As a family law firm, Higgins Miller specialises in dealing with issues such as divorce, children disputes and domestic abuse. Our experience in dealing with matters of this kind has taught us that clients need a combination of legal expertise and emotional support when it comes to dealing with legal conflict. We know that the […]
As a law firm which specialises in matters of family law, we never lose sight of the fact that, at the heart of any legal dispute, there is an intensely human drama being played out. We understand that many people come to us during the most traumatic events of their life – a divorce, a […]
Here at Higgins Miller we never lose sight of the human perspective of the cases we deal with. When looking at a situation from a strictly legal point of view it can be easy to forget that the bare facts of each case represent a real human being going through what is often one of […]
BBC News reports that it has seen data which show that the number of special guardianship orders made in England has tripled in two years. The number of babies involved, it says, rose from 160 in 2012 to 520 in 2014. Most of the children are aged four or under. Meanwhile, the number of children […]
The country’s most senior family Judge Sir James Munby has criticised Darlington Borough Council for what he described as social engineering. The local authority had made applications for care orders and placement orders in respect of a one year old child. Their plan was to place the child for adoption. The child’s mother had concluded […]
The case of Ashya King the five year old cancer patient has led to a media frenzy with comment coming from everyone from Boris Johnson to Nick Clegg. But what are the legal implications of the situation? It appears that upon Asyha’s removal from hospital by his parents Portsmouth City Council made an application for Ashya to be […]
At Higgins Miller we have become aware that an increasing number of people who have special guardianship orders are having difficulties in relation to obtaining financial support for the children that they are caring for. The law requires a local authority in which the special guardian lives to consider what payments would have been made […]
A mother has lost her appeal against a care order and adoption order in respect of one of her two children and a decision not to re-instate contact with her other child. In the case of S (A Child) the mother argued that the Judge hearing the case at first instance had not given sufficient weight to her […]
BBC Panorama programme ‘I Want my Baby Back’ that was transmitted on 13th January examines evidence used in ‘Vitamin D cases’ in family courts. The BBC says that crucial evidence against parents came from doctors, who erroneously viewed fractures on x-rays as evidence of abuse, rather than a lack of vitamin D (or Rickets) which […]
It has been announced that from next year there will be a legal duty on local authorities to allow children in care to stay in their foster placements until the age of 21 rather than having to leave at 18. This is likely to have huge benefits for the young people concerned, particularly when they […]