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25 November 2022 / Sarah Hughes , Victoria Rylatt
Issue: 8004 / Categories: Features , Family , Child law , Procedure & practice
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How to approach fact-finding hearings

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Sarah Hughes & Victoria Rylatt set out recent case law on fact-finding hearings in private children proceedings
  • The key cases this year which have addressed case management issues and the correct approach towards fact-finding hearings, as well as the guidance provided by the president of the Family Division to judges and magistrates on this subject.

There have been a number of judgments published this year which have grappled with difficult issues relating to fact-finding hearings. These have provided extremely useful guidance, building on the important decision in Re H-N and others [2021] EWCA Civ 448, [2021] All ER (D) 11 (Apr).

In this article (Part 1) we will examine the key cases which have addressed case management issues and the correct approach towards fact-finding hearings this year, together with the president’s recent guidance on the same. In Part 2 we will examine specific issues which have arisen in recent fact-finding hearings—namely the use of intimate images, publication and disclosure.

K v K

K v K

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
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 
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
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
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’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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