Civil Courts Review

The Report of the Scottish Civil Courts Review was launched this morning. The review began its work on 2 April 2007 to report on the provision of civil justice by the courts in Scotland, including their structure, jurisdiction, procedures and working methods, having particular regard to;

• the cost of litigation to parties and to the public purse

• the role of mediation and other methods of dispute resolution in relation to court process

• the development of modern methods of communication and case management; and

• the issue of specialisation of courts or procedures, including the relationship between the civil and criminal courts


Picking up on some points from the synopsis that may have some impact on family law;

Key Themes

• The need for a greater degree of judicial specialisation.  Practitioners and 
court users were strongly in favour of a greater degree of specialisation in the sheriff court,principally in family law, commercial law, personal injury, consumer and housing cases.  The current system makes specialisation and judicial continuity difficult to achieve.  

• Party litigants and a new forum or method for dealing with lower value 
cases.  For litigants who do not have legal representation, even those court 
procedures designed with them in mind may be inaccessible.  Respondents 
also noted that party litigants may cause unnecessary expense and delay 
through  unfamiliarity  with  procedures  or  disruptive  behaviour  and  that 
firmer  measures  are  sometimes  required  to  deal  with  those  who  pursue 
claims without merit or behave unreasonably.  
 
• Problems relating to the cost and funding of litigation.  Respondents drew 
attention  to  the  cost  of  litigation  and  observed  that  only  those  with 
considerable wealth or who are eligible for legal aid can afford to litigate.  
There were concerns about the shortfall between what clients have to pay 
their legal advisers and what they can recover in expenses from the other 
party,  and  also  about  the  taxation  of  judicial  accounts. 
 
Recommendations

Structure of civil court system
• A system should be introduced whereby a number of sheriffs in each sheriffdom should be are designated as specialists in particular areas of practice, including solmen crime, general civil, personal injury, family and commercial.

A new case management model
• [New] District judges new will have jurisdiction to hear housing actions, actions for payment of £5,000 or less, and referrals and appeals from children’s hearings, and concurrent jurisdiction with sheriffs in family actions.

•In the sheriff court actions will be transferred to a court in which a sheriff with the relevant specialism is resident. Procedural business will be conducted by email, telephone, video conferencing or in writing.

Mediation and other forms of dispute resolution
• The Report recognises the value of Alternative Dispute Resolution ....

Access to justice for party litigants
•There are recommendations for the promotion of public legal education , improved online provision of information for members of the
public the development of in‐court advice services nd the rights of lay representatives (or ‘McKenzie friends’) of party litigants

Civil Courts Review Source Scottish Courts

See also Scottish Parliament Information Centre research briefing.

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Holidays & Fairs

Due to holidays, weddings, BBQs, Festivals etc and a get fit campaign I have neglected my blog and emails for the last 6 weeks or so. Sorry, it's a bit late now for this year but Nick Woodall of the Centre For Separated Families sent me a link to a mailing offering separated parents tips on coping with the summer holidays. It's worth a read and bearing in mind for the next school holiday.

Also Suzy Miller of the Starting Over Show has left a comment on this post and the next Starting Over Show which focuses on starting over and rebuilding healthy lives after divorce will be in London on 7 March and Brighton 28 March 2010. This will provide an opportunity to get free legal, financial and life coaching advice.

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Royal Assent for Sexual Offences Bill

The Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill yesterday received Royal Assent. The Bill replaces a complex mix of common law and statute with a clear legal framework that supports wider work to improve the justice system's response to sex crime.

The new legislation will:

* Provide for the first time a statutory definition of consent, as "free agreement", enshrined in the law

* Replace the common-law offence of rape with a broader statutory offence (which includes male rape)

* Introduce new statutory crimes, including specific offences of sexual assault by penetration and of voyeurism, and others targeting coercive sexual conduct such as the sending of sexually offensive emails or texts, and sexual exposure

* Enable Scottish law enforcement agencies to pursue anyone from Scotland who commits a sex crime under Scots law against someone under-18 abroad (including child pornography and child prostitution offences) regardless of the law in that country

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said ".. this Bill is simply one part of a wider package of measures that Government is taking forward to improve public safety and help victims - steps such as taking forward the recommendations from the Crown Office review of the investigation and prosecution of rape and sexual assault, and our support for Rape Crisis Scotland's campaign work."

