FAMILY COURTS GET WORSE!

EQUAL PARENTING COUNCIL (EPC) notes from the news today that Bank of England Governor, Mervyn King, has criticized the court system - this is in the wake of the Bank's 13-year legal battle to fight off a negligence claim after lender, BCCI, collapsed in 1991 owing more than nine billion pounds.

He called the claim against the Bank, the "most expensive fishing expedition in history" and he said the case gave rise to serious questions about the legal system.

I agree wholeheartedly with Mr King when he says that a legal framework for enforcing contracts and resolving disputes is “not just an arcane process which allows professionals to earn vast fees, but should be an integral part of the infrastructure of a successful market economy”. I agree with him that we need simple, clear and timely ways of resolving disputes.

As Mr Justice Lightman has said, the public sees the English legal system as a profitable monopoly for lawyers.

The same is truer of our family court system. At least in this case the Bank has recently been awarded £73 million in costs after the collapse of the claim against it. And at least this dispute was only about money! Our arcane family court system ruins people's lives every day, especially the lives of the children involved in family breakdown.

Mr King concluded his remarks by saying, "I very much hope that the Government will look carefully at this case, learn the lessons, and take steps to ensure that such an outcome can never occur again" I doubt very much that this Government will do any such thing!

We’ve had umpteen consultations and reviews of the family court system. Over many years, EPC has spoon-fed the Government with proven strategies from Best Practice jurisdictions that would swiftly improve outcomes for children and families. Yet the Government has failed to do anything meaningful. In fact the system is getting worse rather than better. The same, depressing familiar complaints still flood into EPC on a daily basis.

Common-sense is a very uncommon commodity in this Government!

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