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21 January 2021 / David Burrows
Issue: 7917 / Categories: Features , Family
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Family fortunes revisited: 2021

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David Burrows calls for clarity and fairness for families and practitioners and highlights some priorities for the year ahead

For a couple of years now I have speculated as to what I might do if I ruled the family law world, most recently in NLJ: ‘Family fortunes’, 170 NLJ 7873, p17. Since then, the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 has received royal assent. The Domestic Abuse Bill has passed all legislation stages in the Commons and is making its way through the House of Lords with the committee stages due at the end of the month. Parties will want to know how criminal, civil and family law domestic abuse elements will meld in court processes; and how the new act—when made—will settle down with the existing domestic violence legislation (Family Law Act 1996, Pt 4) which appears to be being retained.

The Family Procedure Rules Committee has set up a ‘working group’ to deal with amendments to the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (SI 2010/2955) (FPR 2010, Pt 7) to deal

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Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
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A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
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Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
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