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The Access to Justice Act 1999 (Destination of Appeals) (Family Proceedings) (Amendment) Order 2016
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SI 2016/Draft: Article 2 of this Order amends the
Access to Justice Act 1999 (Destination of Appeals) (Family Proceedings) Order 2014 (SI 2014/602) to provide for the route of appeal from certain decisions or orders of Circuit judges and Recorders sitting in the family court to be to the High Court, rather than the Court of Appeal, as provided by section 31K of the
Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 (c. 42) or (in so far as appeals against decisions of the family court relating to contempt of court are concerned) section 13(2A) of the
Administration of Justice Act 1960 (c. 65).
The effect of the amendments made by article 2 is that appeals from all decisions or orders of a Circuit judge or Recorder sitting in the family court will lie to the High Court, except where:
- the appeal is from a decision or order made in proceedings under Part 4 (care and supervision)or Part 5 (protection of children) of, or paragraph 19 of Schedule 2 (approval of local authority arrangements to assist children to live abroad) to, the
Children Act 1989 (c. 41) or proceedings under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (adoption, placement etc.);
- the appeal is from a decision or order made in relation to contempt of court in, or in connection with, proceedings of a type referred to above;
- the appeal is a second appeal to the family court; or
- the person who made the order was, when the order was made, deployed in the family court other than as a circuit judge or a Recorder.Article 3 makes a consequential amendment to rule 30.3 of the
Family Procedure Rules 2010 (SI 2010/2955), which sets out when those Rules do, or do not, require permission to appeal to be granted before an appeal can be applied for.
By virtue of article 4:
- any appeal in which the appeal notice is filed before the date this Order comes into force will lie to the Court of Appeal as it would have lain before that date; and
- the consequential amendment to the Family Procedure Rules 2010 will not apply if the appeal notice is filed before the date this Order comes into force.
The Access to Justice Act 1999 (Destination of Appeals) (Family Proceedings) (Amendment) Order 2016 is available to view and download in PDF format
here.
