Family Law

The long-awaited Family Court Bill is one of 34 pieces of draft legislation which will be published this summer as a matter of priority, the government has said. The bill, which will establish a District Family Court, a Circuit Family Court and a Family High Court as divisions within the current cou

Northern Ireland’s High Court has found that a health and social care trust's decision to deny visitation between a breastfeeding mother and her child was correct given the risk of Covid-19 infection. The court noted that the trust had responded proportionately, and had taken steps to ensure t

Northern Ireland’s High Court has criticised lower courts for delaying their ruling for an Irish father seeking a contact order for his 10-year-old son in Northern Ireland. The High Court noted that these courts had clear jurisdiction but were reluctant to rule on this "simple case" for over a

Claire Edgar, family law partner at Belfast-based Francis Hanna & Co Solicitors, comments on major changes to divorce in England and Wales. This week saw the introduction of no-fault divorce in England and Wales.

The High Court has quashed a decision of the Circuit Court to dismiss an appeal brought by a lay litigant after the trial judge failed to let the man make submissions. The applicant had appealed a decision of the District Court which increased maintenance payments for his child from €60 to &eur

Northern Ireland's High Court has rejected a father's bid to prevent his estranged wife from vaccinating their five children, having determined that the administration of vaccines for common illnesses, including Covid-19, is in the best interests of the child. The court found that the father's objec

Lawyers expect to see a surge in divorce applications tomorrow as no-fault divorce rules come into effect in England and Wales. Couples will no longer have to allocate blame to end their marriage, nor separate for at least two years.

The government has broken a commitment made just days ago for the long-awaited Family Court Bill to be published by the end of March 2022. Justice Plan 2022, launched by justice minister Helen McEntee on Monday, gave "Q1 2022" as the date for the publication of the bill, which will establish a Distr

Family law "remains the poor relation" in the Department of Justice's latest annual plan, a prominent Dublin solicitor has said, with little indication of what resources have been committed to reform. Justice Plan 2022, which was launched by justice minister Helen McEntee yesterday, sets out 159 act

The Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal brought by a father seeking the return of his three children to England after they had moved to the Ireland during the pandemic. The court determined that the children had obtained habitual residence in the state following their move in June 2020. Deliverin

Northern Ireland's High Court has found that it still had jurisdiction to hear an application for a care order in respect of an eight-month-old child who was sent to live with his maternal grandfather south of the border. The child was sent away by his mother after she became aware that a social car

Francis Hanna & Co’s family law partner Claire Edgar presented a talk at the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland event last week entitled “Refusing Contact and Parental Alienation”. The online webinar was hosted by SBNI’s Domestic Violence and Abuse Committee and atte

A specialised family court system must be established as soon as possible, along with a range of reforms to proceedings in which children are taken into State care, the Child Care Law Reporting Project (CCLRP) has recommended. The CCLRP will today publish new analysis based on 403 cases heard at Dis

Family lawyer Ken Breen has joined human rights firm KOD Lyons in Dublin. Mr Breen brings over 25 years of experience to the firm, having qualified as a solicitor in 1995 after graduating from the University of Limerick.

Nuala Jackson SC will stand down as chairperson of the Family Lawyers Association of Ireland (FLA) later this month at the end of her two-year term. Having led the association through the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit and significant changes to the family courts, family lawyers told Irish Legal News she