I've just received an email from Kent Family Mediation, detailing a new service that they are launching for parents who live apart. From June they will be offering parenting workshops to 'inform and support' all such parents:

"The 3 hour workshops will provide an opportunity to discuss, amongst other things, what children are feeling and saying about separation and divorce in their lives; current research on the impact of separation and divorce on children; how to communicate effectively. The workshops will be a safe place to share and learn, focusing on ‘children first’."

Parents will be able to attend the workshops either jointly or separately. The first two workshops will take place in Sittingbourne, but others are planned for venues across Kent later in the year.

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Feeling in a generous mood, I thought I would again respond to some of the search queries that have recently found their way to Family Lore. Once again, my Disclaimer (see the sidebar) applies to what follows.

how do i get a court order to stop my wife from taking the net proceeds from sale of house

Presumably, the house has already been sold and is/was owned solely by your wife, in which case you can apply to the court for an injunction order restraining her from taking the money. If it has not been sold yet then you can register a matrimonial home rights notice at the Land Registry, which will have to be removed before the sale can be completed - you will only agree to its removal once you are satisfied that the net proceeds will not be distributed until their division has either been agreed, or determined by the court. If the house is or was owned jointly, then the conveyancer dealing with the sale should not distribute the net proceeds without the agreement of both parties, or a court order.

what is a draft consent order

And, by the same searcher:

is a draft consent order legal document

A consent order is simply an order, the provisions of which have been agreed by the parties. The term most commonly refers to financial/property orders in divorce proceedings. A draft order is usually prepared by one of the parties' solicitors, agreed with the other party's solicitor, and then sent to the court for approval. If the court approves the draft, then it will make an order in those terms. The question then arises: is an agreed draft consent order enforceable? The answer is that it probably is, unless it states that the agreement contained in the order will only be binding upon the parties in the event of the court making an order in its terms.

who killed shafilea ahmed

We don't yet know, but the police are investigating a number of possible leads, following a recent appeal on the BBC Crimewatch programme.

lawyer deliberately makes it worse for their client

Oh dear. Sounds like this could be a matter for the Legal Complaints Service.

csa liability order can't pay

A liability order enables the Child Support Agency to take action to enforce payment of child support. What happens next depends upon what type of enforcement action the Agency decides to take. For example, they could instruct a bailiff to take possession of the non-resident parent’s belongings and sell them to raise the money the non-resident parent owes, they could take enforcement action in a county court, or they could apply to a magistrates court for the non-resident parent to be committed to prison. Note that on a committal application the court must consider the non-resident parent's means, and whether there has been 'wilful refusal or culpable neglect' on their part.

what to do if you have been named as the person involved in adultery

If you have been named as a 'Co-Respondent' in divorce proceedings, then you will have been served with a copy of the divorce petition, together with a form of acknowledgement, which you should complete and return to the court, stating (amongst other things) whether or not you admit the alleged adultery. If you do, then the court could order you to pay all or part of the Petitioner's costs of the divorce. You should seek legal advice if you are not sure how to complete the form.

i want to change the arrangements for our children

The first thing you should do is to try to agree any change in arrangements with the other parent. If this is not possible, would they agree to discuss the matter with you and a mediator? If all reasonable efforts to agree fail, then you may make an application to a court for an appropriate order (which will depend upon the nature of the arrangements which you would like changed).

taking advantage family court

Huh? Who's taking advantage of who, and how?

remarriage legal advice child support

Remarriage by itself does not affect liability for child support, but if the non-resident parent's new spouse has dependent children, then the liability is reduced when the NRP and his/her spouse live together.

english family law wife equal

Yes - of course.

county court procedures decree absolute

The procedure on applying for the decree absolute depends upon whether you are the petitioner or the respondent. The petitioner may apply after six weeks have elapsed since the date of the pronouncement of the decree nisi, by completing a simple application form and paying the court fee, currently £40. The court will then send out the decree absolute. The respondent may apply three months from the date when the petitioner can first apply, but the procedure is considerably different, and may involve a court hearing. Note that if either party applies after 12 months have elapsed since the date of the decree nisi, then they will need to explain the reasons for the delay, whether there has been any resumption of cohabitation since the decree nisi, and whether the wife has given birth to any child since the decree nisi.

what to dress in law court

Well, I wouldn't recommend a black cocktail dress, fishnet stockings and high heels, as an American judge was found wearing recently (albeit not in court), even if you're a woman. I assume that the query comes from a non-lawyer (hopefully lawyers know what to wear), in which case there is no dress code, but I would recommend wearing something smart, such as a suit.

set aside consent order for material non disclosure

I suspect that this query may have come from a lawyer, so I'll be brief (look it up yourself!). Any order, made by consent or not, can be set aside for a material non-disclosure, but before you make the application ask yourself: would the court have made a substantially different order if the disclosure had been made?

grandparent's rights in divorce

Grandparents (presumably of the children of the divorcing couple) have no rights in connection with the actual divorce proceedings. If the query relates to contact with the grandchildren, see this post. Otherwise, the only other scenario in which grandparents may be involved is in any property settlement on the divorce, where they claim to have an interest in the property.

application for an order for disclosure of child's whereabouts

See this post.

application for ancillary relief for dismissal purposes only

These are required with applications for ancillary relief (i.e. financial/property) consent orders (see above) - the financial claims have to be made, so that the court can dismiss them. They are made by completing a Form A, and heading it with the words 'For Dismissal Purposes Only'.

complaints about mediators divorce

The mediation service should have its own complaints procedure. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, then you may make a complaint to the UK College of Family Mediators.

Lastly, a question that I can't answer:

why marry?

