Thank you for this post to a parent who wishes to remain anonymous. “I will be back on Monday, you see, I just need a loan to get a van on the road” I happened to be a spectator as a man vented his rage . I gathered that he had been ordered to attend […]
Where are we now? General principles for all finding of fact hearings Particular issues in cases of domestic abuse The approach of the court How are allegations to be presented to and considered by the court? Presentation of the evidence Weighing the evidence Reliance on criminal law concepts After the hearing The court must produce […]
Burden and standard of proof The burden of proof lies with the local authority. The inherent probability or improbability of an event remains a matter to be taken into account when weighing probabilities and deciding whether, on balance, the event occurred (Re B (Care Proceedings: Standard of Proof) [2008] UKHL 35 at paragraph 15]. There is no room […]
This is the text of a presentation given at the Bristol Civil Justice Centre on 19th January 2022, considering how the Court of Appeal’s guidance in Re H-N has been working out ‘on the ground’ We are left with the distinct impression that its not possible to resolve the tension between two competing principles – […]
In 2020 the Bristol Pro Bono Network finally became a reality, after years of thought and planning from those who knew that the enthusiasm and talent of Bristol lawyers needed better direction so that it could more easily reach those who needed it. I am writing this post as an unashamed plug; I was shocked […]
This is the text of a talk I gave at a Stowe Family Law Webinar on 24th February 2021. I discussed the often stark polarising views about parental alienation and how parents can attempt to navigate the court system. I stress that I am NOT talking about cases were one parent has been found to […]
This is a guest post by a 15 year old. It is sad to read because I suspect many would agree. It takes a village to raise a child, yet the current generation seem to think the child will raise itself Legally a person is an adult at 18. A fact defined by law. […]
Final Report of the Ministry of Justice 2020 In May 2019 a ‘3 month inquiry’ into issues of domestic abuse and applications to court about children, was announced by the Ministry of Justice. I expressed considerable scepticism at the time, not least scoffing about the wholly unrealistic timescales proposed. In that at least I can […]
This is a talk delivered by Sarah Phillimore at the Families Need Fathers conference in London on September 14th 2019 The abstract concept of ‘Justice’ is often portrayed as the Greek goddess Themis, usually depicted holding a sword and scales. This represents her ability to cut fact from fiction with no middle ground and the […]
This is a post by Sarah Phillimore I was asked if I could re-state the law about confidentiality in family proceedings for the benefit of parents who want to talk about their proceedings publicly. What follows is an attempt to simplify the main post on this site about transparency. The usual warning applies – this […]