Family law

When you have issues in your family relationships, or a relationship has broken down, you will need legal advice and support. In our family law blog we cover the main issues affecting you, such as pre-nuptial agreements, separation, divorce, custody and child support, financial settlement, spousal maintenance, and domestic violence. We also cover current issues in the media, such as the UK’s surrogacy laws, rights of civil partners, and changes to adoption laws.

Have a browse for topics of interest. If you need family law advice, Contact Law can put you in touch with a specialist family solicitor in your local area.

Court of Appeal considers quashing abused woman’s conviction

A 29-year-old mother is looking to have her conviction for perverting the course of justice quashed by the Court of Appeal. The woman accused her husband of having raped her several times but subsequently retracted her allegations and was accused of having made a false complaint. Niall Quinn QC, representing the woman, told the court [...]

Family law solicitors concerned over rising number of care applications

Last week the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service reported that the number of care applications for children from local authorities has significantly increased. The jump in applications has been continuous since the trial of the death of Baby P in 2008. The high number of care applications is having consequences for law [...]

Government releases child-welfare response

The Government is looking to improve the family justice system and yesterday published its response to last year’s report into the system, carried out by economist and former senior servant David Norgrove. Amongst other measures, the Government is to speed up care and adoption cases as well as ensuring that parents share their responsibilities after [...]

Equal access impact on child welfare debated between professionals

The Government will today publish its response to a report on the state of the family justice system, which was concluded last year by economist and former senior civil servant David Norgrove. The report suggested that a legislative requirement for parents to have equal access to their children after divorce or separation would cause significant [...]

Ministerial working group looking into extending fathers’ rights

A working group has been set up to look into awarding children of divorce equal access to both parents. Currently most children whose parents separate reside with their mother and fathers often struggle with securing contact. The ministerial working group compromises Education Ministers Tim Loughton and Sarah Teather as well as Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly. [...]

Family law solicitors say legal aid cuts can destroy children’s relationship with parents

Hundreds of solicitors are concerned that many children will lose contact with their fathers as a result of the Government’s controversial legal aid cuts. A big group of family law solicitors say that only a small proportion of their current custody cases would qualify for legal aid under the new regime. The Government is proposing [...]

Divorce is “the disease of the modern age” according to senior judge

A High Court Judge has decided to establish a foundation promoting marriage in an attempt to put a halt to the large number of children living with separate parents. According to Sir Paul Coleridge, “People want to change horses mid-stream — it’s the disease of the modern age”. Coleridge stresses that couples must realise the [...]

Mother wins secret muslim adoption case

A mother has this week been vindicated by the Court of Appeal over an “exceptionally difficult adoption proceeding”. The case concerned a child born to a Muslim couple who had a secret affair. The man was already married and the couple’s unplanned pregnancy was seen to pose a risk to the lives of the baby [...]

Divorce trends

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today released new numbers on the prevalence of divorce in England and Wales. The data shows that there was a 4.9% increase in the number divorces this year compared to the previous year. However, there are also indications that the proportion of couples divorcing is generally decreasing. As [...]

President of High Court’s Family Division considers international surrogacy

Surrogacy can be a sensitive and complex issue. Therefore, English law contains provisions which seek to ensure that surrogacy is not practised as some form of business, which looks to be financially profitable. However, many couples struggle with the long waiting times in British clinics and choose to go abroad. This can be problematic as [...]