Richard Adams highlights the tension between the legislative provision and public policy considerations where a declaration is sought in relation to an adopted child A declaration of parentage is intended to be an authoritative statement of the fact so declared, while the effect of an adoption order is as to the legal status of the …
Continue reading "Declarations of parentage: From another perspective"
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Emily Watson and Artemis Michael provide a guide to key legislation and case law that applies as to the options available to a step-parent in relation to a step-child Adoption is the most secure way to ensure a married or unmarried step-parent may remain in a child’s life, as the step-parent becomes a permanent and …
Continue reading "Step-parents: Rights, remedies and recognition"
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Andrew Scott sets out the approach taken to an application for adoption by a party to a relationship which had ended after the birth of the child The issue of whether there is an enduring family relationship is a question of fact and degree and a matter for the court to consider in every case. …
Continue reading "Adoption: A broad church"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2018 #172.This case concerned the burial arrangements of Liam McManus (Liam), who
took his life aged just 15. Liam had a difficult upbringing. His parents
were heroin addicts and so he was brought up by his maternal grandparents
in Liverpool until he entered foster care aged 5. Two years later he moved in
with the claimant, Mr Burrows, (who was Liam’s paternal uncle) and his family in St Helens and a full residence order was made in favour of the claimant
and his wife. Mr and Mrs Burrows were described as his psychological
parents.
In the year before he died, Liam made contact with h...
Mark Harper and Myfanwy Probyn discuss the circumstances in which a biological father of a child born to lesbian civil partners is not a legal parent ‘Baker J stated that, in passing HFEA 2008, Parliament had changed the law on donation to recognise lesbian parents as joint legal parents and that those provisions not only …
Continue reading "Parentage: Unclear intentions"
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Anna Hunter assesses the courts’ approach to problematic contact and potential enforcement options Presenting persuasive evidence that the child’s wishes are a result of one parent’s hostility will be time consuming, as well as emotionally and often financially draining for the parent seeking contact. When giving judgment in Re G (children) [2006], Baroness Hale said: …
Continue reading "Contact: Seeking solutions"
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Richard Adams finds that the welfare of the child remains paramount even in cases involving ‘alternative families’ ‘There has been little consensus in the courts as to how to define and treat the various adults involved in the conception and care of children born to “alternative families”.’ Few will have missed the recent coverage in …
Continue reading "Children: Three’s a crowd?"
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Jane Evans-Gordon discusses the quandaries that can arise on the disposal of a dead body ‘Bodies cannot be bought or sold, stolen, criminally damaged or, as was once tried, seized by creditors.’ Thomas Mann said that ‘It is a fact that a man’s dying is more the survivors’ affair than his own’.Regrettably, while the Lord …
Continue reading "Probate: Body matters"
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