Archives: Family

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Public law procedure – electronic bundles

March 2024 | Family

Practitioners should note that for public law proceedings, the Guidance on Preparation of Electronic Bundles has been suspended with immediate effect. It will continue for private law and financial remedy proceedings. The President of the Family Division said the guidance is to be referred to the FPR Committee for possible revision in due course, but …

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Procedure – parental responsibility agreements

March 2024 | Family

Where a ‘connected’ person wants PR for a child and M agrees, they must complete a parental responsibility agreement and take it to the family court for witnessing. Practitioners should note that HMCTS has updated Forms C(PRA1) and C(PRA2) for the witnessing by the court of these agreements, with additional information about the original certificates …

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Evidence – fair hearing

March 2024 | Family

A legally valid decision can only spring from a fair hearing; if a hearing is unfair a judgment cannot stand. In this case, an order had been granted for indirect contact between P and his paternal grandparents (the appellants) once a month in the form of photographs, cards, presents and letters. F was serving a …

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Financial remedies – procedural fairness

March 2024 | Family

If a court grants permission under s13 MFPA 1984, having heard only the applicant and without notice, the other party has an absolute unfettered right to apply to have the order set aside. The applicant still has the burden of showing ‘substantial ground’ for making the application. The parties married in Russia in 1983 where …

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Evidence – pool of perpetrators

March 2024 | Family

After an eight-month-old girl was seriously injured at home, care proceedings began in relation to her and her two young siblings. In its threshold document, the LA alleged the injuries were likely to have been caused during an abusive ‘shaking’ incident. The list of possible perpetrators consisted of six female family members who were at …

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