Where is family law today in relation to EU withdrawal?

Resolution and the Law Society together have provided information on family law and EU withdrawal. They urge lawyers to seek advice from EU lawyers to advise their UK clients on family breakdown issues. In Joint Resolution and Law Society note to family lawyers in England and Wales of practical recommendations in the circumstances of no deal on EU exit (January 2019) (the ‘joint note’) they work on the assumption— inevitable?—that the UK will leave the EU. An earlier short paper from the Law Society, No-deal Brexit guidance: Family law (8 November 2018) highlighted ‘the changes that will occur’ in family law ‘if’ UK leaves without a deal. It emphases what will remain part of UK domestic law – eg the Hague Conventions. What neither paper acknowledges is that the ‘deal’ or ‘no deal’ point is irrelevant for family lawyers. EU family law legislation is invoked between two people, one lives in the UK and the other is in a EU country. Brussels II Revised, by definition, depends on reciprocity between EU and UK jurisdictions. This was obvious even before the referendum. 

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