Blog
Rayner my parade! The importance of specialist advice.
Jemma Brimblecombe
12 July 2013
Playing catch up – legal issues arising from the go-ahead for mitochondrial transfers?
On 28 June 2013, the UK Government announced that it has given the go ahead to a technique called “mitochondrial transfer”, which could not have been better timed - just ahead of the second International Family Law and Practice Conference 2013 “Parentage, Equality and Gender”.
8 July 2013
Summer surge in children applications - dealing with the queues in Court
Today, CAFCASS (The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) confirmed receipt of 4,267 new private law referrals for the month of June, representing a 29% increase on the figures for the same month last year. Last month’s report confirmed that 5,038 cases were referred in May 2013, which was the highest amount on record. These figures show that, after a slight lull in 2011 (after the introduction of compulsory Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings (MIAMs) in 2010), private law children applications are on the increase.
27 February 2013
The Children and Families Bill - from a young person's perspective
This week, the Department of Education published a Young Person’s Guide to the Children and Families Bill (which had its second reading in Parliament on 25th February) written specifically for a younger audience. The guide, according to the Department’s website, is designed to provide young people with a “good summary” of the proposed changes to the law and what it might mean for them. Lucy Thomas, Senior Associate in Family, takes a look at the guide.
25 February 2013
The Children and Families Bill - a presumption of shared parenting?
Today, 25 February, the new Children and Families Bill has its second reading in Parliament.
Among a number of changes, the new Bill will provide statutory recognition that it's in the child's interests for both parents to remain involved in the child's life. As the wording of the proposed statute states ‘ the involvement of [each] parent in the life of the child concerned will further the child’s welfare’ (unless the children will be at risk of harm).
21 January 2013
Child maintenance – what happens if the presumed parent is not the parent after all?
It was reported in the press that Richard Rodwell, who raised two children during his marriage to his ex wife, recently discovered that they were in fact the product of extra marital affairs. Following Mr and Mrs Rodwell’s divorce, he paid child maintenance for over four years until he decided to investigate rumours that the children were not his. Following DNA tests confirming that he was not the father of either of the children, Mr Rodwell made an application to the Court within civil proceedings. The Judge awarded him £25,000 in damages, treating the award as akin to a bereavement award in a fatal accident claim.