News Essentials: 30th September 2019

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

NEWS
Supreme Court considers parental responsibility and deprivation of liberty
Majority decide parental responsibility cannot authorise a violation of a child’s fundamental human right. Full story: Family Law Week. See D (A Child), below.

Family Court Statistics Quarterly: April to June 2019
Quarterly data on the volume of cases dealt with by family courts over time, with statistics also broken down for the main types of case involved. Full story: Ministry of Justice.

Transgender man loses court battle to be registered as father
Ruling in Freddy McConnell case is first legal definition of a mother in English common law. Full story: The Guardian. See R (on the application of TT) -v- The Registrar General for England and Wales and others, below.

Family judges must justify delaying final decisions - Court of Appeal
Judges have been warned by the Court of Appeal not to adjourn final decisions in family cases simply to 'press the pause button'. Full story: Law Society Gazette.

CASES
D (A Child) [2019] UKSC 42 (26 September 2019)
Appeal considering whether it is within the scope of parental responsibility to consent to living arrangements for a 16 or 17-year-old child which would otherwise amount to a deprivation of liberty within the meaning of article 5 ECHR, in particular where the child lacks the mental capacity to make the decision for himself. Full report: Bailii.

R (on the application of TT) -v- The Registrar General for England and Wales and others [2019] EWHC 2384 (Fam) (25 September 2019)
Judgment in case considering the issue: where a person, who was born female, but who has subsequently undergone gender transition and acquired full legal recognition as male, becomes pregnant and gives birth to a child, is that person to be registered as their child’s ‘mother’ or ‘father’? Full report: Courts and Tribunals Judiciary (PDF).

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