News Essentials: 20th May 2019

A brief summary of the essential family law news and cases from the last week:

NEWS
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 becomes law
The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 received Royal Assent on 16 May and became law on that day. Full story: Family Law Week.

Theresa May rejects calls from 120 MPs for public inquiry into family courts after four children murdered by abusive parents
Prime minister says government believes formal probe into child deaths not 'necessary'. Full story: The Independent.

Voices of children overlooked in family courts, says ex-head
Family courts in England and Wales are not properly accommodating children's voices and needs because the government has suggested "it would all cost too much", their former head has said. Full story: BBC News.

Judge raises concern about media coverage of Court of Protection case
A judge in a specialist court who is considering whether a mentally ill woman is still able to consent to make love with her husband of more than 25 years has raised concern about media coverage of the case. Full story: Care Appointments. See Re NB, below.

Family President to issue guidance to courts on secure accommodation placements and statutory regime
The President of the Family Division has said he will issue practice guidance to the courts before the end of July so that more can be done to bring secure accommodation placements within the statutory regulatory scheme. Full story: Local Government Lawyer.

Questions raised over future of divorce centres
A question mark has been raised over the future of the government’s regional divorce centres, which have been widely criticised for delays and inefficiencies. Full story: Law Society Gazette.

CASES
London Borough of Ealing v C (Children) [2017] EWCA Civ 2696 (06 July 2017)
Appeal by local authority against decision that there be no order on its application for permission to refuse contact between parents and children in foster care under care orders. Appeal allowed. Full report: Bailii.

W-C-T (Children) [2019] EWCA Civ 845 (04 April 2019)
Appeal by father against finding of fact in care proceedings concerning four children. Appeal dismissed. Full report: Bailii.

AF v SF [2019] EWHC 1244 (Fam) (01 March 2019)
Final hearing of wife's financial remedies claim, in which the husband was found to lack the capacity to litigate. Full report: Bailii.

NB, Re (Consent to sex) [2019] EWCOP 17 (07 May 2019)
Proceedings concerning issue of whether woman with learning difficulty had capacity to consent to sexual relations. Full report: Bailii.

*      *      *

For more news, see here.

For more cases, see here.

To subscribe to the Family Lore Focus free weekly Newsletter (which includes links to all of the week's top family law news stories, cases, articles and blog posts), go here.