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Jemma Thomas and Nancy Khawam set out the courts’ approach to children’s wishes and feelings, and the weight to be attached to their views ‘The Convention does not stipulate an age below which a child cannot have attained an age and degree of maturity at which it is appropriate to take account of its views …
Continue reading "Children: Children’s voices"
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In the second of a two-part analysis, Duncan Ranton considers recent case law on fostering allowances and kinship carers ‘To justify payment of differential allowances on the basis that the task of family foster carers and the expectations on them were different from those applicable to unrelated foster carers was contrary to the principle of …
Continue reading "Fostering: Making allowances"
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Claire Glaister looks at the powers of the court upon an application for decree absolute by the respondent to divorce proceedings ‘The court has discretion to make or refuse to make a decree absolute but generally will only stay the pronouncement of the decree in exceptional circumstances.’ It is not unusual to represent a respondent …
Continue reading "Decree Absolute: Seeking closure"
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Richard Adams sets out a reminder of the courts’ approach to costs orders in family proceedings ‘The approach of the court in making costs orders will depend on the exact nature of the proceedings, although the types of costs orders available remain the same.’ The recent Court of Appeal decision in Solomon v Solomon [2013] …
Continue reading "Costs: No order or a clean sheet?"
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In the first of a two-part analysis Suzanne Kingston, Adele Pledger and Paulina Sandler compare approaches to spousal maintenance in a range of jurisdictions Given the increasingly international ingredients that make up the family lawyer’s workload, it is useful to compare how different jurisdictions approach the issue of spousal maintenance on relationship breakdown. This is …
Continue reading "International Focus: Across the globe"
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Kate Elliott discusses the decision in Re A and the implications of protracted proceedings in intractable contact disputes ‘A parent’s implacable hostility should rarely deter the court from ordering contact where the child’s welfare required it.’ In Re A (a child) (intractable contact proceedings: human rights violations) [2013], the Court of Appeal was concerned with …
Continue reading "Contact: The impact of delay"
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Matthew Maynard highlights the wider implications of the Court of Appeal decision in Re B-S ‘The Court of Appeal used the judgment in Re B-S as an opportunity to set out what was deemed to be their “serious concerns” about the manner in which courts have approached “non-consensual” adoption.’ The summer of 2013 has been …
Continue reading "Adoption: A fresh approach?"
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In the conclusion to a two-part analysis, Margaret Heathcote examines the procedural aspects of instructing experts and the courts’ approach to the amended rules ‘Do not expect to show up at court and “wing it” so far as expert evidence is concerned – the days where one could make a vague request for expert input …
Continue reading "Expert Evidence: Cautious territory"
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Paula Butterworth analyses the impact of the Supreme Court decision Prest in a cohabitant case ‘It was accepted by the Court of Appeal that this was not a case in which there was scope to pierce the corporate veil, so as to identify the second defendant company with the first defendant.’ The Court of Appeal …
Continue reading "Cohabitants: Life after Prest"
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Vicki McLynn explains why the Court of Appeal’s decision in Tattershall is a reassuring reminder on needs ‘The decision in Tattershall is more a reassuring reminder that in many financial remedy cases the starting point and the finishing point is the needs of the parties.’ Reported decisions in financial remedy cases very often involve substantial …
Continue reading "Financial Provision: Limited appeal"
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