Sir Andrew McFarlane, the President of the Family Division, has called upon lawyers to help fund a support scheme for unrepresented litigants. The call came just days after the Support Through Court charity, which provides free support and guidance to unrepresented litigants, confirmed that it was closing four of its offices in court buildings around […]

Two important family law Bills have been lost, as a result of the calling of a General Election. The Domestic Abuse Bill was to introduce a comprehensive package of measures to tackle domestic abuse, including provisions prohibiting the cross-examination in court of an abuse victim by the alleged perpetrator of the abuse. The Divorce, Dissolution […]

A father has had to withdraw an application for contact with his children, after their mother alienated them against him. The court had tried to transfer residence of the children to the father, but the alienation had already become entrenched, and the children ran away. Giving judgment in the case His Honour Judge Wildblood QC […]

The Department for Work and Pensions has published its latest quarterly summary of statistics for the Child Support Agency (‘CSA’), for the period April to June 2019. The CSA was set up in 1993 and in 2012 the Child Maintenance Service (‘CMS’) was created to replace it. The closure of the CSA is progressing and […]

The latest figures for care applications and private law demand, for September 2019, have been published by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (‘Cafcass’), the organisation that looks after the interests of children involved in family proceedings. In that month the service received a total of 1,000 new care applications, 62 (5.8 […]

Happy birthday Ed from all your colleagues at Prince Family Law

The Domestic Abuse Bill, which will introduce a comprehensive package of measures to tackle domestic abuse, has had its second reading in the House of Commons. In the course of the debate Labour MP Rosie Duffield gave a harrowing account of her personal experience of domestic abuse. She said: “Domestic violence has many faces and […]

The latest quarterly data on the volume of cases dealt with by family courts, between April and June this year, with statistics also broken down for the main types of case involved, has been published by the Ministry of Justice. Amongst the main points are: a decrease in the number of cases started in Family […]

Nicole Jacobs will be the first Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, the Home Secretary has announced. Ms Jacobs was the former Chief Executive Officer at charity Standing Together Against Domestic Violence, and has more than two decades of experience working to reduce domestic abuse. The role of Domestic Abuse Commissioner will lead on […]

Nagalro, the Professional Association for Children’s Guardians, Family Court Advisers and Independent Social Workers, has raised concern about the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (‘Cafcass’) undermining the role of Children’s Guardians. Nagalro is concerned that Cafcass public statements have disseminated inaccurate information on its website, which appear to dilute the role of […]