Articles and Publications

27 March 2025

Case Analysis on the recent High Court decision of Re Z (Unlawful Foreign Surrogacy - Adoption) [2025] for LexisNexis

Tahmina Rahman, in this case analysis for LexisNexis, considers the unusual predicament that faced a couple who sought to be recognised as the parents of two children after an unlawful foreign surrogacy.

05 February 2025

Case Analysis of The Father (Appellant) v Worcestershire County Council (Respondent) [2025] UKSC 1 for Lexis Nexis

In this commentary for Lexis Nexis, Mark Blundell explores the implications of the Supreme Court's ruling in The Father (Appellant) v Worcestershire County Council (Respondent) [2025] UKSC 1.

29 January 2025

Case Analysis of London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham v G & Ors [2024] EWHC 2200

Local Government Lawyer has published a case summary written by Emily Verity for the recent case of London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham v G & Ors [2024] EWHC 2200.

10 July 2024

Transgender adolescents and the capacity to consent to treatment (EF v LM and another)

Emily Chapman has written a case summary for the recent case of transgender adolescents and the capacity to consent to treatment (EF v LM and another).

04 June 2024

Case Analysis of NA v LA [2024] EWFC 113 for Family Law Week

Sapna Jain has written a case summary for the recent case of NA v LA [2024] EWFC 113 for Family Law Week.

21 April 2024

Non-Court Dispute Resolution - The new impetus from 29 April 2024

From 29 April 2024, the Family Procedure (Amendment No 2) Rules 2023 (SI 2023/1324) will come into force. The changes to the Rules are particularly aimed at encouraging early resolution of private law children and financial remedy arrangements, by providing for a major overhaul of FPR Part 3 and a significant amendment to FPR Part 28.

16 April 2024

Vaccination, religion and the interference of the State

Niamh Daly has written an article on Vaccination, religion and the interference of the State for Family Law Journal, first published in the April edition.

13 March 2024

HFEA reform - consent to treatment and storage

Melissa Elsworth and Luke Eaton have written an article on HFEA reform - consent to treatment and storage for the Family Law Journal February edition.

04 March 2024

The end of the ‘knock-out blow’ in Part III claims (Potanina v Potanin)

Tahmina Rahman has written a case analysis for LexisNexis examining the issues addressed in the recent Supreme Court judgment in the case of Potanina v Potanin.

03 January 2024

4th edition of Cohabitation and Trusts of Land

Congratulations to Elizabeth Darlington on the publication of the 4th edition of Cohabitation and Trusts of Land

24 August 2023

Immigration Law Handbook 11th edition

Congratulations to Julia Gasparro on the upcoming publication of the 11th edition of the Immigration Law Handbook, published by Oxford University Press.

16 August 2023

Forum disputes and staying matrimonial proceedings

This article by Philip Perrins and Beth Hibbert follows on from one by Eleri Jones and Andrew Venables in the July issue of Family Law in relation to what they term the 'jurisdiction jigsaw' that is the domestic regime that applies in respect of jurisdiction following the end of the transition period.

09 July 2023

International family finance: the jurisdiction jigsaw

Eleri Jones and Andrew Venables discuss the jurisdiction jigsaw for Family Law Journal

04 July 2023

Fairness versus Certainty – Should the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 be Amended to Restrict the Duration of Spousal Maintenance?

Elizabeth Darlington and Katherine Dunseath have written an article on the topic of fairness v certainty for the summer edition of the Financial Remedies Journal 2023

25 May 2023

Insights from the Family Justice Council Conference 2023: Trauma in the family justice system

Mark Blundell attended the Family Justice Council Conference 2023 and summarised the day's talks for Family Law Journal.

21 April 2023

Financial abuse of the vulnerable: How much does it matter?

Elizabeth Darlington and Sarah Young discuss this issue in a recent article for Yorkshire Legal.

09 January 2023

Separation after long cohabitation: common issues

In this article for Family Law Journal Elizabeth Darlington considers three keys issues which frequently arise when a couple have cohabited for a long time, or they have been separated for a long time before the courts are asked to deal with their property and financial issues.

19 December 2022

Case Summary - J v H [2022] EWFC 133

Beth Hibbert summarised J v H [2022] EWFC 133 for Family Law Week

15 December 2022

The tricky business of Judges’ names - The Spectator article

On the 1st December 2022 the Lord Chief Justice and Senior President of the Tribunals announced a change in the practice of how certain Judges are addressed in court. Julien Foster subsequently wrote an article for The Spectator on the tricky business of how to address judges.

17 August 2022

Cross-border conflicts in the Courts

Eleri Jones contributed to the latest issue of International Family Law Journal with the article 'Cross-border conflicts in the Courts'

26 May 2022

The Private FDR - achieving settlement

David Burles writes about the art of achieving settlement at a Private FDR for Family Law Journal.

