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  • Give someone else a voice

    4 Brick Court's running team took part in the Great South Run (10 miles in Portsmouth on 26th October)on behalf of a favourite charity and your support would be greatly appreciated by the many children who have come to depend on VOICE.  VOICE is a charity entirely dedicated to giving support advice and assistance to the 60,000 children in care in the UK at any one time.

     

    The team from chambers included Jacqui Gilliatt, Louise MacLynn, Francis Cassidy, Lee Pearman and Paul Carver, joined by Jacqui's husband, John Sullivan, his friend David Parkinson and Jacqui's friends Carolyn & Tim Cobbold.

    You can log on to our Just Giving website and translate our pounding the pavements of Portsmouth in to pounds for this charity.

    Alternatively we will be happy to receive cheques made out to Voice at 4 Brick Court.

     

    Click to find out more about VOICE

  • New files on 4bc Website

    We have recently added to our website - the June 2008 updater - the Jargon Buster from A to Z (in  Family Law General) & the Family Law Bibliography (also in Family Law General).

  • Standard of Proof in Care Proceedings

    The House of Lords ruled on 11th June 2008 in an appeal in which three members of  4 Brick Court Chambers appeared before their Lordships on 19th and 20th May 2008. Marianna Hildyard QC and Isabelle Watson represented the Respondent father and Stuart Fuller (led by Stephen Cobb QC of 1 Garden Court Chambers) represented the Appellant children (through their Children’s Guardian). CAFCASS intervened.

  • Domestic Violence Practice Direction

    This Practice Direction came into force on 9.5.08.  See also the comments of Robert Stevens reported on the Family Law Week blog.

  • PLO Guidance for London

    Judge Altman, the Designated Judge for London, has issued an Initial Local Plan for London dated 10th April 2008in respect of the implementation of the Public Law Outline (which is already in force). It applies to the London Care Centre which means the PRFD & Barnet, Kingston & Croydon County Courts & is relevant also to cases transferred into those courts from the FPCs.

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Articles listing » Monthly Family Law Updaters » Family Law Updater October 2008




News
"Full cost recovery illusory" says President
UK removes remaining reservations from UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Single parents face seven-year wait for child support
McKenzie Friends
President's Guidance: Listing Final Hearings in Adoption cases (03.10.08)


Legislation
Family Proceedings (Allocation to Judiciary) (Amendment) Directions 2008
New PRFD Practice Direction issued by HHJ Altman, DFJ for London which came into effect from 15th October 2008


Ancillary Relief
NG v KR (Pre-nuptial contract) [2008] EWHC 1532 (Fam)
Judgment in big money case involving consideration of a pre-nuptial agreement.
Whitehouse-Piper v Stokes [2008] EWCA Civ 1049
Appeal by wife against orders in ancillary relief proceedings where a circuit judge, of his own motion, raised a point as to jurisdiction.
Behzadi v Behzadi [2008] EWCA Civ 1070
Ancillary Relief and the Credit Crunch (Part 1)


Private Law Cases
M N (Children) [2008] EWHC 2281 (Fam)
B (Children) [2008] EWCA Civ 1034
Children: Private Law Update (Autumn 2008)


Public Law Cases
B (Children) [2008] EWCA Civ 1037
Application for permission to appeal finding of fact that the applicant had sexually abused children of a family whose children had been placed in care for general neglect. Application refused.
S (A Child) [2008] EWCA Civ 1078
Application for permission to appeal against a refusal to allow a further residential assessment for a young parent and her child. Application refused.
Children: Public Law Update (October 2008)


ECHR
EM (Lebanon) v Secretary of State for Home Department [2008] UKHL 64
Appeal by mother against the Home Office's decision to remove her and her son back to the Lebanon on the grounds that removal would infringe her article 8 and 14 rights. Appeal allowed.
RK and AK v the United Kingdom (38000/05)
ECHR judgment in a claim by a couple whose child had been taken into care, who was later diagnosed with brittle bone disease, for breaches of Article 8 and 13 rights. The court found there was a breach of the couple's Article 13 rights.


Articles
Is there a Case to Answer? Speed, Detail and Re L Hearings
Re B: The Heightened Civil Standard Laid to Rest
Jo Delahunty QC and Alison Grief, of Garden Court Chambers, highlight the demise of the "heightened civil standard of evidence" in the wake of the recent Lords decision in Re B. This is a case in which our chambers had a substantial involvement (Marianna Hildyard QC and Isabelle Watson for father and Stuart Fuller for the Guardian) and the authors of this article were instructed by CAFCASS. The article takes you through the facts of the case, the judgment of the trial judge and the issues to be determined by the Lords and their reasoning. Please find below an extract.
Whos The Daddy, Half Sister, Brother: The Future of DNA Testing in Family Proceedings. Fam.Law 2008, (Oct) 1028-1032.
Ancillary Relief and the Credit Crunch (Part 1)
Compensation for Domestic Abuse after Singh v Bhakar
Children: Private Law Update (Autumn 2008)
Children: Public Law Update (October 2008)


Domestic Violence
Compensation for Domestic Abuse after Singh v Bhakar