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06 June 2025 / Ellie Hampson-Jones , Carla Ditz
Issue: 8119 / Categories: Features , Family , Divorce , Child law
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Family law brief: June 2025

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In this instalment of their quarterly NLJ update, Ellie Hampson-Jones & Carla Ditz analyse three notable cases, plus recent developments in family law
  • This update considers three recent reported cases, as well as two important developments in family law, namely, guidance for judges when writing to children, and an upcoming public consultation on the instruction of unregulated experts in children proceedings.

Vince v Vince [2024] EWFC 389

There has been much publicity in the legal and national press about the publication in December of two judgments in the matter of Dale and Kate Vince. This is not the first time Mr Vince has been the subject of high-profile court proceedings; many will have first come across the green energy entrepreneur in the 2015 Supreme Court proceedings brought by his former wife, Kathleen Wyatt.

The present proceedings occurred following the breakdown of Mr Vince’s marriage to Kate Vince. The parties were married in February 2006, but there was some debate in this case as to when the parties’

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cripps—Radius Law

Cripps—Radius Law

Commercial and technology practice boosted by team hire

Switalskis—Grimsby

Switalskis—Grimsby

Firm expands with new Grimsby office to serve North East Lincolnshire

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Property team boosted by two solicitor appointments

NEWS
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
Recent allegations surrounding Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have reignited scrutiny of the ancient common law offence of misconduct in public office. Writing in NLJ this week, Simon Parsons, teaching fellow at Bath Spa University, asks whether their conduct could clear a notoriously high legal hurdle
A landmark ruling has reshaped child clinical negligence claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Jodi Newton, head of birth and paediatric negligence at Osbornes Law, explains how the Supreme Court in CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5 has overturned Croke v Wiseman, ending the long-standing bar on children recovering ‘lost years’ earnings
A Court of Appeal ruling has drawn a firm line under party autonomy in arbitration. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed, associate professor at the University of Leicester, analyses Gluck v Endzweig [2026] EWCA Civ 145, where a clause allowing arbitrators to amend an award ‘at any time’ was held incompatible with the Arbitration Act 1996
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