Family Law – Hearings to go Public

A landmark decision gives tens of thousands of parents and their children greater rights. Lord Justice Munby has given a ruling which will mean that where there are decisions being made by local authorities about where a child is to live, that judgement will be made public. The identity of the children involved will remain private but expert witnesses and local authorities will now be named in judgments which are to be published unless “there are compelling reasons” not to do so.

This relates to public law care proceedings and divorce related disputes as well as the welfare of vulnerable adults in the Court of Protection.

No longer will judgments be private and there will now be a presumption that they will be published if the decisions are in the public interest.

It is hoped that this new “transparency” will restore public confidence in the family justice system. The effect of this will be to increase the amount of judgments available for publication although they will be anonymised to protect the privacy of children and vulnerable adults.