15 April 2022

Case Summary - P v Q (Financial Remedies) [2022] EWFC B9

Lucy Bennet summarised P v Q (Financial Remedies) [2022] EWFC B9, (In which Simon Sugar represented the husband) for Family Law Week.

07 February 2022

The New Form D81

David Burles, barrister and Deputy District Judge sitting in the ‘complex financial remedy cases’ division at the Central Family Court looks at the new D81, announced today 7.2.21 and the impact it might have on applications for consent orders to be approved.

22 November 2021

The Thwaite jurisdiction becomes another victim of Covid

BT v CU [2021] EWFC 87 (Mostyn J)

11 November 2021

Jurisdiction and Brexit: Des Pallieres v Des Pallieres [2021] FLJ 1304

Katherine Dunseath and Daniel Eames publised an article with Family Law Journal regarding the Des Pallieres v Des Pallieres case.

08 October 2021

Whether the High Court may authorise unregulated placements for children under 16 from 9 September 2021 (Tameside MBC v AM and others)

Tahmina Rahman considers the issues in the conjoined appeals in Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council v AM.

10 September 2021

Needs, Capitalisation and the Source of Wealth

Simon Sugar considers the case ND (by her litigation friend KW) v GD [2021] EWFC 53 in front of Mr Justice Peel.

10 August 2021

Division of assets in a short childless marriage (E v L)

Tahmina Rahman discusses E V L, an important new authority for cases involving short childless marriages.

01 July 2021

Universal Credit: a guide for family law practitioners

Elisabeth Andrews discusses Universal Credit, providing a guide for family law practitioners when navigating this issue.

14 June 2021

Legal test to discharge a care order (TT (children (discharge of care order))

Tahmina Rahman summarises the issues in relation to a case where there is a legal test to discharge a care order.

14 May 2021

Lies and Lucas in the Family Court

Andrew Bagchi QC and Anna Lavelle examine an important Court of Appeal ruling on fact-finding hearings and Lucas directions, and considerations of children giving oral evidence in family proceedings.

12 May 2021

Brexit: Cross-border conundrums

Eleri Jones and Graeme Fraser explore the recognition and enforcement of maintenance following the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

26 April 2021

High Court’s severe criticism of a local authority’s serious failures (YY (Children—Conduct of the Local Authority))

Tahmina Rahman considers the issues in the High Court case YY (Children: Conduct of the Local Authority) [2021] EWHC 749 (Fam),...

18 February 2021

Capacity to consent to marriage, nullity and declarations under the inherent jurisdiction considered (NB v MI)

Tahmina Rahman considers NB v MI [2021] EWHC 224 (Fam) in which she appeared at the High Court in front of Mr Justice Mostyn.

05 February 2021

High Court severely criticises local authority’s ‘breath taking incompetence’ and failures to disclose in care proceedings

A Judge was scathing in his criticism of a local authority's failures, which resulted in a young boy being left in foster care for at least nine months longer than neccessary. Tahmina Rahman considers the practical implications of this case.

03 February 2021

Concealed Pregnancies: Should Fathers or Family be told?

Tahmina Rahman considers the guidance provided by the Court of Appeal to local authorities concerning duty of disclosure in care proceedings and concealed pregnancies.

11 January 2021

Finance Case digest: G v G [2020] EWFC B35 (OJ) (16 July 2020)

Simon Sugar considers a case which dispels any suggestion that an unperfected Rose order is subject to any substantive difference in treatment to an “ordinary” order of the court.

23 December 2020

Finance Case digest: OG v AG [2020] EWFC 52 (29 July 2020)

Simon Sugar considers a big money, long-marriage financial remedies dispute and, conduct apart, a paradigm case for the application of the equal sharing principle.

21 October 2020

The Perils of Zoom: the Court allows an appeal against a judge’s refusal to recuse herself after she was inadvertently overheard making negative comments about a party during a Zoom hearing.

Tahmina Rahman, examines the issues around the recusal application in family proceedings and the Court’s consideration of the test for actual or perceived bias in the case of Re C (a child)(2020) EWCA Civ 987.

05 June 2020

Guidance from the High Court on adjournments in care proceedings during the Covid-19 pandemic

Elisabeth Andrews reviews the judgment in A Local Authority v The Mother and Ors [2020] EWHC 1233 (Fam).

04 June 2020

Court of Appeal considers the cardinal points for remote hearings during the coronavirus (COVID- 19) pandemic (Re A (children) and Re B (Children))

Matthew Fletcher considers two recent decisions and analyses whether common threads that emerge could assist practitioners in advising clients and making submissions to the court as to whether a case is suitable to be heard remotely.

25 November 2019

Child abduction—use of the 1996 Hague Convention as opposed to the inherent jurisdiction (Re I-L (children) (1996 Hague Child Protection Convention—inherent jurisdiction)

The Court of Appeal clarifies that the inherent jurisdiction is not available where the 1996 Hague Convention applies. Eleri Jones considers the implications of the decision.

04 October 2019