Aspects of post-divorce life can take people by surprise. One of these is the effect of a family break-up on children. Parents go to great lengths to shield children during and after the divorce process. They watch what they say, taking care not to badmouth the other…
Grandparents aren’t automatically entitled to have contact with their grandchildren. In many situations, contact will try to be maintained and parents will be happy to encourage that. This is important, as grandparents can play a vital role in supporting separated parents, and can be a stabilising force in children’s lives at a time when other things seem so uncertain.
Today, the Ministry of Justice released a set of statistics from the Family Courts for the first three months of this year. The figures show a 14% growth in the number of started cases as compared to the seasonal dip in the previous quarter. Still, the new cases are down 6% in comparison to January […]
Resolution, the national family justice organisation, is offering a free guide to families who are divorcing or separating. The parenting through separation guide is written by family professionals and is full of practical steps that parents can take to put their children first during a separation. The launch of the guide marks the start of […]
The family team has featured in the Solicitors Journal reiterating the advantages of the alternatives to courts, following the release of the Family Court quarterly statistics. As mediation specialists we advocate for out-of-court solutions as much as possible, and especially in cases where children are involved. In our article, we point out multiple benefits of […]
Many experts are calling for children over the age of 12 to be vaccinated against Covid-19 ‘as soon as possible’. That’s in order to achieve herd immunity against the Delta variant. And while this may be an important step in protecting the population and keeping youngsters in school, it will raise strong feelings and concerns […]
The Ministry of Justice has released the Family Court statistics for January to March 2021.
The court system seems to be maintaining its recovery from the COVID pandemic, but since the last quarterly review there has been an increase in the number of cases commenced in the Family Courts, with a rise in financial remedy applications (29%), domestic violence (15%) private law (5%) and matrimonial and adoption cases (1%).
The Family Solutions Group report refers to a ‘series of scattergun initiatives’ and points to a fundamental flaw in the idea that children’s rights and welfare can be protected while they are not present in what is an indirect adult-driven agenda. Kate Newton highlights key recommendations in the report of the Family Solutions Group to […]
Susi Gillespie, Head of the Family law department, has featured in the FT Money with advice to a parent who wants to ban her ex-husband, a frontline worker, from visiting the children because he refuses to be vaccinated. The reader is worried that he might spread the virus to her vulnerable parents and herself through […]
The current pandemic has left many parents wondering how a change in circumstances will affect their child maintenance payments, whether they are the parent paying or receiving it. Either parent can apply for a variation of child maintenance, but the outcome depends on certain circumstances and these differ depending on whether you are paying or […]
With the school holidays upon us, families are grabbing the opportunity to travel. This comes of course after months of restricted movement and separation from friends and relatives. For many, the urge to get away is irresistible. Not everyone is enthusiastic, though. Holiday plans can cause problems for separated parents in normal times, but COVID-19 […]
Child Arrangements How do you arrange the children’s time now that the schools are shut (for non key worker families) and what child arrangements apply – term time arrangements or holiday arrangements? These are unchartered waters. Common sense and communication will have to prevail. As is often the case in family law, there is no […]
Originally published at https://www.judiciary.uk/announcements/coronavirus-crisis-guidance-on-compliance-with-family-court-child-arrangement-orders/. During the current Coronavirus Crisis some parents whose children are the subject of Child Arrangements Orders made by the Family Court have been understandably concerned about their ability to meet the requirements of these court orders safely in the wholly unforeseen circumstances that now apply. This short statement is intended to […]
Last night Boris Johnson announced restrictions on movement unprecedented in most of our lifetimes – not even during the 1st and 2nd World Wars were citizens directed not to leave their homes save for exceptional (and prescribed) reasons. Public gatherings of more than 2 people are banned, as are weddings and baptisms (funerals are allowed). […]
