Evidence, Practice and Procedure: A new family court

In all the excitement over Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 last year and the Children and Families Bill this year many family lawyers have overlooked the fact - trailed by a recommendation for a ‘single family court' in Family Justice Review - that in Crime and Courts Bill cl 16(3) and Sch 10 there is the statutory embodiment of what the Government intend for the recommendation. It is well on its way to the statute book now known as the ‘Family Court': just as there is to be one County Court (cl 16(1)) so there is to be just one family court (ie not split into levels as now or dissipated amongst a Family Division and a number of semi-independent county courts and magistrates' courts); though this bill does not seem to complete the job of unification. There will be a variety of new...

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