News/Blogs  

  CHILDREN, TRUST AND LITIGANTS IN PERSON  

Just before Christmas, the Ministry of Justice published figures showing that almost 66,000 new cases began in family courts across England and Wales between July and September last year(https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2022/family-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2022). Yet, in my opinion, I think that there are relatively few individuals who actually want to go to court. Court is increasingly regarded as a last […]

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  A PATHWAY TO CLARITY: THE LAW COMMISSION AND SURROGACY  

Moving from day-to-day, it might seem that our lives and those of individuals around us remain within a relatively familiar frame. However, if we take a moment to reflect, we can discern how family life in the UK has changed just as surely and as rapidly as the fabric of the towns and cities which […]

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  APOCALYPSE? NO: DIVORCE, SETTLEMENT AND REFORM  

It is possible to say without exaggeration or irony that change has been one of the most constant elements of family life in England and Wales over the course of the last half-century. Back in 1973, a major piece of divorce law reform – the Matrimonial Causes Act – came into force. Between then and […]

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  Families, Fertility And Future Proofing  

As regular readers of this ‘blog will no doubt appreciate, home life in the UK has changed considerably in recent decades. In addition to great shifts – some legal and some societal – in how domestic relationships are forged, maintained and even break down, there have been significant developments in how families are started. Overall, […]

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  The Future Of Cohabitation Law Reform In The UK  

Resolution, an organisation of family law professionals committed to resolving matters in a constructive manner, have voiced their determination to continue to advocate for cohabitation law reform at a conference held at the beginning of February. My colleague, Laura Guillon, highlighted in her blog Mirror Marriage: Cohabitation and Complexity (https://hallbrown.co.uk/mirror-marriage-cohabitation-and-complexity/) that there has been resistance […]

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  Domestic Violence: Terror, Threat And Balance  

There is, of course, a famous old saying that “an Englishman’s home is his castle”. However, the scourge of domestic violence means that home is anything but a place of refuge for many individuals. It is heartening, therefore, to hear that the Government is intensifying its efforts to eradicate the threat which people face from […]

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