Press Release Source The Scottish Government 15 July 2009

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Proposed Overhaul of Family Law

Today a major new report "Every Family Matters" was published by the Centre for Social Justice, the think-tank set up by the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, which has had a major bearing on David Cameron’s social policy-making. The report claims the recommendations are a "far-reaching overhaul of the law [in England & Wales] aimed at putting marriage at the heart of family life." Key points include;

Divorce
▪ Discussing no-fault divorce is a low priority in contrast to other family law reforms.

▪ Creation of a three month period of reflection and consideration at the outset of the divorce process, which would now be commenced only by a short written notice without any allegations.

▪ Parties should be able to petition jointly under existing law Decree absolute of divorce should be capable of being applied for after four weeks from the decree nisi, instead of the present time periods.

Cohabitation
▪ For the different reasons, we do not consider that it is appropriate to make any proposals for cohabitation law reform at this time.

▪ We oppose the present Private Members’ Bill on the basis that it provides very similar rights to marriage.

Information Provision
▪ There should be information provision before the commencement of family law proceedings.

Alternative Dispute Resolution
▪ Binding family law arbitration should be introduced.

▪ There should be mandatory attempts at resolution of children disputes before the issue of proceedings.

Legal Aid
▪ Government should clearly place on record that access to justice, like education, health care and other front-line services, is an essential facet of any civilised society.

▪ The legal aid system must attract and retain specialist practitioners in all areas of family law.

Contact
▪ An amendment to the Children Act 1989 to include explicit principles of contact and residence, incorporating equal status of those with parental responsibility and the benefit to the children of both parents having a significant involvement in their lives, with the welfare of the child remaining the paramount consideration.

Relocation
▪ A change in the law regarding relocation such that an amendment to the Children Act would apply in such cases, to take better account of the changed patterns of parenting, the considerable impact on the child of relocation away from home and other home environment features and wider family members, yet taking account of the increased movement of families.

Grandparents
▪ Grandparents should be placed in a distinctive legal position.

Ancillary Relief
▪ Marital assets are all assets acquired by the parties solely or jointly during the marriage and any pre-marital cohabitation whether through passive growth or active acquisition.

▪ In conducting its fairness exercise on distribution of marital assets and non-marital assets, the court shall follow as binding any marital agreement of the parties.

▪ The marital assets, including illiquid assets, shall be divided equally between the spouses unless there is a good reason not to do so.

▪ The family courts shall have power to make child maintenance orders where both parties are not in receipt of or claiming welfare benefits and the court is making other orders between them concerning income or capital and in any event where are arrears of more than 6 months.

▪ Spousal maintenance shall continue to end automatically on remarriage but should be reduced to a nominal maintenance order after periods of six months’ cohabitation.

Full Report Source Centre for Social Justice 14 July 2009

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Bloggers Guide

Many people do not seem to realise they have a duty to use information given in court proceedings for the purposes of the proceedings only and there are restrictions on disclosing information. When the rules don't allow it disclosing information contravenes Article 6, Human Rights Act 1998, the right to a fair hearing, and if children are involved their rights to privacy and anonymity.


Lucy Reed of Pink Tape has now compiled a useful list of ten things bloggers should know when writing about family proceedings.

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Sharia Rulings 'Inappropriate'

Sharia courts should not be recognised under Britain's 1996 Arbitration Act, according to a new report from independent think-tank Civitas.


According to Denis MacEoin, author of Sharia Law or 'One Law For All'?, sharia courts operating in Britain may be handing down rulings that are inappropriate to this country because they are linked to elements in Islamic law that are seriously out of step with trends in Western legislation that derive from the values of the Enlightenment and are inherent in modern codes of human rights. Sharia rulings contain great potential for controversy and may involve acts contrary to UK legal norms and human rights legislation.


Full press release Source Civitas 29 June 2009

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"Victorian" Scots Courts

In a speech at the 60th Anniversary conference of the Law Society of Scotland in Edinburgh Lord Gill told lawyers "The civil justice system in Scotland is a Victorian model that has survived by means of periodic piecemeal reforms. But in substance, its structure and procedures are those of a century and a half ago. It is failing the litigant and, therefore, failing society" The Scotsman reports.

