Care and supervision orders

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Procedure and principles to be applied to maintenance pending suit applications (Rattan v Kuwad)

The following Family news provides comprehensive and up to date legal information on Procedure and principles to be applied to maintenance pending suit applications (Rattan v Kuwad)

Retained EU law—a guide for the perplexed

The following Banking & Finance news provides comprehensive and up to date legal information on Retained EU law—a guide for the perplexed

Solicitors and contempt of court

The following Practice Compliance news provides comprehensive and up to date legal information on Solicitors and contempt of court

Addressing contempt in family proceedings (Hart v Hart and others)

The following Dispute Resolution news provides comprehensive and up to date legal information on Addressing contempt in family proceedings (Hart v Hart and others)

Featured Family content

Notice of acting

Case number [insert number][In the principal registryORIn the [insert court location] FAMILY court]Sitting at [insert place]Notice of...

Private children—paramountcy of the child's welfare

The paramountcy principleWhen any court determines any question with respect to:•the upbringing of the child, or•the administration of the child's...

Pension attachment orders

The power to make pension attachment orders (previously referred to as earmarking orders) arises from the insertion of sections 25B–25D of the...

The no order principle

This Practice Note explains the no order principle contained in section 1(5) of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989). It explains when the principle...

Practice notes

Sequestration (confiscation of assets) within contempt proceedings

Sequestration is a process for dealing with a contempt of court that would be otherwise punishable by a committal under which the assets of the...

Produced in partnership with David Salter, deputy High Court judge and Recorder 12th Jan

Practice notes

Decree absolute—divorce

Online divorceWhere a divorce is proceeding via the online service note that while rules relating to divorce proceedings are generally to be found in...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Application to vary, extend or discharge a non-molestation or occupation order

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance has been issued, including by the President of the Family Division, regarding all proceedings in the Family Court in...

9th Nov

COVID-19

Practice notes

Grounds for judicial separation

Applications for judicial separation are relatively rare in practice. It may arise where the client has strong religious and or cultural reasons for...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Drafting the terms of a financial consent order

This Practice Note sets out the basic principles to be applied when drafting a financial consent order including the preparation and structure of the...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Capitalised maintenance—Duxbury calculations

The basis of Duxbury calculationsA Duxbury calculation is an actuarial calculation designed to identify the capital sum required to meet a periodical...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Emergency prohibited steps and child arrangements orders

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance has been issued, including by the President of the Family Division, regarding all proceedings in the Family Court in...

9th Nov

Practice notes

The grounds on which a marriage is void

A void marriage is one that will be treated by the court as never having taken place. The grounds on which a marriage will be void are set out in...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Undefended divorce proceedings

Online divorceOn 6 May 2018 the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) launched its online divorce service nationwide for the public acting as litigants in person....

9th Nov

Practice notes

Void and voidable marriages

The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) sets out the grounds on which a marriage is void or voidable and the bars preventing the grant of a decree...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Working with counsel

Instructing counsel to advocate on a client’s behalf should be a matter of careful thought and preparation. The role of counsel is to provide...

Produced in partnership with Ursula Rice of Family First Solicitors Ltd 12th Jan

Practice notes

Child Arrangements Programme—the procedure for section 8 applications

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance has been issued, including by the President of the Family Division, regarding all proceedings in the Family Court in...

9th Nov

COVID-19

In-house

Practice notes

Statements of truth in family proceedings

This Practice Note is impacted by the exit of the UK from the EU on 31 January 2020. This has implications for practitioners when considering an...

9th Nov

Precedents

Specimen statement of issues for a first appointment—financial remedy application

In the Family Court sitting at [location][Case No]Between1[insert name] ApplicantAnd2[ insert name] RespondentStatement of issues for the First...

9th Nov

Practice notes

The grounds on which a marriage is voidable

A decree of nullity granted after 31 July 1971 in respect of a voidable marriage operates to annul the marriage with effect from decree absolute and...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Declarations of parentage—procedure

The procedure for an application for a declaration of parentage is governed by the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010), SI 2010/2955, Pt...

9th Nov

Most recent Care and supervision orders content

Practice notes

Human rights in public children proceedings

All family lawyers should be knowledgeable about the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which is...

12th Jan

Q&As

Where a local authority proposes indirect contact only in relation to a looked after child, is an order required under section 34(4) of the Children Act 1989 authorising the local authority to do so?

A ‘looked after child’ is a term which covers a child subject to a care order, interim care order or supervision order. Where a child is in the care...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Practice notes

Care plans and looked after child reviews

Chapter 1 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017 (CASWA 2017) introduces an obligation on local authorities to consider additional general needs,...

Produced in partnership with Tom Higgin of Suffolk County Council 8th Jan

Q&As

Can the court make findings against parents within care proceedings if the local authority are not seeking any? Can the court direct that there be a fact-finding hearing if no other party deems it necessary or appropriate?

The philosophical underpinning of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) is that the child’s welfare is the paramount consideration. The ultimate arbiter of...

Produced in partnership with Matthew Fletcher of 1 Garden Court Chambers 8th Jan

Q&As

Where a court in England and Wales makes an interim care order, can the child be placed in Scotland by the local authority?

