Amendments to Family Procedure Rules
Amendments to paragraph 1.4 and 11.1 of Practice Direction 36N, to add provision for a legal representative of a respondent to use the online system for contested financial remedy applications and remove references to Maintenance Pending Suit applications, came into force on
18 December 2020. The remainder of the amendments come into force on
11 January 2021.
1 February 2021:
The introduction of new Practice Direction 41C to provide for a procedure by which, in specified circumstances, appeal proceedings in Family Division of the High Court may proceed by electronic means using an online case management system.
The following Practice Direction amendments came into force on
A judicial head has warned family court judges overseeing cases online during the coronavirus crisis to guard against extending their working days too far.
Sir Andrew McFarlane, who is president of the Family Division of the High Court – and the most senior family court judge in England and Wales, said more hearings could be conducted via computer because judges and staff did not have to travel.
But he said on Friday, in guidance issued to judges, that a backlog of cases would not be cleared by people working “beyond reasonable capacity”.
Sir Andrew McFarlane is president of the Family Division of the High Court (Anthony Devlin/PA)
Brain-damaged Pippa Knight should be allowed to die , judge rules
Published
image captionPaula Parfitt wanted Pippa to be treated at home
A girl with brain damage who is in a vegetative state should be allowed to die, a High Court judge has ruled.
Doctors treating Pippa Knight at London s Evelina Children s Hospital said life-support treatment should end.
The five-year-old s mother, Paula Parfitt, 41, wanted doctors to allow her to be treated at home.
Hospital bosses had asked Mr Justice Poole to rule that ending treatment, and allowing Pippa to die, would be lawful and in her best interests.
Mr Justice Poole, who took evidence at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London in December, has ruled life-support treatment should end and Pippa should be allowed to die.
The mother of a five-year-old girl who has suffered brain damage and is in a vegetative state plans to appeal after losing a life-support treatment fight in the High Court. Pippa Knight is currently being treated and kept alive at the nearby Evelina Children s Hospital, meanwhile a debate rages on about whether the Kent girl should continue to receive the life-supporting treatment. Mr Justice Poole ruled on Friday that Pippa should be allowed to die, following a trial in the Family Division of the High Court in London. But lawyers representing her mother, Paula Parfitt, 41, of Strood, Kent, said she will continue her fight and wants Court of Appeal judges to consider the case.