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This article in The Independent today reports more government anti-lawyer propaganda, suggesting that legal aid divorce lawyers purposely keep quiet about mediation, as they will get paid more if the matter goes to court. No doubt the public will swallow it as usual, although they will be the first to complain when they can't find a legal aid solicitor in their area.

The article barely mentions the fact that before any legal aid certificate is granted the suitability of the matter for mediation has to be considered by a mediation agency (not the lawyers), and no mention is given to the fact that mediation is purely voluntary and most people simply do not want it. It is true that public money could probably be saved if more cases went to mediation, and I'm sure there are some lawyers who 'keep quiet', but to blame lawyers solely for the extra expense is nonsense.

Having seen the light some years ago, I don't do legal aid work, but I do suggest mediation to my clients, where appropriate. The vast majority of them do not want to go to mediation, and many of those that do fail to reach a settlement, some reporting unfavourably about the whole process. So in any event, mediation is not the panacea many would have you believe.

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It seems that my post 'Solicitors blamed again' may have ruffled a few (kiwi) feathers. I'm not sure if Mr Sharp's post is meant to be tongue in cheek, but if not I really don't know why mediation should be considered a panacea for all disputes. As I said in my post, that has certainly not been the experience of my clients.

[Edit: it seems that the post was tongue in cheek - see this further post. Apologies to Mr Sharp for my sense of humour failure - I'll accept the 'cultural differences' excuse!]

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The National Audit Office today reports that "too many family breakdown cases are going to court rather than being settled through mediation". I've not yet read the full report, but it seems the NAO is firmly blaming solicitors: "although solicitors and legal advisers have a duty to advise their clients of the option of mediation, a survey of clients indicates this isn’t always happening". It goes on to say: "there may be a financial disincentive to solicitors of advising people about mediation: if a case is settled out of court, this will result in a loss of potential fees for them . The NAO recommends that those solicitors who have significantly lower numbers of cases which go to mediation should be investigated to find the reasons for the low take up and, where these reasons prove unsatisfactory, should have their [legal aid] contracts curtailed".

Well, I can only speak from my own experience. I certainly do discharge my duty to advise clients of the option of mediation. However, I find that the vast majority of my clients don't want mediation, or can't afford it (mediation is not free for those ineligible for legal aid), and most of those who do try it find it unsuccessful in settling the matter - so mediation often simply results in delay and wasted expense. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying mediation is a bad thing - it's just not the panacea many people (and government) seem to think it is. And I'm certainly unhappy that solicitors are once again getting the blame for failure.

Incidentally, perhaps I'm being pedantic but I was amused by a mention of this report on the BBC this morning. The presenter said that "couples who divorce should resolve their differences without going to court". Quite how they get their divorce without involving a court, I don't know.

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In the Comment section of this month's Family Law Linda Glees of the Family Mediators' Association proposes that awareness of family mediation be advanced by, inter alia, amending the certificate with regard to reconciliation that solicitors have to file with the court when issuing divorce proceedings, so that it should not only state whether the solicitor had discussed the possibility of a reconciliation with their client, but also whether they had discussed mediation with them. She suggests that District Judges could then spot check on a random basis as to what steps the solicitor had actually taken. This seems to be a reasonable proposal - at least it gives some purpose to what up to now has been a pretty pointless document.

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On the 11th June the House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee published a report "Family Justice: the operation of the family courts revisited". The report deals with three issues: delays and lack of resources in the family courts, transparency in family court proceedings and mediation and the Family Resolutions Pilot Project.

I have previously complained about delays, and the problem seems to be getting worse. In my local County Court (I won't name it, but you can work it out from my location), it is now taking months to get consent orders made, and it recently took a year to get a defective order amended. It is becoming increasingly difficult to explain these delays to clients, and no amount of chasing the court seems to make any difference. As I've said before, I'm not blaming the courts or their staff, the problem is obviously lack of funding/resources, and I can't see that improving any time in the near future.

On the subject of transparency the report states "an obvious move to improve transparency in the family court would be to allow the press and public into the family court under appropriate reporting restrictions, subject to the judge’s discretion to exclude the public". OK, but I can't see the press being interested in family proceedings unless they involve celebrities and the only members of the public that will be interested will be family members of the parties, which will cause obvious difficulties.

For those who don't know,the Family Resolutions Pilot Project ran between September 2004 and August 2005 in Brighton, Inner London and Sunderland and was designed as a pilot scheme to assist parties involved in court proceedings about contact after separation or divorce by helping parents to reach an agreement about contact arrangements. As the report states, the project was a clear failure. Apparently, the originators had hoped to get 1000 couples to participate in the scheme, but only 62 couples did so. Notwithstanding this, President of the Family Division Sir Mark Potter is clearly a fan of mediation and believes the solution is to make it compulsory. He dismisses the idea that you can't force people to mediate: "I just do not subscribe to that. If somebody is ordered to attend a first mediation hearing it is a very peculiar human being indeed who sits there with his or her arms folded and says, “I’m not going to play” when an experienced mediator gets to work". Perhaps Sir Mark, with his background in commercial law, does not realise just how intractable parties to family proceedings can be.

The full report can be found here.

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Yesterday Family Justice Minister Harriet Harman launched the Family Mediation Helpline. The helpline, which has been operating on a trial basis since January, aims to inform separating couples of mediation, help them decide whether mediation is appropriate for them and assist them in finding a local mediator. The helpline is available by calling 0845 60 26 627, or by visiting the website (link above). Up until the end of April the helpline received some 435 calls and made some 109 referrals to mediators, with the volume of calls expected to increase substantially now that the helpline has been officially launched. It will certainly be a useful place to direct clients interested in mediation.

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