Thursday 4 October 2012

Press Release - A lifeline for families as legal aid cuts bite

Press Release

'A lifeline for families as legal aid cuts bite'
05 October 2012

Legal aid cuts are expected in April 2013, and the Government estimates that legal representation is to be lost in 50,000 cases (of which 45,000 are in the private family law arena). Many families are struggling to find a legal aid solicitor now as professionals exit the industry and firms close.

Since learning this, we developed a range of resources for parents and grandparents who simply cannot afford to privately employ a solicitor. Today we officially launch the first part of our lifeline:

The Family Law Web Based Application: A bit of a mouthful, so we shortened the name to flApp. We wanted a resource which puts a vast quantity of family law information at a parent's or grandparent's fingertips. Over half a million words of content, 8 case law categories, 250 questions answered, case law to view online or download in hard copy, court process guides, key international and national legislation… 60 categories of information. Accessible on PCs, smart phones, tablets and macs. We include minimal graphics to cut internet usage costs, and pages are designed to be viewed on any platform, but especially mobile phones… even better, flApp is free.

Litigation Packs: Process guides helping the litigant through each stage of court proceedings. We have information to help them write a statement, put together a court bundle, attend a first dispute and resolution hearing or mediation  and much more. We talk them through, step by step, and include the forms and documents they need. We charge a minimal fee of £2.50 which goes towards site running costs.


Case Law on Kindle: For the unrepresented parent and lay advisers (McKenzie Friends) we have launched four case law packs which are available on Amazon in a kindle format. These cover shared residenceparental alienationinternal relocation and leave to remove.

“Internal Relocation”: The first of our new guides on specific and more complex areas of private family law... Internal Relocation. Written for parents whose children live in England and Wales, this book explains private family law  related to relocation. Such situations typically arise after parental separation and when the primary  carer seeks to move the child(ren) away from the area of the family home to another part of England or Wales. Their motives may be genuine (such as seeking new employment or moving closer to other family members) or malicious (to place distance between the children and their non-relocating parent).

The guide comes in a kindle format and in three parts. The first gives an analysis of relocation law, the second is a court process guide specific to internal relocation cases, while the third includes the full text of case law related to internal relocation.

Support Forum: Our new support forum is especially tailored for mobile phones and staffed by an experienced team from the third sector who have collectively answered more than 10,000 posts.

Case Law for iPad: Design complete, and cloud based versions are now available. We will be converting them to an app version soon.

All available at www.thecustodyminefield.com

The Custody Minefield is a leading provider of family law information for parents, charities, grandparents, step parents and the wider family. Many who use our site do so from libraries and internet cafes. Our guides are currently viewed some 40,000 times a month.

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Family law at your fingertips