Lords, a plan to start charging parents for using the new Child Maintenance Service (replacing the Child Support Agency) have now been approved by Parliament. The Government appears to be of the view that by imposing these charges they will encourage people to resolve matters without […]

Impact of divorce on children

A survey by Netmums has revealed that in many cases children feel very differently about the impact of their parents separation than their parents believe. Worryingly 14% of children felt unable to be honest with their parents about their feelings and 2 in 5 admitted hiding their feelings from their parent to avoid upsetting them. […]

Parental child abductions on the increase

Abductions of children from the UK by one of their parents has nearly doubled in the last 10 years according to data from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). This amounts to a startling two children being abducted abroad every single day. The FCO  has made a film called “Caught in the Middle,” which shows […]

Lack of confidence in the courts

The Ministry of Justice has published a report into the public’s confidence in the court system. The survey showed that less than half of those asked were either very confident of fairly confident that the family courts take into account the views of both parents when deciding what orders to make in respect of children. […]

Grandparents jailed by Family Judge

The grandparents of a child who was the subject of court proceedings have been jailed for contempt of court. The child concerned was Alice Davies. The application before the court was made by Alice’s father for contact with his daughter however before the order could be enforced Alice was taken abroad by her mother. The […]

MMR Vaccine

The High Court has ordered that two girls aged 15 and 11 must receive the MMR vaccination following a dispute between their parents. The parents are now divorced but when together had decided not to vaccinate their children in the wake of concerns raised about the safety of the vaccine and links with Autism. These […]

Children and Divorce – Daily Mail News

Tonight on BBC two there is a programme called “Mum and Dad are Splitting Up.” It will feature the experiences of both parents and children who have gone through family breakdown. An article in the BBC magazine today considers how much a child should be told by their parents about the reason for a marriage breakdown […]

Legal Aid Changes 2013: Children

Legal Aid Changes: Public Law Children This is the one area where nothing has changed. Application by the Local Authority for Care or Supervision Order As pre 1st April any parent or person with Parental Responsibility is automatically eligible for Legal Aid funding to be represented in these proceedings regardless of their financial circumstances. Any […]

Important Legal Aid Changes April 2013

From 1st April 2013 Legal Aid will change significantly. In most areas of private family law legal aid will no longer be available regardless of financial circumstances.  There will be some limited exceptions to this, principally: Applications for injunctions for protection from domestic violence. Cases where the applicant is the victim of domestic violence, to […]