False denials & families in peril: Sarah Hughes & Victoria Rylatt report on recent caselaw where fact finding hearings have uncovered significant issues
- Covers issues arising after fact finding hearings in recent caselaw on private family cases involving children.
Following a fact finding hearing, the court has the benefit of a factual matrix upon which to base its decision. The outcome of a fact finding hearing can have significant repercussions for the rest of the proceedings, in respect of procedural and substantive matters. Within this article we address some key issues which have arisen in recent case law, further to the outcome of fact finding hearings.
A Mother v A Father
A Mother v A Father [2023] EWFC 105 (14 April 2023) involved a six-year-old girl and was described as ‘full of vitriol, allegation, and counter allegation’, in which the child had made allegations of sexual abuse against her father.
The matter for determination at the fact finding was whether what the child was saying was true. The
