Where now for domestic violence in family proceedings, asks David Burrows
- How can the law be reformed fairly to protect those involved in family proceedings who have been subject to domestic violence while at the same time ensuring a fair trial?
On 20 January 2017 The Guardian reported that: “Senior judges are taking steps to end the presumption that a father must have contact with a child where there is evidence of domestic abuse that would put the child or mother at risk.” Cobb J (Family Division) had said that the presumption in the family court that there should be “contact at all costs” with both parents must go where a parent’s involvement might place the child or other parent at risk.
On the same day Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division, published his 16th View from the President’s Chambers Children and vulnerable witnesses—where are we? and Cobb J’s report (dated 18 November 2016), to which is annexed a proposed family proceedings practice direction (PD12J: Child arrangements & contact order:
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