Family

An increasing number of family law specialist teams are joining with other disciplines and professionals to offer clients a wider range of services that do not involve the court process, it has emerged.

A particularly unwelcome issue for judges hearing cases remotely is that some of the most disturbing elements of serious family cases are being heard at home, a High Court judge has reported.

Family law specialist are feeling more isolated and less connected to their peers and colleagues within the legal community since the UK went into lockdown, a survey of Resolution members has found.

A highly experienced chartered legal executive who forged her client’s signature after forgetting to ask the client to sign a consent order has been banned from working for law firms.

The Australian government has launched a A$3m (£1.6m) online platform which uses artificial intelligence to help separating couples divide up their property.

A High Court judge caught making critical comments of a mother in a care case because her laptop had not been disconnected from Zoom should have recused herself, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

A client arguing that her former solicitors did not follow her instructions in drawing up a divorce petition waived privilege in doing so, a High Court judge has ruled.

The Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling that a negligence claim brought by a woman against her law firm over its work on her divorce was out of time.

An online service that helps divorcing couples draft their own documents and not use lawyers has received a new round of funding to increase the number of people it can help.

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.