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Family Law and Practice WS14 D2
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Family Law and Practice WS14 D2
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LEGAL PRACTICE COURSEIn-Session Task – Guidance to Task 2
____________________________________________________________________________
A
Your client comes to see you and shows you a letter from her former partner, who is the father
of her child, asking to see the child. She says he is a horrible man who never spent any money
on the child and does not care about her, so she is not going to let him see her. She asks you to
send him a letter telling him to leave her alone. What is your response?
You should bear in mind that your aim is ‘to promote co-operation between parents in decisions
concerning the child’ (Family Law Protocol)
You may also point out to your client that the child’s father may make an application to the court
(He is 'parent' under CA 1989 see 10(4)(a) see CLP manual for a Section 8 order for Contact.
He will not need the leave of the court.
The court is very likely to uphold the principle that contact is the fundamental right of the child
(i.e. the child has the right to know both parents) and thus order some contact to take place. It
may be preferable for your client to try to negotiate with the child’s father and come to an
agreement which suits her, rather than being forced to comply with a court order.
Also remember 'No Order' principle.
However, the court will consider all the circumstances and there have been cases where the
implacable opposition to contact of the mother has had a harmful emotional effect on the child
so that contact has been refused.
Read relevant chapter from the manual about the powers of the court to enforce and also the
effect of violence on the application.
At the same time you are under a duty to act according to your instructions and, if your client is
determined to refuse contact, you will have to write to the child’s father to that effect, in as non-
aggressive way as possible.
B
You receive a telephone call in the office. The caller says she is your client’s mother and that
your client has changed her child’s school without telling her. She wants to know where she will
be picking up her grandchild from when the holidays are over. What do you do?
You must advise your caller that you are not at liberty to disclose details of the child’s new
school to her without obtaining the consent of your client.
C
Your client is the divorced father of a 13 year old boy who lives with his mother and goes to the
local comprehensive. Your client sees his son every other weekend. He has just been informed
that the boy and his mother have agreed that he should change schools next September. Your
client disagrees with this and wants to know who has the right to make the ultimate decision.
What do you tell him?
You should advise your client that he has parental responsibility under s.2 of the Children Act
1989. The child’s mother has parental responsibility as well and ideally important decisions
about children should be agreed between the parents. However, the child’s mother is able to
exercise her parental responsibility alone and without seeking his consent. As a major dispute
has arisen, if the matter cannot be agreed between the child’s parents, if this cannot be sorted
out by agreement, he may make an application to the court for a specific issue order.
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, LEGAL PRACTICE COURSE
This is an order giving directions for the purpose of determining a specific question which has
arisen in connection with any aspect of parental responsibility for a child.
In this case the court would make the decision where the child should go to school. The court
would consider the welfare of the child as paramount and then apply the statutory checklist
which is mandatory where there is a dispute about a section 8 order.
Any application would be made in the county court where the divorce proceedings took place.
D
A fifteen year old girl comes to see you and tells you that she is pregnant and wants to move out
of her parents’ home to live with her boyfriend’s parents, who, she says, have agreed. Her own
parents who do not know about her condition have refused to let her move out.
(a) What do you do?
Later that day you receive a telephone call from her mother who is very concerned and suspects
her daughter may be pregnant, but wants to be supportive.
(b) What can you tell her?
a) You can advise your client generally that she has the right to make an application to the court
if she is ‘of sufficient understanding’, and that she can be represented by a solicitor in these
proceedings (Law Society’s Child Care panel). Leave of the court required as she is not within
the range of persons who can apply without leave. (See relevant reading).
b) You must tell your client’s mother that you are under a duty of confidentiality and cannot
reveal any information to her about her child. Consider referral to family counselling services in
the area.
E
What are the possible sources from which you could obtain further information about your
client's child other than your client?
The other parent; the child’s school; the family’s social worker; the child’s doctor or health visitor;
the police or Crown Prosecution Service
F
Your client is the mother of two children whose father, through his solicitor, is trying to agree
contact on a regular basis. Your client has instructed you that she agrees to the father seeing
the children every Saturday between 10am and 5pm
(a) Do you advise your client that her offer is on the generous side and the father would probably
agree to every other Saturday?
(b) If your client then instructs you to make the lesser offer, do you write to the other side stating
that this is your best offer and it is not negotiable?
(c) If the father’s solicitor writes on his behalf asking to see the children every Saturday between
12 noon and 5 pm do you mention that your client is prepared to agree more?
a) The offer should not be treated in the same way as an offer in a commercial case. What
matters is the welfare of the children. If your client is satisfied that the children would benefit
from seeing their father once a week, then a generous offer of contact should be supported as it
is more likely to encourage agreement from the other parent than a very limited offer.
b) Children’s matters should always be negotiable and you are under a duty to encourage a
negotiated agreement with the other party. Negotiations with the other party should be
conducted in such a way so as not to undermine the adults’ relationships with each other.
docs_911017341.docx 2/5 © City, University of London 2019
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