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Family Law

Expectant fathers entitled to time off for ante-natal appointments

Expectant fathers now have the right to take unpaid time off work to attend two ante-natal classes with their partners. The entitlement, which came into effect on 1 October, applies to all expectant partners including husbands, spouses, civil partners and anyone in a long-term relationship with the mother. Expectant fathers who are not in a relationship with the mother are still entitled to the unpaid time off work.

Father loses appeal over parental responsibility for his son

Father loses appeal over parental responsibility for his son Fathers usually succeed when applying for a court order to grant them parental responsibility for their children, as it is generally considered to be in the children’s best interests. However, applications will be refused if the courts feel it would be to a child’s detriment, as happened in a recent case before the Court of Appeal. It involved an unmarried couple …Read More

The Government plans to enshrine in law the right of both parents to have access to their children in divorce settlements.

The Government plans to enshrine in law the right of both parents to have access to their children in divorce settlements. According to the Office for National Statistics one in three children lives without their father and campaign groups have for a long time pressed for a change in the law, so that courts would be forced to give access rights to fathers as well as mothers in divorce settlements. …Read More

Children and Families Bill introduced in the Queen’s Speech

A new Children and Families Bill has been announced in the Queen’s Speech of May 9th. The Bill will implement plans to introduce more flexible parental leave following an independent report in May 2011 that recommended that the right to request flexible working be extended to those with parental responsibility for children up to the age of 16. The development of the Children and Families Bill will also introduce legislation …Read More

Solicitors warned of divorce claims

Divorce LifeLine suggests that since pension sharing was introduced in December 2000, around 750,000 people, in half the divorces across the country, could be entitled to claim thousands of pounds from their solicitors where their former spouse’s pension was undervalued. The company’s founding partner Tony Derbyshire said that in 96% of the 171 divorce settlements it had looked at, solicitors had not sought expert advice on the pension value. ‘It …Read More

Children’s guide to family justice published

The government is currently in the process of reviewing the Family Justice System as a whole.  As part of that, children are being asked to provide their input in explaining how they consider that they should be treated on Divorce as part of the justice system. The comments made by Children will be fed back to the Government who intend to incorporate procedures within the Family Justice System to take …Read More