At the request of Scottish ministers Lord Gill is undertaking a review of the entire civil justice system and will report at the end of June. There is more about the review here.

"The judicial structure should be based on a proper hierarchy of courts and the procedures should be appropriate to the nature and the importance of the case, in terms of time and cost. Scottish justice fails on all these counts" Lord Gill said and continued;

"Its delays are notorious. Its costs deter litigants whose claims may be well founded. Its procedures cause frustration and obstruct, rather than facilitate the achievement of justice."

Personal costs, not just financial ones, of undertaking an action in the civil courts deter litigants particularly in areas of law such as family matters – especially those that involve children. I don't think many would disagree with this.

Full article Source The Scotsman 9 May 2006

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Faster Divorce and Foreign Law

A recent report European Family Law: Faster Divorce and Foreign Law, written by David Hodson and published by the Centre for Social Justice makes the following recommendations;

The principle of first to issue, lis pendens, in European Family Law directly encourages international couples to rush to the divorce court to gain personal and financial advantage over the other spouse. It must be removed at the very earliest opportunity; it is thoroughly anti-family, anti-settlement and contrary to the whole ethos of family law and family life.

A number of European countries will not necessarily apply their own law in certain circumstances, but the family law of the country with which the couple in matrimonial proceedings have a close connection (known as applicable law). England and Wales only ever apply English family law, built up over centuries to create a sense of fairness and justice in the English and Welsh courts and for English and Welsh settlements. Brussels wants to impose applicable law on the UK. This would create much injustice and unfairness, increase costs of getting a divorce settlement and decrease prospects of settlements.

The country with the closest connection to an international couple should be able to deal with their case and then apply its local law to their matrimonial proceedings.

Brussels should go more slowly in its programme of European family law reform to take account of the very different traditions of family life and family law around Europe. Some seemingly minor changes in family law can have dramatic impact on relationships, families and community life and need much care and reflection before implementation.

Full report (pdf) available from the Centre For Social Justice

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Justifying CSA Enforcement Measures

Yesterday Janet Paraskeva, chairman of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission that assumed control of the CSA from the Department for Work and Pensions last November, put into context the tough measures going through the Lords to recover child maintenance. The Welfare Reform Bill, which received its second reading yesterday, would allow C-MEC to suspend the driving licences and passports of persistent non-payers.

By the time the Child Support Agency (CSA) seeks the withdrawal of a parent’s driving licence under existing powers, the ordinary tools of CSA enforcement — deduction from earnings orders, civil liability orders, the bailiffs — will already have been exhausted. Days in court will have come and gone. In one recent case it took six years and no fewer than seven court appearances to separate one particularly evasive debtor from his driving licence.

These powers will shift the heavy procedural burden away from the State — which will already have satisfied the courts about the nature and extent of the liability — and towards the defendant. He or she will have to engage more promptly with the system or find life much less convenient.

On more than 900 occasions in 2007-08 hearings where the CSA applied for the most serious sanctions presently at its disposal — imprisonment or driving disqualification — on 695 occasions the defendants did not even turn up. That represented a fifth of all such hearings that year and a significant cost to the taxpayer.

The agency must, in these circumstances, endure further delay and the expense of taking out an arrest warrant to bring the defendant forcibly before the court. What a waste of public money and unnecessary further delay to the parent caring for the child without his or her maintenance.

We want to more effectively target the people, relatively few in number, who lie, move house, change jobs or put assets in the name of new partners in order to keep one step ahead of the law and avoid paying for their children.

More than 55,000 non-resident parents in Britain owe £30,000 or more in maintenance debt.

Full story Source The Times 30 April 2009

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Stability For Children

New laws to improve stability for young people in care and minimise upheaval as they grow up were unveiled today.

The measures will lead to better long-term planning by councils for children in care to ensure both their immediate and future needs are fully considered.

The Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 Regulations and Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 - which follow extensive consultation with interest groups across Scotland - will:

* provide children in care with more certainty and stability about their long-term future with a new family through the introduction of Permanence Orders

* ensure the network of wider family and friends is considered first for care placements, if in the child's best interests

* improve the planning and reviewing of care arrangements to help reduce the number of different homes that children are placed in and ensure appropriate family support if the young person is to return to their parents

Children's Minister Adam Ingram said:

"In an ideal world there would be no need to remove any child from their birth parents but sadly that is not the reality and I am determined to ensure young people in care get the best support possible as they grow up.

