Family

An established estate planning firm has entered regulation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and bought a family law practice to expand the services it offers.

Private equity-backed Fletchers Group has moved outside of injury work for the first time by buying leading family law firm Rayden Solicitors.

A senior family lawyer has been cleared of dishonesty and lack of integrity over an application for a decree nisi that was not made and remained outstanding for a year.

A solicitor who misled her divorce client, the Family Court and the owner of her law firm – leading to the client being issued with a penal notice – has been struck off.

The Family Court has terminated the appointment of a solicitor to cross-examine a mother on behalf of the father because he is also instructed to act for the father in criminal proceedings.

A litigant in person who was “extremely abusive” to a district judge in a family case and made “direct threats of physical violence” has been jailed for four months for contempt.

There are “unacceptably long delays” in the family justice system and the government is showing no urgency to deal with them, MPs have said.

A partner who deliberately failed to disclose during his divorce that he held over £23,000 in his capital account has been struck off.

The co-founder of a divorce service which puts clients directly in touch with family law judges has said it aims to be a legal services “Uber for financial remedies”.

Budget nuptial agreements “can mislead parties and distort expectations in lower-income cases” and “should provoke alarm”, an academic specialising in family law has argued.