Family

Baroness Deech has called for a change in public attitude towards divorce. 

In the first of six Gresham College lectures on family law, Divorce Law: A Disaster? , Baroness Deech of Cumnor DBE outlined the cost of divorce in financial and emotional terms, and called for a “new debate on marriage and the family under the umbrella of moral and civic renewal”, although she accepted that it was “unlikely to provide any consensus.” “ 

Baroness Deech has called for a change in public attitude towards divorce. 

In the first of six Gresham College lectures on family law, Divorce Law: A Disaster?, Baroness Deech of Cumnor DBE outlined the cost of divorce in financial and emotional terms, and called for a “new debate on marriage and the family under the umbrella of moral and civic renewal”, although she accepted that it was “unlikely to provide any consensus.”  “Divorce is not a private matter, it is of real public concern and cost, with a ripple effect on the family, the community and the whole country,” she said. “So public attitudes have to be changed, just as they have been in relation to environmental issues and smoking, with greater or lesser success.” She recommended that divorcing couples should be made to endure a 12 month waiting period in order to hold or reverse the rise in divorce.“My own remedy would be an introduction of a waiting period to stop divorce being so quickly granted, even where the ground is one of the speedy ones,” she said. “I would add to the present grounds of divorce a provision that no decree shall be granted until at least 12 months have elapsed from the service of the petition (the start of the formalities). This would ensure that no petitioner would be free to remarry for at least one year after the beginning of the process, regardless of the reasons for the divorce.” 

“Have you embellished your evidence?” Joyce Plotnikoff and Richard Woolfson, the authors of Measuring up?, examine the challenges of questioning young witnesses at court 

Access to justice must be a priority for the government, according to a report from the Centre for Social Justice. 

LEGAL Services Commission proposals to cut legal support for vulnerable children and families have been savaged in a damning report from the all-party Justice Select Committee. The report, published today, concludes that 'proposals for reform were based on incomplete data, [and] a superficial understanding of the supply of legal services in this area'. The LSC's approach to reform is condemned as 'flawed, weak and inflexible'. It is criticised for a 'conclusions first, evidence after' approach to policy-making, having commissioned Ernst & Young to gather data to inform its thinking after proposing swingeing cuts to the system. The full press release is available on the Bar Council website. (www.barcouncil.org.uk) 

THE Bar Council has today welcomed the report on family law reform, Every Family Matters, from the Centre for Social Justice, a leading think tank which is chaired by the Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, the former Leader of the Conservative Party. The Centre for Social Justice’s latest family law report, which focuses on the breakdown of family life in modern Britain, and the way in which this is addressed by the legal system. 

The report’s recommendations include a clear statement that the Government must prioritise access to justice, saying: ‘Above all, we urge a belated recognition that access to justice, alongside healthcare and education, is an essential facet of civilised society’. The full press release is available on the Bar Council website. (www.barcouncil.org.uk) 

Desmond Browne QC reports on events affecting the Bar and notes the passing of the House of Lords’ Judicial Committee 

Two regulations have recently been adopted establishing procedures for the negotiation, conclusion and variation of bi-lateral agreements between Member States and third countries, on respectively, applicable law in contractual and non-contractual obligations; and on jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments and decisions in family law areas. 

See: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/09/st10/st10250.en09.pdf 

Child witnesses in Crown Court sex abuse and violence cases are waiting for more than a year to give evidence, despite government promises to the contrary. 

A shortage of judges is creating delays in the family courts, the President of the Family Division has warned.