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Family Law
A PLO (Public law outline meeting) or PPM (Pre-Proceedings Meeting) is a meeting called by the Local Authority when they have concerns surrounding your care of your child/children. The meeting is an opportunity for the Local Authority to make you aware...
From Spring 2018 a new approach will be adopted by CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) to tackle the issue of one parent turning a child against the other following separation. This problem is known as parental alienation and is...
Sheldon Price says it is not clear how many cases may be affected by the warning which the Government has issued in respect of cases concerning Trimega between 2010 and 2014. Any clients who may have been affected should obtain legal advice as soon as...
Beverley Watkins explains that remarrying before sorting out financial matters from a first divorce can have catastrophic consequences. If a party to a divorce proceedings remarries before they have dealt with the financial aspects of their divorce,...
The legal parents of a child in cases of surrogacy are the surrogate mother and either the man or woman the surrogate mother was married to or was in a civil partnership with at the time of treatment if they consented to the treatment. The time of treatment is when the embryo or sperm and eggs were placed into the surrogate mother via artificial insemination.
Beverley Watkins has been looking at the new Divorce Petition which came into use on 7 th August 2017. The form has been improved and is definitely easier to use. You can now pay the Court fee by debit/credit card. If you indicate that you do...
Sheldon Price recently represented a Mother in proceedings in the Court of Appeal – S-F (A Child) [2017] EWCA Civ964 . Sheldon specialises in Care and Adoption proceedings representing parents, relatives, Guardians and Children in proceedings...
Victoria Shufflebottom provides a brief overview of pension sharing on divorce. Pensions can be an important aspect to consider when dealing with the financial arrangements on divorce yet they can be overlooked. A couple may understandably focus on more...
Beverley Watkins welcomed the announcement that the Legal Aid Agency plan to scrap the rule that victims must provide evidence of abuse within the last 5 years and that they plan to widen the evidence. It is not yet clear when the new rules will be...
Everyone seems to be talking about the news that Angelina and Brad have separated. The divorce has been filed in the USA and therefore the law is somewhat different to that in England and Wales. Angelina has apparently filed for divorce on the grounds of...
The fee for issuing divorce proceedings is set to increase to £550 from £410. The same fee applies to applications for a Decree of Nullity or for a dissolution of a civil partnership. At Watkins Solicitors we offer fixed fee divorce...
The issue of Female Genitalia Mutilation (FGM) has been frequently discussed in the press and championed by a number of different celebrities. The police and local authorities are concerned about the number of young girls in the UK who are at risk of FGM...
In February 2015 the Judiciary of England and Wales produced a report of Vulnerable Witnesses and Children working Group. The Outcome of that report (although a further report is due in July 15) is summarised below; 1. That the term vulnerable witnesses...
A new report by the TUC and Women’s Aid – Women’s experience of financial abuse and potential implications for Universal Credit, published on 12th March 2015 https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/FinancialAbuse.pdf – highlights...
Research carried out by the Centre on the developing child at Harvard University shows that early experiences influence your child’s brain development, even before your child is born. The period from conception to the first three years of a...
When dealing with financial matters following a divorce, it is always advisable to have a final Order which sets out the agreement reached. Once a final Order is made in respect of financial matters, it is only in “exceptional circumstances” that...
As many as 40% of children lose contact with their grandparents following parental separation. Grandparents often wrongly assume that they have ‘grandparents rights’ and have the legal right to see their grandchildren. This is not the case....
Beverley Watkins, comments, “It is already a criminal offence to assault another person, we already have offences of assault, GBH etc. The real issue is the way domestic violence is treated by the police and the Courts. The police frequently, despite a...
In certain cases parents or the court might decide that there should be a period of supervised contact. It might be appropriate for there to be supervised contact for a number of reason such as the amount of time that has passed since a child has seen the...
He has had no contact with the family since 2004 but the CSA have asked him to pay maintenance. A gay man from Essex who donated his sperm to enable a lesbian couple to have two children, but who was never named on their birth certificate and had no role in...
