Tag

Family courts

7 files

The judiciary issued formal guidance on non-molestation orders because too many were being granted without the proper test being applied

A non-molestation order can be granted without the respondent present, and breaching one is a criminal offence carrying up to five years. Practice Guidance issued by the judiciary in July 2023 addressed applications being made without the stringent test for a without-notice order being met.

Welfare Desk11 Aug 20263 min

Injustice

Private law family cases now take around nine months, and Cafcass caseloads have hit a five-year high

Children Act private law cases took an average of 35 weeks to conclude between January and March 2026, having run at 41.8 weeks across 2024. Cafcass received 42,172 private law cases in the year to March 2026, the highest since 2020-21.

Welfare Desk10 Aug 20262 min

Injustice

In 40% of private family law cases, neither parent has a lawyer

Between April and June 2024, neither party had legal representation in 40% of private family law cases. Both parties were represented in 19%, down from 41% in the first quarter of 2013 before the LASPO cuts took effect.

Welfare Desk09 Aug 20262 min

Injustice

What the family courts will and will not accept about alienating behaviour

Guidance issued by the Family Justice Council in December 2024 sets out how courts should respond to allegations of alienating behaviour. Understanding the distinction it draws matters more to a parent in proceedings than any campaigning position on either side.

Welfare Desk07 Aug 20262 min

Injustice

What Cafcass actually does, and what a section 7 report decides

Cafcass is the body that advises the family court about what is safe and in a child’s interests. Most parents encounter it twice, through the initial safeguarding letter and then through a section 7 report, and neither process is well explained before it happens.

Welfare Desk05 Aug 20262 min

Injustice

There were over 230,000 section 47 child protection enquiries last year, and fewer than a third reached a conference

Local authorities carried out more than 230,000 section 47 child protection enquiries in the year ending March 2025, the highest on record. The proportion resulting in an initial child protection conference has fallen from 47% in 2012-13 to 31% in 2024-25.

Welfare Desk04 Aug 20262 min

Injustice

What the court can actually do when a spouse hides money in divorce proceedings

Both parties in financial remedy proceedings are under a continuing duty of full and frank disclosure. Where somebody breaches it, the court has real powers, including drawing adverse inferences about what has been hidden and setting aside a final order.

Money Desk03 Aug 20262 min