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R (Greyhound Board of Great Britain Ltd) v Welsh Ministers [2026] EWHC 670 (Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling reinforces the constitutional divide between the courts and the legislature. It explains that the scheme and framework of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (GWA 2006) embody that separation of powers, and that any judicial attempt to recognise and enforce a common law obligation on Welsh Ministers to consult prior to introducing legislation in the Senedd would trespass upon that boundary. This is not a departure from established principle; case law has already upheld comparable rules for lawmakers in Scotland and at Westminster. However, this is the first express confirmation of the position for Welsh lawmakers, and the first time this dimension of the GWA 2006 has been analysed in such depth. The court examined earlier
The solution arrived through the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), a quasi‑judicial body handling mass claims, created under UN Security Council Resolution 687. By addressing environmental harm—most notably via its ‘F4’ claim class—the UNCC set a seminal benchmark shaping how international law and contemporary arbitral panels allocate financial responsibility for wartime ecological devastation. With present-day wars in areas such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East bringing dam breaches, strikes on chemical facilities, and the burning of farmland, the UNCC’s legacy endures as an essential reference point for states, global investors, and companies engaged in post‑conflict arbitration. The F4 claims: Quantifying the unquantifiable Prior to the 1990s, mechanisms in international law for war reparations overwhelmingly favoured property loss, foregone earnings, and bodily injury. The natural world was commonly treated as a mute, non-compensable victim of armed hostilities...
Understanding the farming business as a business Many farms still use long-standing structures that arose by habit, not strategy. Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common. While once effective, such setups can cause major issues around succession, tax planning and involving the next generation. A corporate team can take a fresh, business-led view of the farm, asking: Who owns the land and other critical assets? Who manages daily operations? Who carries the risk and who enjoys the return? What is the enduring plan for succession? From this review, the team can confirm whether the current setup is fit for purpose or if an alternative — for example an updated partnership agreement, a company, a limited liability partnership, or a blended model — would better meet the family’s aims. Tax efficiency through joined-up advice Tax sits at the centre of most
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In this issue: Practice and procedure Public children International children Lex Talk®Family: a Lexis®Nexis community Updated content Daily and weekly news alerts Useful information Practice and procedure HMCTS publishes 2025 courts and tribunals Christmas and New Year opening times HM Courts and Tribunals Service ( HMCTS) has issued the opening schedule for courts and tribunals over the 2025 Christmas and New Year period. Temporary closures will apply on: Wednesday 24 December 2025 (limited to the County and Family Courts, Crown Courts, the High Court and the Court of Appeal— Royal Courts of Justice and Rolls Building—and specified tribunals) Thursday 25 December 2025 Friday 26 December 2025 Thursday 1 January 2026 For remand hearings only, selected magistrates’ courts will open on 27 December 2025 and 1 January 2026. Magistrates’ courts and Scotland tribunal offices will continue to operate on 24...
In this issue: Practice and procedure Domestic abuse Public children Private children Court of Protection International children Daily and weekly news alerts Updated content New Q& As Useful information Practice and procedure House of Commons Justice Committee to examine reform of the Family Court During a parliamentary evidence session on Family Court reform, the House of Commons Justice Committee questioned the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew Mc Farlane, alongside Dame Nicole Jacobs, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales. The discussion focused on recent reforms designed to tackle delays and backlogs, promote early intervention and mediation, strengthen responses to domestic abuse, progress problem-solving courts, and address data and digitalisation within the Family Court. The chief executives of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service ( Cafcass) and the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory also appeared before the committee. The evidence session can be viewed here. See: LNB News 24/10/2025 41......
Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v KP (by her litigation friend the Official Solicitor) [2025] EWCOP 35 What was the background? KP is a bright 19-year-old who is now 17 weeks pregnant at this time. She experienced hypoxia at birth, resulting in an acquired brain injury, and has a diagnosis of cerebral palsy. In 2024 a psychiatrist assessed her as showing traits of Borderline Personality Disorder, and later the same year she was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Although KP has not been diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, she is known to present with several distinct personas or identities that take hold for different periods; at present, she adopts the identity of a 13-year-old girl. Around April 2025 it was concluded that KP should be presumed to have capacity to engage in sexual relations. KP met a man, CD, online; they started a...
