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Draft rules for vulnerable persons in family proceedings

Date:7 AUG 2015
Solicitor Advocate
Consultation of draft amendment rules

Family Procedure (Amendment No X) Rules 2015 are out for consultation comments invited by 25 September 2015 (and see ('consultation a postscript' (below)). Family Procedure Rules 2010 are proposed to be amended by adding Part 3A - Children and vulnerable persons: participation in proceedings and giving evidence. The draft rules have been produced with such speed that no explanatory note or any draft practice direction (as proposed by the rules) is included and errors in proof reading are obvious. The reader - who may him/herself be a 'child or vulnerable person' - is expected (at least at this stage) to work out what the draft is all about.

After looking at the content of the draft rules this article will proceed:
  • by urging clarity of procedural law upon Family Procedure Rules Committee (FPRC) especially in this field of law;
  • by an examination of the background to the consultation and context of the draft rules;
  • by asking whether these rules are truly compliant with the common law; and alongside that
  • by urging on FPRC a non-Alsationised approach (a term to be explained) to...

Read the full article here.