Declarations of parentage: From another perspective

Richard Adams highlights the tension between the legislative provision and public policy considerations where a declaration is sought in relation to an adopted child A declaration of parentage is intended to be an authoritative statement of the fact so declared, while the effect of an adoption order is as to the legal status of the …
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Step-parents: Rights, remedies and recognition

Emily Watson and Artemis Michael provide a guide to key legislation and case law that applies as to the options available to a step-parent in relation to a step-child Adoption is the most secure way to ensure a married or unmarried step-parent may remain in a child’s life, as the step-parent becomes a permanent and …
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Borrows v HM Coroner for Preston
 [2018] WTLR 365

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2018 #172

.This case concerned the burial arrangements of Liam McManus (Liam), who 
took his life aged just 15. Liam had a difficult upbringing. His parents 
were heroin addicts and so he was brought up by his maternal grandparents 
in Liverpool until he entered foster care aged 5. Two years later he moved in 
with the claimant, Mr Burrows, (who was Liam’s paternal uncle) and his family in St Helens and a full residence order was made in favour of the claimant 
and his wife. Mr and Mrs Burrows were described as his psychological
 parents.

In the year before he died, Liam made contact with h...

Parentage: Unclear intentions

Mark Harper and Myfanwy Probyn discuss the circumstances in which a biological father of a child born to lesbian civil partners is not a legal parent ‘Baker J stated that, in passing HFEA 2008, Parliament had changed the law on donation to recognise lesbian parents as joint legal parents and that those provisions not only …
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Contact: Seeking solutions

Anna Hunter assesses the courts’ approach to problematic contact and potential enforcement options Presenting persuasive evidence that the child’s wishes are a result of one parent’s hostility will be time consuming, as well as emotionally and often financially draining for the parent seeking contact. When giving judgment in Re G (children) [2006], Baroness Hale said: …
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Children: Three’s a crowd?

Richard Adams finds that the welfare of the child remains paramount even in cases involving ‘alternative families’ ‘There has been little consensus in the courts as to how to define and treat the various adults involved in the conception and care of children born to “alternative families”.’ Few will have missed the recent coverage in …
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Probate: Body matters

Jane Evans-Gordon discusses the quandaries that can arise on the disposal of a dead body ‘Bodies cannot be bought or sold, stolen, criminally damaged or, as was once tried, seized by creditors.’ Thomas Mann said that ‘It is a fact that a man’s dying is more the survivors’ affair than his own’.Regrettably, while the Lord …
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