London NHS Trust v DT and another [2025] EWCOP 36 What was the background? The applicant, a London NHS Trust, asked the Court of Protection for declarations in relation to DT, a 42-year-old woman, the Official Solicitor acting as her litigation friend, and her sister YT named as second respondent. Before 23 August 2025, DT was well; she became unwell on a flight and collapsed at an airport in Country Z, thereafter never regaining consciousness. She sustained cardiac arrests and required mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, with intervals of absent blood flow to vital organs, including the brain, causing hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury. At her family’s request, DT was moved to the Trust’s London hospital in mid- September 2025, where her condition remained unchanged; EEG demonstrated no persuasive cerebral activity and MRI showed severe brainstem damage. Clinicians considered DT likely to be brain stem dead and that...
A copy of the minutes is accessible here: Online Procedure Rule Committee minutes of meeting 14 July 2025, in full. Welcome, apologies and introductory remarks (item 1) The Master of the Rolls ( MR) opened the meeting, thanking Lord Justice Edis for serving as interim Senior President of Tribunals ( SPT). The Committee noted that a new SPT will be in post before the Committee reconvenes again in October. Formal approval was given to the record of the last meeting, which took place on 9 June 2025. SI and forward look (item 2) Members also considered proposals for the forthcoming enabling SI, covering OCMC and the DCP. Cooperation between the OPRC and the Civil Procedure Rule Committee ( CPRC) will be needed, and a joint working group—mirroring the Property and Possession Working Group—should be formed. The Committee also explored how best to frame...
In this issue: Practice and procedure Domestic abuse Private children Financial provision International children New content Updated content Daily and weekly news alerts Useful information Practice and procedure Master of the Rolls speech addresses AI adoption in legal profession and digital assets jurisdiction alignment Addressing the Legal Geek Conference, the Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos, observed a rapid change in attitudes to AI across the legal profession. He emphasised that AI is a powerful aid for tasks like summarising documents and undertaking legal research, while warning its deployment must be grounded in understanding, privacy protection and robust verification. He noted AI can help draft contracts and even generate legal advice or judgments, yet its role must be carefully weighed, particularly in judicial decision‑making, where ethical and societal consequences are significant. Sir Geoffrey examined the notion of AI...
Macpherson v Sunderland City Council [2025] EWCA Civ 1159 What are the practical implications of this case? Brazen non-compliance with an order carrying a penal notice, where the breaches are wilful and purposeful, can and does result in committal to prison for contempt of court. What was the background? The proceedings concerned ‘ FP’, diagnosed with cerebral palsy and paranoid schizophrenia. The appellant was FP’s mother. In 2020, His Honour Judge Moir concluded that FP lacked capacity across several domains, a finding the appellant refused to accept. HHJ Moir’s judgment also made adverse findings: the appellant’s conduct towards care workers was ‘abusive and unpleasant’, and FP’s relationship with her was ‘enmeshed’ and ‘unhealthy’. He determined it was in FP’s best interests not to be cared for at home by the appellant; the appellant’s bid for permission to appeal was refused. The appellant’s behaviour did not alter. After a...
In this issue: Practice and procedure Domestic abuse Financial provision Public children International children Court of Protection Daily and weekly news alerts Updated content New Q& As Useful information Practice and procedure QLR is an advocate for the court, not the parties ( K v P ( Criminal Solicitor as Court- Appointed QLR)) In K v P ( Criminal Solicitor as Court- Appointed QLR) [2025] EWFC 321, the Family Court ruled that a qualified legal representative ( QLR) who also acted as the alleged perpetrator’s criminal solicitor could not remain appointed as the court’s QLR. No impropriety by the QLR was alleged, and the President of the Family Division expressly said so, yet the solicitor’s appointment as QLR was ended nonetheless. Adam Bloodworth, a solicitor at Duncan Lewis Solicitors, explores the issues in QLR is an advocate for the court, not the parties ( K v P ( Criminal Solicitor as Court- Appointed...
