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OCTOBER 2013
Divorce Law
105
Divorce law is a vast practice area subject to a changing landscape of distinct and complex rules and legal regulations, and has been in the news recently due to a huge government plan to cut spending in this area.
L
egal Aid was the issue of the day with the government
looking to
reduce the £2 billion legal aid bill it previously footed. In early April, the amount of cases that would be eligible
for financial assistance via Legal Aid was drastically cut, caused controversy amongst the countries family lawyers.
The new rules state that people with a salary of over £14,000 per annum will now be subject to stricter means tests to determine whether they can get help, meaning that around 200, 000 couples will be affected.
In addition, The Law Society has reacted with disappointment to a court ruling that the Legal Aid Agency – formerly the Legal Services Commission (LSC) – is not normally obliged to fully fund the cost of an expert witness report ordered by a judge in the family court where only the child is legally aided and the parents are unable to afford the costs of a report.
Law Society president Lucy Scott- Moncrieff said: “The LSC's position simply results in deadlock. The court has first to decide that an expert report is necessary, not just desirable, to help it decide a child's future, but unless someone is able to pay – in this case the legal aid budget – there cannot be a report. The court's ruling does not address that impasse, and for that reason it is disappointing for those children who find themselves in the family courts.
“This is going to be a more common problem following the cuts on 1 April which removed legal aid from private law family proceedings in most cases, placing vulnerable people in more difficulty. In future, where children are parties to these proceedings it is more likely that they alone will be legally-aided. Reports required by the court for the child's benefit should be paid for by the legal aid budget where the parents are unable to contribute: it should not be good enough to argue, as the LSC did, that the parents also benefit from a report. These cases are about the child's future.
“For family solicitors the judgment raises questions
about when 'exceptional
circumstances' would arise which would engage s10 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and oblige the legal aid budget to pay to ensure effective access to justice. The Law Society will be preparing guidance on this for firms.”
These cuts are not only bad news for families, it is also bad news for many law firms across the UK, especially smaller high street practices for which Legal Aid work makes up a large majority of their portfolio.
To find out more about how firms will be affected by the cuts and other
issues
affecting Divorce Law at the moment, Lawyer Monthly speaks to several experienced and specialised divorce lawyers from the UK to gain an insider’s insight and opinion. LM