"The decision to take a child into care is always made on the best interests of the young person and the numbers are increasing, suggesting those in need are being identified and agencies are intervening to get them support and security.

"Yet it is crucial that we minimise further turmoil for these young people and we don't want to see them being moved around on a series of unsettling short-term placements.

"That's why we have listened to views and are moving to ensure stability and the child's long-term needs are treated as a priority, whether that means exploring what support their parents would need for them to return or looking at the alternatives. If it is best for the child, the network of wider family and friends should also be considered first for placements.

"We're clear that outcomes for looked after young people must get better and last year we launched measures to improve their educational achievement. Yet life chances also depend on children being happy and settled with a sense of belonging which is why these regulations are so important."

Full story Source The Scottish Government 22 April 2009

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Cohabitants and Mistresses

The Scottish Law Commission yesterday published its Report on the Law of Succession to the Scottish Government with plans to modernise Scotland’s wills and inheritance system. Professor Joseph Thomson, the lead commissioner on the Succession project said: "The aim is to simplify the law radically by providing rules which are easily understood and which at the same time reflect the nature of family structures in contemporary Scotland." 



The report recommends that when a person dies without making a will, the deceased's surviving spouse or civil partner will inherit the whole estate up to the value of a threshold sum after which the remainder of the estate will be shared equally with the deceased's issue. The report proceeds on the basis that the threshold sum should be £300,000 but recognises that the precise sum is a political question for the Scottish Parliament. Where there is no surviving spouse or civil partner, the deceased's issue will inherit the whole estate.



If there is a will and the deceased's surviving spouse or civil partner is disinherited, the report recommends that they will be entitled to a legal share amounting to 25% of what they would have inherited if the deceased had died intestate. If children are disinherited, the report offers two possible scenarios. First, the children would be entitled to a legal share amounting to 25% of what they would have inherited if the deceased had died intestate. Second, and more radically, dependent children should be entitled to a capital sum 
calculated by reference to their maintenance needs: but otherwise a person would be free to leave his estate as he or she chose and his wishes could not be disturbed by claims from adult children. Which scheme should be adopted is again a political question for the Scottish Parliament. 



With regard to cohabitants the report says;

"It is possible that the deceased was survived by both a cohabitant and a spouse or civil partner. In this situation both the cohabitant and the spouse or civil partner will have succession rights. Where the deceased died intestate we recommend that the amount which the spouse or civil partner would otherwise receive should be shared with the cohabitant. The amount due to the latter will depend on the 'appropriate percentage', but can never be more than what the spouse or civil partner receives. And where the deceased died testate the cohabitant's claim will be the appropriate percentage of the legal share to which the spouse or civil partner is entitled. Thus, in this situation too, the cohabitant's entitlement can never exceed that of the spouse or civil partner."

Unfortunately all does not bode well for sensible debate. Tanya Thompson of The Scotsman makes sensational headlines with her article Mistresses should get share of dead lovers' estates, says Law Commission here.

Full Report Source Scottish Law Commission 15 April 2009

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Sir Neil MacCormick Dies

A law expert and prominent Scottish Nationalist has died from cancer at the age of 67.

Professor Sir Neil MacCormick’s death was announced "with enormous sadness and regret" by Edinburgh University, where for 36 years he was Regius Professor of Public Law.

He died on Sunday at his home in Edinburgh and is survived by his wife Flora, three daughters and three stepchildren.
In addition to his university post, he was an SNP MEP from 1999 to 2004. First Minister Alex Salmond said he was "deeply saddened" by Sir Neil’s death.

Full story Source The Journal 6/4/09

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March Blog Highlights

Jonathan Mitchell QC : Google Street View and the law
Following suggestions that Google Street View which was launched in Scotland earlier this month is illegal Jonathan examines the legal issues. His conclusion is bad news for cheating spouses (or any miscreant) caught on camera as there is no authority to support the notion that photographing ordinary street scenes is unlawful.


Family Lore: Brave new world
In a speech to the family lawyers organistation in England & Wales Resolution Mr Justice Andrew McFarlane said new plans to open family courts to the media do not go far enough. The press release is here.