K v P ( Criminal Solicitor as Court- Appointed QLR) [2025] EWFC 321 What are the practical implications of this case? Because a QLR is appointed by the court, the court may promptly end the appointment where neutrality is questioned, or if deploying a particular person as QLR could reduce the quality of a witness’s testimony. The considerations the court weighs can equally include a QLR who simply comes from the same firm as the solicitor handling a connected criminal case, despite never having met the witness. It is fairly common for a single firm to act on both a party’s family work and their criminal matters. In addition, although the court could not bring to a close representation by a lawyer whom an alleged abuser instructs outside the QLR scheme, if they choose a lawyer when it is plain that doing so will...
A House of Lords committee has urged sweeping, urgent changes to the Child Maintenance Service ( CMS), targeting obsolete calculations, slow enforcement, and seriously inadequate protection for victims of domestic abuse. Issued on 14 October 2025 as the Public Services Committee’s third report of the 2024–26 session, it flags measures already timetabled for 2025–26, including new enforcement powers and a consultation on a comprehensive review of how maintenance is calculated. The report also summarises how the system currently operates, offers concise analysis of the difficulties experienced by service users, and presents a digest of ministerial announcements on proposed changes and improvements. This News Analysis explores what might happen when, and the issues practitioners need to watch for. How and when will enforcement of maintenance debts change? By the end of 2025, the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) plans to introduce legislation to implement...
In this issue: Practice and procedure Public children Private children Financial provision International children Daily and weekly news alerts New content Updated content New Q& As Useful information Practice and procedure Reform to weddings law following Law Commission recommendations The Ministry of Justice ( Mo J) has set out proposals to overhaul weddings law in England and Wales, aiming for a more adaptable legal framework that gives couples greater freedom over the setting and form of their ceremony. Rather than controlling approved buildings, the revised model would regulate the officiants who preside over marriages. The programme stems from the Law Commission’s final report of 19 July 2022, which urged modernisation so the law mirrors the varied ways people choose to wed. Under the plans, ceremonies would no longer be confined to limited categories of venues. Couples could instead marry in a much wider array of places, so long as specified requirements are satisfied. The package also...
In this issue: Practice and procedure Domestic abuse Public children Financial provision Lex Talk®Family: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Useful information Practice and procedure HMCTS enables barristers to access the family private law digital service platform HM Courts and Tribunals Service ( HMCTS) confirms that, from 23 September 2025, barristers will be able to use the family private law digital service for cases under section 8 of the Children Act 1989 ( Ch A 1989) and Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996 ( FLA 1996). The update widens the online platform to counsel instructed in private family matters, letting them upload documents, draft and amend orders, and view the application, party information and papers filed for their client. Direct access barristers remain excluded, and only a single barrister can be added for each party. Before an...
In this issue: Practice and procedure Public children Financial provision International children Daily and weekly news alerts Updated content New Q& As Useful information Practice and procedure Family Procedure Rules 2010 Practice Direction Update No 4 of 2025 The fourth update to the Family Procedure Rules 2010 ( FPR 2010) Practice Directions in 2025 has been published, introducing changes to two extant PDs: FPR 2010, PD 41G ( Proceeding by electronic means: certain proceedings for a matrimonial order or civil partnership order ( New law)) and FPR 2010, PD 2C ( Justices’ legal adviser). The revisions enable service-related applications to be submitted through the existing online portal and authorise legal advisers to consider requests for bailiff service of applications for matrimonial and civil partnership orders, enhancing efficiency. These updates concern the digitisation of interim...
In this issue: Practice and procedure Public children International children New content Updated content Daily and weekly news alerts Useful information Practice and procedure Public Accounts Committee report on improving family court services for children On 12 September 2025, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee released a report on enhancing family court services for children. It stresses that statutory goals, such as the 26 week completion target for most public law matters, have not been achieved; typical durations sit between 36 and 41 weeks, with over 4,000 children in proceedings lasting more than 100 weeks. The report attributes delay to several issues, including too few district judges and social workers (particularly in London and the South East), burdensome administrative steps, and dispersed accountability across multiple state bodies. It prioritises swifter resolution of family disputes, stronger...
