Family

A ground-breaking remote service offering fixed-fee unbundled family law advice to litigants in person has been boosted by the sudden familiarity people have with talking to others online.

A QC’s inability to attend court in person because she is shielding, unlike the other counsel in a case, will not make the hearing unfair, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

The president of the Family Division has cleared the way for more remote hearings, including those where parents and children appear as witnesses, by revising the guidance for judges.

The physical presence in a sensitive family case of leading counsel shielding from Covid-19 was desirable but “not essential”, a High Court judge has ruled in ordering an in-person hearing.

Children are “coming in and out of the room” during remote family law hearings and in some cases witnessing their “distressed” parents, a major study has found.

The government is considering whether children in police stations should have to opt out of receiving legal advice, rather than opt in as now, it has emerged.

It is not appropriate for a 15-day hearing into whether a mother has harmed her seven-year-old daughter to be held remotely, the president of the Family Court has ruled.

A service for couples wanting an amicable separation without instructing separate lawyers has been launched by Withers, which has also worked with Mariella Frostrup on a relationship podcast series.