Family Law

The pandemic has forced separating families, and their lawyers, to work very differently over the past 18 months. Compounded by Brexit and general economic uncertainty, the future for family law, and those couples and families affected by it, may be unrecognisable by the end of the next decade, comp

Family law is less intimidating and more efficient than ever before, according to a Dundee-based family lawyer who launched her business just before lockdown. Marking her first year in business following a 15-year career with one of Scotland’s largest law firms, Amanda Wilson of Amanda Wilson

Scotland should follow the lead of England in committing to publishing more family law judgments, campaigners have said. President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane has committed himself to a “major shift in culture and process” to increase public knowledge of what happens in

A judge in the Outer House of the Court of Session has ruled that two children of UK citizens who emigrated to New Zealand acquired habitual residence in Scotland following the couple’s divorce. The petitioner, F, the child’s father, sought orders under the Child Abduction and Custody Ac

A piece in the FT yesterday on the Lugano Convention was one of the first that has looked at the family law consequences of the UK no longer being a party to the Convention (which provides agreed jurisdictional rules in cross border cases for civil and commercial matters, and provides for recogniti

Sarah Gilzean explains a recent case in which a male employee on shared parental leave could not compare his treatment with a female on adoption leave. In Price v Powys County Council, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has dismissed an appeal in a sex discrimination claim by a male employee who a

New laws to make family court proceedings in Scotland more child-friendly have been passed by the Scottish Parliament. The Children (Scotland) Bill will require all children's views to be heard and taken account of in family cases, subject to limited exceptions, removing the presumption that on

Brodies LLP has been named one of the top family law firms for 2020 by eprivateclient. Eprivateclient surveyed more than 100 family law firms based on several criteria.

The Lord President, Lord Carloway, has made it clear that parties in family actions should be able to participate in telephone hearings if they wish following reports that in some instances such hearings have only involved agents and sheriffs. In a letter to Shared Parenting Scotland, Lord Carloway

Legislation to ensure that the rights of children are at the heart of any family law case, and that their views are heard, has passed its first hurdle at Holyrood. Measures in the Children (Scotland) Bill include regulation of child contact centres to ensure every one is a safe place for c

Concerns have been raised over the fairness of remote hearings in family cases, introduced during the lockdown, because of the difficulty for participants in reading each other's reactions. A rapid consultation carried out by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (NFJO) on the effectiveness of rem

Holyrood's Justice Committee is backing Scottish government plans to change the law on deciding parent-child contact in family breakdown cases, but is warning that it may make little practical difference to the lives of children unless it is properly resourced. The Children (Scotland) Bill was intro

The Lord President, Lord Carloway has published short statement intended to offer general advice to parents and carers whose children are the subject of orders made by a court relating to parental responsibilities and rights, for example in relation to contact or residence.

Family hearings at the Court of Appeal will be live-streamed under a joint initiative by the judiciary and UK government to boost transparency in the justice system. A statutory instrument laid in Parliament will pave the way for the project, following the success of a pilot to live-stream civil cas

The most senior family judge in England and Wales has appealed to law firms to make donations to a legal charity to help tackle delays in the family courts. Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division, said that "modest annual contributions" to Support Through Court, a charity providing f