In this issue: Emergency procedures Private children Public children Financial provision International Medical treatment Daily and weekly news alerts Updated content Useful information Emergency procedures Fact-finding and domestic abuse ( ER v NT) In ER v NT [2025] EWHC 2146 ( Fam), the High Court allowed an appeal from a ruling of HHJ Godwin declining to list a fact‑finding hearing in private law proceedings about child arrangements for a child born in 2023. The father’s application under Part II of the Children Act 1989 sought contact with the child. The mother resisted contact, alleging a sustained course of domestic abuse, comprising coercive and controlling behaviour, physical violence and emotional harm. The court below decided a fact‑finding was unnecessary, placing weight on the father’s limited admissions, his completion of an anger management programme, and worries about delay. On...
In this issue: Practice and procedure Private children Public children Financial provision International children Daily and weekly news alerts Updated content Useful information Practice and procedure Family Division launches consultation on revised court allocation guidance The Family Division has commenced a public consultation on a thoroughly updated set of allocation and gatekeeping guidance for the family courts. Endorsed by the President of the Family Division, the draft draws together public and private law matters into one document, sets out tailored provisions for magistrates’ case allocation, and brings within scope adoption proceedings that were previously only cited in the Family Court ( Composition and Distribution of Business) Rules 2014, SI 2014/840. This rewrite follows the work of the Family Magistrates Working Group, convened in February 2024, to examine existing allocation arrangements. The consultation period runs from 1...
G ( A Child: Scope of Fact-finding) [2025] EWCA Civ 1044 What are the practical implications of this case? The decision is notable because the Court of Appeal divided on whether fact-finding is needed to underpin a risk assessment when the potential seriousness of harm might extend to a child suffering fatal injuries, perhaps from a brief loss of self-control. Their Lordships parted company on the central issue of necessity: must the court resolve factual disputes, and would any findings materially alter the child’s care planning. The majority concluded it was not, since a risk assessment can accommodate a broad spectrum of outcomes from impulsive behaviour, up to and including fatal harm, even if that extreme possibility is not accepted and there are no findings to that effect. That may seem striking and somewhat...
Kent County Council v The Mother, The Father, G (by his Children’s Guardian) and A Hospital Trust [2025] EWHC 1974 ( Fam) What are the practical implications of this case? The practical implications are: A clear reminder that the child’s age is critical. Here, the child was 17, so the local authority could not seek a care order or interim care order under section 31(3) of the Children Act 1989. Although an emergency protection order was theoretically available, its brief duration and limited relevance to these facts meant it was not the answer; the authority’s sole viable course was to ask the court for permission to invoke the inherent jurisdiction. Affirms that a local authority cannot rely on a deprivation of liberty order to force a looked-after child to accept its preferred accommodation or placement. While the court recognised that section 20(6) of the...
SM v MM and others [2024] EWFC 463 SM v MM ( No 2) [2025] EWFC 244 SM v MM ( No 3) [2025] EWFC 245 What are the practical implications of this case? A judicial conclusion that a trust is a sham is exceedingly uncommon in divorce proceedings. Here, it came after the husband consistently asserted that a trust said to have been created in Cyprus in 2007 by his father with professional trustees was a standard, legitimate discretionary arrangement for the benefit of the parties’ two children. He argued it owned just one asset: the single issued share in a holding company, with the underlying trading businesses managed by wholly independent third parties. The wife’s case was that the trust was a sham and that the assets within it, valued at about £38m, were in truth controlled and...
What are the practical implications of this case? The decision underscores that courts ought not to be overly reluctant to impose penalties in committal proceedings arising from Family law orders. It is widely recognised that these disputes carry heightened emotional strain and may affect the wider family dynamic more acutely than other proceedings that might prompt a committal application. For that reason, courts have, historically, hesitated to order sanctions such as a custodial term in this arena, especially where the child’s best interests underpin the order in respect of which the committal proceedings have arisen. In this matter, the mother persistently defied the court’s directions and, at the appeal hearing, made plain her ongoing refusal to comply. The appellate court declined to endorse Mr Justice Nicklin’s approach in Oliver v Shaikh, namely that, where there is tension between signalling the court’s...
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When evaluating a general damages claim, the practitioner ought initially to refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG)...
This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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