Family Law App: Help with Crisis Situations and More

In the event you missed it, we've built our Crisis Menu into our main Resolving Disputes section.

You'll find practical, step-by-step answers and approaches to the most common crisis situations, whether your children and ex-partner are missing, you're facing a psychological assessment, there is risk of domestic violence, the children are at immediate risk of harm, it's disputed you're the father, you're not seeing your child, you face false allegations or your ex-partner is threatening to take the children abroad or move some distance away.

Whether or not the parent faces these crisis situations, knowledge of what you might do in these situations can reassure and reduce stress. 

Sections on Contact Enforcement, Internal Relocation, Leave to Remove, Parental Alienation and Paternity Testing will have dedicated case law libraries in support. We should have this section of the project concluded within the next two weeks (three of these libraries are already live, and we'll be reviewing case law as we go).

New on our Resolving Disputes Menu is a dedicated Welfare and CAFCASS section, including guides on CAFCASS, Family Assistance Orders, the role of the Guardian-Ad-Litem, Parenting Information Programmes, and a new page giving suggestions when meeting CAFCASS. 

Click on any of the images to be taken directly to those pages or use the links.

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 residence, parental alienation, internal 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.

Take the video tour

Family law at your fingertips

Enquiries: enquiries@thecustodyminefield.com

Website: http://www.thecustodyminefield.com

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLGpyHlJF-w&feature=g-upl

Launch image: http://www.thecustodyminefield.com/photos/pressreleasepic.jpg

Our Video Tour

We've new content on The Custody Minefield site... 3 case law collections... FREE!

Now you can read judgments and other reference material on your kindle, ipad, iphone or tablet reader, using free kindle software and with content reformatted by us. You'll need to download Amazon's free Kindle software from here to be able to open and read our Kindle format reference guides. More case law is available on our CASE LAW page.

You can also download Case Law as a pdf to print and include in your court bundles and skeleton arguments.

 

Available soon on Amazon... in proof-reading stage. 96,000 words on internal relocation for non-resident parents whose children are at risk of internal relocation within the UK. Chapters headings are set out below. The first section explains important points of law in internal relocation cases and the non-relocating parent's choices. The second section explains and gives a guide to the legal process, including links to templates for forms and court documents. The third section provides the full text of case law.

Rather than other legal guides which are written for paperback, but converted to kindle, this guide is specifically written for kindle making full use of bookmarking and hyperlinks. More kindle guides are coming.

 Internal Relocation and the Law

1.1 Introduction
1.2 The objecting parent's choices
1.3 Family Law concerning Relocation from England and Wales to Scotland and N.Ireland
1.4 Imposition of Restrictions on Residence Orders (limiting where a parent may live)
1.5 Shared Residence Over Distance
1.6 Human Rights and Other Considerations
1.7 Psychological harm to the primary carer if their application is refused
1.8 Evidence and the Distress Argument
1.9 The History of Contact as a Consideration
1.10 Research Regarding Co-Parenting
1.11 Reviews of Relocation Law
1.12 The Welfare Checklist
1.13 Judgments in Internal Relocation Cases

The Legal Process
2.1 Mediation
2.2 Applying for a Prohibitive Steps Order
2.3 Applying for/Acquiring Parental Responsibility
2.4 Applying for Residence
2.5 Applying for a Contact Order or to vary existing arrangements
2.6 Applying for a Seek and Find Order
2.7 Emergency and Abridged Notice Hearings
2.8 Writing a Position Statement
2.9 The First Hearings and Dispute Resolution Appointment
2.10 Tips When Attending Court
2.11 Courts and Judges
2.12 Courts and Confidentiality
2.13 CAFCASS
2.14 Tips for Assessment Interviews
2.15 Writing a Statement
2.16 Writing a Skeleton Argument
2.17 Court Bundles
2.18 Split, Finding of Fact and Final Hearings to finish
2.19 Forms and Templates

Appendix 1 - Summary of/Extracts from Judgments
Appendix 2 - Re E (Residence:Imposition of Conditions) [1997] 2 FLR 638 CA
Appendix 3 - Re S (A Child) [2001] EWCA Civ 847
Appendix 4 - Re H (Children) (Residence Order: Condition) [2001] EWCA Civ 1338
Appendix 5 - Re F (Children) [2003] EWCA Civ 592
Appendix 6 - G (A Child) [2006] EWCA Civ 1507
Appendix 7 - G (Children) FC [2006] UKHL 43
Appendix 8 - Re B (A Child) [2007] EWCA Civ 1055
Appendix 9 - M v H [2008] EWCA 324 (Fam)
Appendix 10 - W (Children) [2009] EWCA Civ 160
Appendix 11 - Re T (A Child) [2009] EWCA Civ 20
Appendix 12 - F (Children) [2010] EWCA Civ 1428

Family Law Week - Relocation Article

Michael Robinson of The Custody Minefield and Relocation Campaign responds to the recent articles by Richard Gregorian and Gavin Emerson concerning leave to remove applications, Payne v Payne and post-Payne development.

Read the full article on Family Law Week

Case Law for Kindle - Internal Relocation

NEW - Kindle Formatted Content - FREE - for McKenzie Friends and Litigants-in-Person
Now you can read judgments and other reference material on your kindle, ipad, iphone or tablet reader, using free kindle software and with content reformatted by The Custody Minefield.

You'll need to download Amazon's free Kindle software from here to be able to open and read our Kindle format reference guides.

Click on the image to download kindle format book, then copy it over to your preferred reading hardware and carry it with you to court, read it on the bus, in bed, or even on the loo!

Including the FULL TEXT of Leading Judgments related to Internal Relocation - 68,000 words reformatted - FREE
Re E (Residence: Imposition of Conditions) [1997] 2 FLR 638 CA,
Re S (A Child) [2001] EWCA Civ 847,
Re H (Children) (Residence Order: Condition) [2001] EWCA Civ 1338
Re F (Children) [2003] EWCA Civ 592
G (A Child) [2006] EWCA Civ 1507
G (Children) FC [2006] UKHL 43
Re B (A Child) [2007] EWCA Civ 1055
M v H [2008] EWCA 324 (Fam)
W (Children) [2009] EWCA Civ 160
Re T (A Child) [2009] EWCA Civ 20
F (Children) [2010] EWCA Civ 1428