Child law

Private family law children cases took an average of 47 weeks to conclude in the final quarter of 2022—up five weeks on the same period in 2021 and an all-time high, according to the latest family court statistics.

The Offices of the Senior President of Tribunals and the President of the Family Division have issued updated jurisdictional case management guidance in circumstances where related and concurrent asylum proceedings, and the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on Civil International Aspects of Child Abduction (1980 Hague Convention) proceedings, are ongoing. 

Convictions for child cruelty offences will lead to tougher punishments under revised sentencing guidelines.

In the third part of his series on the Hague Convention, Mani Singh Basi offers advice on efficient timetabling & evidence of habitual residence

"This book is an invaluable contribution to the literature in this area by authors with deep subject knowledge."

Sarah Hughes & Victoria Rylatt examine the issues raised by intimate images, publication & disclosure

On 29 November 2022, in his View from the President’s Chambers (the View), the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, announced a campaign to require everyone in the family justice system to get back to operating the Public Law Outline (PLO) 2014 in full and without exception. 

In the first of a two-part NLJ series on fact-finding hearings, Sarah Hughes, partner, and Victoria Rylatt, senior associate, Anthony Gold, look at some of this year’s key cases. These cases have grappled with difficult issues but provide extremely useful guidance, the authors write.

Sarah Hughes & Victoria Rylatt set out recent case law on fact-finding hearings in private children proceedings

Richard Scorer and Kim Harrison, specialist abuse lawyers at Slater & Gordon, assess the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), in this week’s NLJ.