Care proceedings are governed by different statutes in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland respectively. Care orders in England and...

Produced in partnership with Chris Bryden of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Scottish Law

Q&As

A local authority wishes to apply to change the surname of a child who is subject to a care order made under Part IV of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989). The child’s parents cannot be located and therefore, cannot be asked for their consent. Would the application to change the child’s surname be made within ChA 1989, Pt IV proceedings, or as a separate application and in what form?

When a parent is considering changing a child’s surname, they should consult with any other person who holds parental responsibility, regardless of...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

A teenage child has been placed with another family member under an interim care order and attends a fee-paying school funded by the maternal grandparents. Can the local authority (LA) seek an order to change the schooling arrangements under the interim care order where one of the parents objects, or does the LAs parental responsibility pursuant to the interim order override the natural parent’s parental responsibility?

Parental responsibility is defined as all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

Can the court make an exclusion order (currently an exclusion requirement under Children Act 1989, s 38A) when a final care order is made?

In care proceedings, it is open to the court under section 38 of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) to make an interim care order (ICO) at an early...

Produced in partnership with Chris Bryden of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

A residence order was made in relation to a step-parent for their step-child to live with them. The step-parent and the child’s mother lived together with the child, but they later separated and the child remained with the mother with the step-parent having contact. Does the step-parent still have parental responsibility for the child and what would be their status in any local authority care proceedings? Would section 11(5) of the Children Act 1989 have any impact on the residence order?

Where a court makes a child arrangements order, pursuant to section 8 of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989), for a child to live with a person who is...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

Where a child is represented separately within care proceedings and the child is competent to give instructions and wishes to move to live with her paternal grandmother in Israel, what application can be made on behalf of the child and what form should be used?

Pursuant to section 22C of the Children Act 1989 a local authority, where a looked after child cannot be cared for by their parents, must consider...

Produced in partnership with Ruth Cabeza of Field Court Chambers 8th Jan

Q&As

If care proceedings are to be commenced in relation to a number of children of the family, including siblings; half siblings and step-siblings who are living under the same roof, do you issue one C110A application in respect of all of the children or are separate proceedings required and if so how would the proceedings be separated?

Issuing an application under section 31 of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) is the step taken to initiate public law proceedings in respect of...

Produced in partnership with Chris Bryden of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Practice notes

Reports under section 37 of the Children Act 1989

Under section 37 of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989), the court has the power to order an investigation by a local authority into the welfare of a...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

Where the police exercise their powers to accommodate a child in cases of emergency for a period of 72 hours under section 46 of the Children Act 1989, on the expiry of that period of time, can the police re-exercise their powers of protection and accommodate the child for a further consecutive 72 hours?

Where a constable has reasonable cause to believe that a child would otherwise be likely to suffer significant harm, they may remove the child to...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

What powers, duties and options do a local authority have to protect a child they suspect is vulnerable to child sexual exploitation?

A helpful definition of child exploitation was set out by Cobb J in Rotherham MBC v M (at para [9]): '...when a young person (or a third person or...

Produced in partnership with Matthew Haynes of St Ives Chambers 8th Jan

Q&As

Within care proceedings both a birth parent (who has previously not cared for the child who is the subject of the proceedings) and a family member have been positively assessed by the local authority to care for the child. Is there a presumption in favour of a birth parent instead of a wider family member when the court is considering with whom the a child should be placed?

Whether there is a presumption in favour of a birth parent was considered within the context of private law proceedings by the Court of Appeal in Re...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

Can a referral to local authority child protection services be challenged? Can an injunction be obtained to stop the initial child protection conference and/or is there an appeal process for a child protection conference?

A child protection conference is a meeting convened by the local authority to make decisions about a child’s safety, health and development. Attendees...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

Can the court, within care proceedings, make a non-molestation order of its own motion that prevents a parent from entering the family home?

Section 42(2)(b) of the Family Law Act 1996 (FLA 1996) provides the court with the power to make a non-molestation order of its own motion in any...

Produced in partnership with Melissa Harrison of Coram Chambers 8th Jan

Q&As

Where care proceedings have been consolidated following the birth of another baby during the original proceedings, in what circumstances would the court be likely to subsequently split the two sets of proceedings? Is there case law on this issue?

The court has the power to consolidate proceedings pursuant to its general case management powers, as well as to separate proceedings (Family...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

A care order was made four years ago placing a child with family members. An application has now been made to discharge the care order and replace it with a special guardianship order. Medical evidence submitted in support of the application is several years old, and the prospective special guardians have stated that there has been no change since the reports were prepared. Do time limits apply regarding medical evidence or in relation to Disclosure and Barring Service checks?

The best way to approach this issue is to consider what information the court would need in order to be satisfied that:•the care order can and should...

Produced in partnership with Melissa Harrison of Coram Chambers 8th Jan

Q&As

A child is subject to a supervision order made under section 31 of the Children Act 1989. The court allowed the mother to take the child out of the jurisdiction to another EU country for a relative's funeral. The mother is now refusing to return the child. What steps may be taken by the local authority to return the child to this jurisdiction?

Once a child is subject to a supervision order under section 31 of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989), the child is placed in the care or supervision of...

Produced in partnership with Tori Adams of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan