Family & Child Law: Divorce, Financial Remedies and Orders About Children
Overview
Family & Child Law tests application, not sympathy: the ground for divorce, the orders available over money, and the orders that regulate children. Scenario questions reward the correct statute, the correct order name and the correct sequence of procedural steps.
Adult relationships and money
- Divorce and dissolution have one ground - irretrievable breakdown - evidenced by a statement, not fault facts (Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020). Sole or joint applications run 20 weeks to the conditional order, then 6 weeks and 1 day to the final order.
- Financial orders under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 cannot precede the conditional order. Section 25(2) factors - resources, needs, standard of living, age, disability, contributions, pension loss - guide the court; s25A demands a clean break where just and practicable; Form E disclosure must be full and frank, and material non-disclosure invites a set-aside.
- Domestic abuse: non-molestation and occupation orders under Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996.
Children
- Welfare is paramount (s1(1) Children Act 1989); contested s8 applications require the s1(3) checklist, the s1(2A) presumption of parental involvement and no delay (s1(2)).
- Parental responsibility: mothers always; married fathers; unmarried fathers jointly registered from 1 December 2003; or by agreement or order.
- Section 8 orders: child arrangements (live with, spend time with), prohibited steps and specific issue. Removing a child from the jurisdiction needs leave.
Worked example
A father who jointly registered his daughter's birth in 2018 separates, and the mother stops contact. He already holds parental responsibility under s4(1)(a) - but PR gives him no entitlement to time with the child. He applies for a child arrangements order. The court treats welfare as paramount, works through the s1(3) factors (the child's wishes and feelings, risk of harm, each parent's capability), and applies the s1(2A) presumption, which concerns involvement in the child's life, not equal hours.
Traps
- Using outdated terms "custody" and "access" rather than child arrangements.
- Assuming parental responsibility equals shared care.
- Seeking a financial order before the conditional order.
- Treating the s25 factors as a mechanical checklist.