As a parent, you may find your child made subject to a Child Protection Plan by the local authority. But what is a Child Protection Plan, and what does it mean? Local authority’s duty to investigate To start at the beginning, the local authority has a duty...
It is obvious that any court proceedings relating to the welfare of children should be dealt with as quickly as possible. This is recognised by the very first section of the Children Act, which states that: “In any proceedings in which any question with respect to...
If you are the victim of domestic violence or abuse then the best way to protect yourself from further abuse will usually be to apply to a family court for an injunction. An injunction is a court order requiring a person to do, or to refrain...
It is not uncommon in parental disputes over arrangements for their children for one parent to allege that the other is alienating the children against them, in an attempt to stop them having contact with the children. Obviously, such behaviour is quite wrong, adversely affecting not...
When parents separate they obviously have to sort out arrangements for their children, in particular, how much time the children should spend with each parent. And obviously if they are unable to agree arrangements they can apply to the Family Court for a child arrangements order,...
As you may be aware, a new system of no-fault divorce was introduced on the 6th of April. And it seems that the idea of divorcing without blame is popular. Figures recently published by the Courts Service showed that 12,978 new divorce applications were issued in...
A victim of domestic abuse may obviously live with the perpetrator of the abuse, whether they are married to them or not. Clearly, continuing to live with an abuser will leave the victim at risk of further abuse. In such circumstances the victim will need protection...
When a couple divorce then obviously one or both of them will leave the former matrimonial home. What should happen to the home will of course have to be decided, but who has its contents? It is an important issue. At least one of the parties...
After many years of campaigning for it, and months of waiting for the new law to come into effect, we finally have a system of no-fault divorce in England and Wales. But what exactly does this mean? New system, new terminology The first thing to understand is that with the...
When a financial settlement on divorce is decided upon all financial assets of both parties are taken into account. Most of those assets, and their values, are obvious, or at least relatively easy to ascertain, such money in a bank account, or the former matrimonial...