Family Lore: Resolution calls for no-fault divorce
Resolution called for a radical overhaul of divorce laws at it's national conference by asking the government to help take the blame out of divorce and separation by introducing no-blame divorce. It was also said the government "should commit to undertaking a thorough review of family law so that couples can be clearer from the outset about how their finances will be divided." The press release is available here.


Marilyn Stowe: Financial Dispute Resolution – look out for these stumbling blocks
In 2006 new cost rules were introduced in England & Wales for ancillary relief (the court procedure for resolving financial matters) requiring each party to pay their own costs. Marilyn Stowe has noticed a trend with the new rules being used as a weapon to force one party into accepting an offer, because they are worried about mounting legal cost.

Marilyn Stowe: Mesher Orders and Martin Orders: What You Need To Know
In England & Wales Mesher & Martin orders are sometimes used to defer the sale of the former matrimonial home to enable one party (usually the wife) to temporarily remain living there whilst the other party maintains an interest in the property in the form of a chargeback. This can be fraught with problems when the time comes to sell the house, leaving the person who remained in the former matrimonial home unable to afford to buy another property.


Pink Tape: Three posts about the impact of the government’s latest round of proposed cuts in legal aid in England & Wales on vulnerable families and children here, here and here.


Judith's Divorce Blog
Interesting posts about the recession, not intervening in others marital relations and winning in Judith's unique style


Los Angeles Divorce and Family Law: International Divorce
An article from the The Economist. Thanks to John Bolch of Family Lore Focus for the tip off.

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Miscarriage of Justice

As this post of mine highlights Scotland's rape laws are among the most restrictive in the world. From 922 allegations of rape made to police only 27 resulted in conviction during 2006/2007 and there is a review of the way rapes are prosecuted to improve conviction rates and the treatment of victims underway.

However, the quashing of Sean Hodgson's sentence in London earlier this week is a reminder that less restrictive laws may lead to miscarriages of justice. Convicted of rape and murder Sean Hodgson served 27 years after confessing to the crimes. New DNA evidence showed that he could not have been the murderer and his lawyers argued that he was a pathological liar and that the confessions were false.

Full story Source The Telegraph 18 March 2009

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Divorce North & South of the Border

Thanks to John Bolch of Family Focus for pointing out a story in The Times this morning comparing the differences between divorce settlements in Scotland and England & Wales.

Taking the scenario of a couple with assets of £10m and eligible to divorce in either jurisdiction it is figured that a husband would be considerably worse off divorcing in England than Scotland. In other circumstances the wife would be better off issuing in Scotland. - "Food for thought as to whether legislation to introduce a more streamlined system could be brought in across the UK."

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Failure to Reform Scots Law

The Journal reports Lord Drummond Young, chairman of the Scottish Law Commission voicing concern that the Scottish Government has consistently failed since devolution to implement the Commission's proposals for law reform. The judge warns the danger is that Scots law will fall behind the rest of the world's legal systems.

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Court Guidelines

I thought this was quite a good idea. The Family Court judges and magistrates in the Midland region last week issued guidelines be given to all parties in proceedings relating to residence and contact cases involving children. The intention is to advice parents of what the judges require of them to consider before taking matters further including;

Shared responsibility for bringing up their children

Doing what’s best for their child

Helping their children by listening, talking and explaining what is happening.

Emphasising that court imposed orders tend to work less well than agreements made between parents

The guidelines What the Family Courts expect from parents’ are available to download as a pdf from the Judiciary of England & Wales website.

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Ancillary Relief Toolkit

Following his eBook Do Your own Divorce, written to help people in England & Wales who cannot afford legal services in divorce proceedings, John Bolch of Family Lore has put together a list of web links relating to ancillary relief. The Ancillary Relief Toolkit is a list of web links relating to ancillary relief, including legislation, leading cases, calculators, tables and other very useful links.

Both resources could be extremely useful as preparation for those people preparing to divorce using a solicitor too. In order to make informed decisions most solicitors' clients really need to do a little research in order to understand what is happening.

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Internal Relocation

According to Wall LJ ETS v BT [2009] EWCA Civ 20 is the first "internal relocation" (relocation within England and Wales) arising where there is already in existence a shared residence order to reach the Court of Appeal.

