News Round 3

Same sex marriage Scotland  

The draft bill to allow same-sex marriage in Scotland was  published on 12th December  as part of a new consultation on the detail of ministers' proposals to be put to the Scottish Parliament. 

Article Journal Online 

Rise in child abduction

New figures reveal that the number of parental child abduction cases dealt with by the Foreign Office has risen by 88% in under a decade.

Source Foreign and Commonwealth Office

"The government has just introduced equal shared care" ... No it hasn't 

The Government intends to introduce a  statutory  presumption that both parents should normally be involved in the life of a   child in  England & Wales.  Last week  the Justice Committee raised concerns that this  would be misunderstood by parents  as a right to 50:50 equal time parenting. To illustrate the point within a matter of hours after the  Government announced its response to the consultation regarding  changes to the Children Act 1989 one father tried to exercise the right to equal shared care in court. 

Source Family Law

Sesame Street Tool Kit

Sesame Street has just launched a tool kit to help family, friends and others help children through divorce. 

Sibling Contact 

Vicki Straiton, solicitor, cl@n   writes about the legal obstacles in Scotland to separated siblings seeking contact with each other.  In this article she raises concerns that the obstacles aren't effectively addressed in the Children and Young People Bill.

Article The Journal Online 

Boris Johnson, Alex Salmond and shopping for divorce

Scottish solicitor Lucia Clark asks in her blawg Do rich divorcing wives fare better in court in London, rather than elsewhere in the world? Apparently not always.  Lucia is a dual qualified solicitor (England/Wales and Scotland) and deals with cases on both sides of the border. 

Read more...

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.

Read more...

Cl@n

Yesterday's Scotsman reported the Community Law Advice Network, or cl@n, has been set up with the aim of making the law more accessible to all by providing legal advice and representation to people at a place suitable to them, at the time that they need it, irrespective of their ability to pay. Its initial focus is in relation to children and young people in Edinburgh and the Lothians.

Read more...