An interesting article will prove an important read for practitioners who have to occasionally attend remote hearings. The result of Covid-19 was that HMCTS announced that physical hearings would be avoided wherever possible. Of course, in-person hearings are returning but it is likely that remote hearings will continue. The article outlines the key Practice Directions …
Continue reading “Remote hearings – practical tips”
We reported in our July/August 2021 edition (p25) on the right to rent checks. Before L can rent out a residential property in England, they must check that T has the ‘right to rent’. Form 30 March 2020 the government introduced what it described as ‘temporary’ checks as a response to Covid-19. These state that: …
Continue reading “Right to rent checks – updated again”
We have regularly reported on rapid changes to the requirements for possession proceedings since the start of the pandemic. Practitioners will be interested to note that the government has recently updated its non-statutory guidance for Ls and Ts in the private and social rented sector on: rent, mortgage payments and possession proceedings; and health and …
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A recent case clarifies the limits of the role of the appeal court in second appeals in financial remedy cases. In a second appeal, in what was otherwise a straightforward financial remedy case, the parties had taken ‘extreme positions’. The degree of acrimony had led to a course of litigation which became ‘an exercise in …
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The relaxation of the planning rules to allow development into airspace will present interesting issues for developers and their advisers. An interesting article explores some of these issues, and is also notable for its pithy first line: ‘The first problem with the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 is its name. The parliamentary draftsman who named …
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H (the birth father) failed in his application for a declaration of parentage of an adopted child (T). He was confirmed as her birth father by a DNA test and his application was ‘a staging post on a route to resuming his relationship’ with T. He submitted that T has the right to know who …
Continue reading “Adoption – declaration of parentage”
Family practitioners will welcome guidance relating to correct procedure in cases where an arbitral award is challenged. The guidance was given within a judgment following W’s application for H to show why he should not be held to the terms of an arbitral award. H also made an application to challenge the award under s68 …
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W sought a declaration under ss51 and 55 FLA 1986 that she was currently married to H. Neither disputed that they were validly married in March 2017 in Accra, Ghana, in accordance with tribal custom. The issue was whether there was a valid divorce by similar tribal custom in Ghana, and if so whether the …
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M failed to have adoption orders in respect of her three children revoked. The court ruled that a procedural irregularity in the making of the order was not such as to justify revocation. The two older children had been removed from their parents’ care and placed in foster care after the younger child was found …
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The Domestic Abuse Act is due to come into force in the coming months. Ahead of the commencement date(s) (yet to be clarified) government has issued a number of factsheets. These provide further information about specific provisions, including what and how government is tackling the issues. The latest factsheets cover: tackling perpetrators; amendment to the …
Continue reading “Domestic Abuse Act – factsheets”