Family Law

Northern Ireland’s High Court has refused to appoint a McKenzie friend in family law proceedings on the basis that she attempted to inappropriately influence the court and lacked a basic understanding of practice and procedure. Delivering judgment for the High Court, Mr Justice David McFarland

Providing more support for litigants in person would help to ease pressure on Northern Ireland's family courts, according to new research from Ulster University. Two reports produced by Ulster University School of Law with funding from the Nuffield Foundation set out recommendations which researcher

A senior English judge in the family courts has been treated in hospital after he was assaulted by a man whose case he was hearing. The litigant in person, who cannot be named, has pleaded guilty to assault, criminal damage and causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress and is due to be sente

Plans for Dublin's long-awaited new family courts complex are available for public viewing for the next six weeks following the formal notice of proposed development. The notice published by the Office of Public Works (OPW) yesterday marks a small step forward for the project, and means the plans fo

A technical error in legislation requiring single mothers to name the father of their child when registering their birth is to be fixed nearly a decade after it was signed into law. Section 6 of the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014, which concerns the registration of a child's father where th

Family justice expert Anthony Douglas CBE has been appointed to help progress preparations for the planned guardian ad litem (GAL) national service. Mr Douglas is the former chief executive of Cafcass, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, which represents children in family co

Northern Ireland’s High Court granted a return order for a mother attempting to return her child to Northern Ireland despite the fact that the child was residing in a Middle Eastern country that was not a signatory to any of the Hague Convention treaties, such as the jurisdiction treaty of 199

Concern has been raised that the District Court is "overworked" and could soon be "in gridlock" after new figures revealed a 39 per cent increase in civil matters coming before the court last year. The Courts Service annual report for 2022 reveals that 127,289 new cases came before the District Cour

A record number of divorce applications were brought to the High Court last year, with a 10 per cent increase in cases with more than €3 million in assets at stake, according to reports. There were 53 divorce cases initiated in the High Court and 5,498 in the Circuit Court in 2022, the Irish In

Family lawyers have been left disappointed by reports that the construction of the long-awaited family courts complex at Hammond Lane will not begin until 2026. The Hammond Lane site was earmarked in 2014 for the development, which is intended to replace the existing facilities for family law at Dol

Northern Ireland's High Court has refused leave to apply for judicial review to a man with a deportation order who argued that he had British citizenship as a result of his adoption by a UK/Italian couple despite being born in Italy. The court also found that the deportation order did not impact on

Dolphin House has been closed for a 10-day period to allow essential works to take place, the Courts Service has said. The Dolphin House courts office and court 41 have been temporarily relocated to Phoenix House until Friday 18 August 2023.

Victims of domestic violence will receive their full pay for five days under the domestic violence leave scheme set to be introduced later this year, the government has announced. Domestic violence leave will be formally introduced in the autumn with the publication of regulations setting out the ra

Lone parents will no longer have to prove they have made efforts to seek child maintenance from their child's other parent when applying for the one-parent family payment or jobseekers' transitional payment. The new regulations, signed into effect by social protection minister Heather Humphreys, fol

A leading family lawyer has urged the government to begin work on the proposed new Hammond Lane family courts complex as the site remains untouched more than a year on from the project's approval. The long-promised Hammond Lane complex is intended to replace the existing facilities for family law at