Pink Tape

a blog from the family bar

Parental Kidnap

International child abduction is a thorny issue, particularly where a child is abducted by a parent to a country that is not a signatory to the Hague Convention. Family practitioners tend to see it from two angles – attempted prevention through the seeking of orders in the family court, and where children are abducted to [...]

Jones v Kernott

Here is a thing I wrote for the Comment is Free section of The Guardian website: Cohabitees’ property rights: still as clear as mud (I wanted to call it Gordian Knot, but that was a bit too cryptic…) And here is Hayley Trim’s excellent piece on the case, aimed at lawyers rather than punters: A [...]

Purging like a kitten

I’m a bit behind the curve on this one. Others have covered it already so I can do no better than to point you to their work. Elizabeth Watson has purged her contempt in relation to the publication of material concerning the Vicky Haigh family proceedings. The judgment is astonishingly blunt and in my view [...]

Friday Oddments

More good stuff on the Haigh / Hemming / Booker / Watson sagathon: John Hemming’s Extraordinary Defence on Head of Legal. A must read. Christopher Booker sets us straight: about Judge Wall, the secrecy rules, and another stinging attack, saying “When journalists judges have such power to make their own rules about what can and [...]

Neither a Paedophile Nor a Paediatrician

More information is filtering into the public domain about the contempt of court proceedings connected to Vicky Haigh, and to the Children Act proceedings concerning her children, which have been held up by John Hemming MP as a case of injustice. Today the UK Human Rights Blog publishes the full press release, but we still [...]

Bared Teeth – Grrrrr!

Contempt of Court are the “teeth” behind privacy rules in family proceedings. The court will bite, but only when necessary. This week a private investigator enmeshed in the Vicky Haigh care proceedings (which has become a weird kind of celebrity care case thanks to the Max Cliffords of the family justice world: Christopher Booker and [...]

Hurrah for independent Guardians

A County Council v K & Ors (By the Child’s Guardian Ht) [2011] EWHC 1672 (Fam) I have not had the chance to fully read this judgment, but this case appears to be an astonishing rebuke to CAFCASS’ bureaucratic, authoritarian managerial approach, and firmly reminds them of the need to allow Guardian’s to exercise their [...]

Lawyers do it standing on their heads

Some days I think that lawyers make better journalists than journalists do. Perhaps journalists would make better lawyers than lawyers do…? Cases in point: Justice: RIP?, regarding the ill informed illiberal illogical response to the way the defence was conducted in the Bellfield trial, by the awesome ex-lawyer-type @_millymoo Legal aid and the negligence of the [...]

T. I. Bankruptcy v A. Relief

There are some old and rather out of date posts on this blog about bankruptcy and ancillary relief. Those interested in the topic can find a more current summary of the law in this crossover area on the Family Law Week site here.

Not-Quite-Absolute Privilege?

Practitioners beware this example of circumstances in which the court will order disclosure of privileged notes of advice given by solicitors and counsel: D (A Child) [2011] EWCA Civ 684 (14 June 2011). John Bolch provides a useful summary here. In essence though: a client who refers in evidence to a change of position about [...]

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  • About

    A blog in which I ricochet from too serious to too flippant, and alternate between a bit clever, a bit interesting and a bit ranty: Pink Tape neatly functions as both a blog about family law and a therapeutic escape valve for me. >>more




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