Briefly, the parents are unmarried and the mother is British, although she also has an Israeli passport. The father is Serbian, but is settled in England. Their relationship began in 1999 and ended in December 2005, when the mother left the father, taking their daughter, L, with her. During 2007 the mother's application to relocate to Israel was was refused and the judge ordered shared residence.

A second application was made this time to relocate from North London to Chew Magna. This was again refused along with the father's application for a more equal division of L's time between the parents. The judge found the mother was not entirely truthful, she had delayed telling the father about the intention to relocate, she had made a number of unilateral changes to L's care and her motivation for the proposed move is to diminish the father's relationship with their daughter.

The interesting bit is consideration of what effect, if any, does a shared residence order have and what weight should a judge give to the existence of such an order. After reviewing the relevant authorities on internal relocation there was some disagreement with the judge's approach in the judgement under appeal. Nonetheless the Court of Appeal ruled relocating was not in the child's best interest and the appeal was dismissed.

Finally, in the post script Wall LJ said something which was very similar to my mantra about it not mattering to children in ten years time a jot whether they do x or y, but whether children grow up with positive feelings about both parents is likely to stay with them forever.

Each parent represents 50% of L's gene pool. Children, moreover, learn about relationships between adults from their parents. In twenty years time it will not matter a row of beans whether or not L spent x or y hours more with one parent rather than the other: what will matter is the relationship which L has with her parents, and her capacity to understand and engage in mutually satisfying adult relationships. If she is given a distorted view of adult relationships by her parents, her own view of them will be distorted, and her own relationships with others – particularly with members of the opposite sex – will be damaged.

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Review 2008

The last three weeks I've been busy with the seasonal festivities, daughter visiting from Australia, son's birthday and I even managed to get away for a short break. I've only just got around to reflecting events of the past year.

January My very first blog ever setting out a wish list and there have been some moves in the right direction. C-MEC came into operation this year although it remains yet to be seen how effective the change over from the Child Support Agency will be. Relationships Scotland was formed from Relate Scotland and Family Mediation Scotland and with the support of the Scottish Collaborative Law Group pilots of parenting classes were initiated throughout Scotland.


February The first of three damning regional Ofsted inspection reports into the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, the organisation that provides a social work service to children and families who are involved in family court proceedings in England & Wales.


March The Court of Session ordered three children to be returned to their mother in France. Subsequently the father was extradited to face charges of child abduction.

April The Glasgow Bar Association voted for industrial action in protest against the Scottish Government's plans to reform legal aid. Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill was to announce an increase in the level of civil legal aid payments and a new scale of payments for complex family law cases a month later.

May The launch in Edinburgh of Scotland's first specialist legal service, Cl@n, for children and young people who need legal advice and representation.


June In SS v Childen's Reporter Sheriff Stoddart ruled that an interim contact order did not "vest" any parental rights and responsibilities in the father, but did relate to the exercise of such rights. the case sent back to the children's hearing to reconsider.


July Sheriff Nigel Murray Paton Morrison set out a list of factors to consider in cases when permission to remove a child from the jurisdiction permanently is sought.


August Thousands of drivers, including holidaymakers on their way to Heathrow, were left stranded after police were forced to shut part of the M25 when Fathers 4 Justice campaigner, Geoffrey Hibbert, dressed as Batman and climbed on to a gantry. In September Fathers 4 justice was disbanded and then relaunched??

September In Scotland's first 'palimony' case a mother was awarded £14,460 representing a half share of a tax bill and a half share of the estimated £26,000 to cover childcare.

RAB v MIB overturned decisions by sheriffs in Aberdeen and an English Court that the child residency case should be heard in English courts.

Nigel Don tabled a motion, Family Law Disputes, in the Scottish Parliament.

That the Parliament recognises that current arrangements for settling family law disputes could be improved and that current law still discriminates against parents who are not married; notes that parents can find it difficult or impossible to enforce contact orders where the other parent is unco-operative and that disputes where broken families live in more than one jurisdiction within the United Kingdom are unnecessarily difficult to resolve; further notes that these issues are particularly relevant due to recent cases in the north east; encourages current moves by Scotland's legal profession towards collaborative dispute resolution, and notes with interest the new system of less adversarial trials being developed in Australia.

October Launch of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.

November Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announced the upper disposable income threshold for civil legal aid is to increase from £10,306 to £25,000.

December New measures for the enforcement of child contact orders introduced in England& Wales.

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