[Solved] Justice Review - Family Law

So much for shutting up for a short while 😆

Some of the recommendations are quite good, like having the same judge throughout the whole proceedings for consistency (though if you get a bad one, you're stuffed). I'm still not convinced about mediation - the conciliation hearings that I went through seemed much better, and if there was agreement, it went into a court order there and then, and mediation does seem to be quite an expensive process.

However, this bit is appalling:

"The evidence we received showed the acute distress experienced by parents who are unable to see their children after separation. This is an issue we know countries around the world try to tackle, and fail.

"Our conclusion was reached reluctantly but clearly. The law cannot state a presumption of any kind without incurring unacceptable risk of damage to children."

So what they're saying is because they can't come up with a solution, they shouldn't even try - this is a license for the resident parents to make the whole situation worse so that they can force the courts to prevent contact with the non-resident parent.

I'm furious about this. IT'S LEGALISED DISCRIMINATION. It's a real shame that we're not taking a giant, and much needed, step forward regarding parental equality! The only upside is that we don't appear to be any worse off than we were yesterday...

I agree with ACTD that the conciliation approach appeared to be much better. Mediation is great in principle, but if your ex partner is absolutely adamant about denying contact all she has to do is make an allegation of assault or of threatening behaviour and mediation is off the table immediately, regardless of whether there is any truth to, or proof of, said allegations. For Dad's applying for Legal Aid this means you can be waiting up to SIX months before your solicitor can even submit an application to the court, which in turn means at least another six week wait before you can get any kind of interim contact order...