If you are in receipt of benefits and or a low income you can apply for a Court fee exemption in certain matters.

The Court fees are now as follows:

• Divorce Petition – £593.00
• Consent Order – £53.00
• Financial Remedy Proceedings – £275.00
• Children Act Application – £232.00
• Enforcement Children Act – £232.00
• Any other application – £167.00

The Court will not process any application without the Court fee being paid and or successfully applying for a Court Fee exemption.

For more information please contact our Family department on 0116 262 8596.

 Pravleen Sian who works in our private family department has recently qualified as a solicitor and specialises in providing advice in relation to matrimonial and children matters. 

 Kelan Castaneda from our care department has been awarded a training contract! Kelan will continue to develop her practice in the care team for a further period of time before gaining experience in other areas within the firm as part of her training. 

 Well done to everyone and thank you for all your hard work!

 If you have any queries regarding crime, family or care matters please do not hesitate to contact our team members.

 You can view full profiles of all our solicitors by clicking on the Meet The Team tab. 

*picture from left Sukhdev, Kelan & Pravleen.

Celebrating Christmas and the New Year is always a very enjoyable and important time for us all.

During this festive time we hopefully all have an opportunity to have some well earned relaxation and downtime, enjoying the end of the year and starting to look forward to the year ahead. Some of us will be spending time with family or friends, eating more than we should and having the odd drink to celebrate the time of year with those close to us and at those Christmas parties! 😀

Unfortunately, this means that this time of year also has the highest rate of drink drive offences. Please be careful when you choose to drive a vehicle, because even if you drive the day after drinking, you could still be over the legal limit.

Our Specialist Crime Department can assist anyone who unfortunately finds themselves arrested for a Drink Drive offence. We can advise you upon the law surrounding drink driving and any potential defences, which could save you losing your licence. With our depth of experience within the road traffic sector, we can represent you in court to ensure you receive the best possible outcome.

Should you require advice or representation please contact us on 01162628596.

]]> https://dodds-solicitors.co.uk/drink-drive-offence/feed/ 0 https://dodds-solicitors.co.uk/good-divorce-week-28nov-2nd-dec/ https://dodds-solicitors.co.uk/good-divorce-week-28nov-2nd-dec/#respond Mon, 28 Nov 2022 15:36:44 +0000 https://dodds-solicitors.co.uk/?p=3183 COURT BACKLOGS RUINING LIVES SAYS LOCAL FIRM OFFERING ADVICE DURING GOOD DIVORCE WEEK

• Dodds Solicitors LLP from Leicester is supporting Resolution’s Good Divorce Week which is highlighting why the Government must support better advice for separating families
• Exclusive research from Resolution lays bare the human suffering and cost caused by family court delays
• Dodds Solicitors LLP is offering advice sessions to local people during Good Divorce Week to promote the benefits of early intervention in family matters.

A Leicester based Dodds Solicitors LLP is supporting Good Divorce Week (28 Nov – 2 Dec), an annual awareness campaign run by Resolution, an organisation that represents over 6500 family professionals, which helps people find a better way to divorce.

Divorces are on the increase again with the most recent statistics showing 113,000 divorces in 2021 – up nearly 10% on the previous year – and the impact on wait times is stark. On average it now takes 52 weeks to conclude divorce proceedings.

In addition, official figures show that while private children cases were down by 7% during the last year, they are taking on average six weeks longer to reach a conclusion. And estimates suggest it takes nearly two years to resolve financial matters.

That leaves many families in limbo for over a year. That has a knock-on effect on children’s schooling and family finances.

Resolution surveyed its members on the current court backlogs and found:

• 20% said court delays caused clients to rely on benefits
• 34% said they’d referred a client to a counsellor or therapist to help them cope with the stress of ongoing court delays
• 90% said court backlogs were causing additional and unnecessary stress and pressure for clients

Ashwin Topiwala, Partner, family law specialist said: “Backlogs are wreaking havoc on local families in location. Even couples who want to separate amicably are having their patience and their continued relationship tested to breaking point by long delays. When it comes to sorting out children arrangements and finances after divorce, the situation is even bleaker.

“Children are waiting nearly a year for the courts to determine which parent they live with, what school they go to, how much time they spend with the other parent – putting the whole family’s life on hold. This is simply unacceptable and another reason why getting early professional advice is so important for families.

“We are proud to be offering advice sessions during Good Divorce Week so families get the benefit of early professional advice.”

Juliet Harvey, national chair of Resolution, said: “Under resourcing the family courts system is a false economy inflicting unnecessary pressure on the public purse and unconscionable stress on families at an already stressful time in their lives. A study of the impact of funding legal advice in Scotland found that, every £1 spent by government on legal aid in family cases saw a return of around £5 elsewhere.

“If the government were to focus more on encouraging early advice for separating couples and including information about all out of court options it could ease the pressure on family courts. Resolution members like Dodds Solicitors LLP are doing their best to help families achieve better outcomes and find long-lasting resolutions.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

1. Resolution is a membership association of 6,500 family justice professionals promoting a non-confrontational approach to resolving family issues and campaigning for a fairer family justice system.
2. Resolution members commit to a Code of Practice that promotes a constructive approach to family issues and considers the needs of the whole family, in particular the best interests of children.
3. Further updates about Resolution’s work can be found via our official twitter handle: @ResFamilyLaw and on our website: www.resolution.org.uk

For more information please call 0116 201 8566

The title deeds that were sent to you at completion are used to provide proof of ownership and will be sent to the Land Registry when the property is due to be registered. However, title deeds sometimes get lost, but do not despair; it is still possible to register the property albeit with a little more complexity.

You will need to provide as much information as you can about the property and the title and tell the Land Registry how and why you no longer have the title deeds.

If the Land Registry decides that sufficient evidence has been provided in accordance with the above, it might register the property on that basis.

Here at Dodds we can assist with advice on how to make sure that the land is properly defined for the application, we can review any paperwork in your possession with a view to determining whether it might be relevant for registration purposes and prepare the paperwork which you need to submit to the Land Registry.

If you need some advice or further assistance on this issue, our conveyancing team will be happy to help on 0116 262 8596 or email us at conveyancing@dodds-solicitors.co.uk and we can assist with getting the property registered.

‘all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property’.

This means a person who has Parental Responsibility has the legal powers to make appropriate decisions in relation to the care, welfare and upbringing of the child. There are no limits to the number of people who can share Parental Responsibility for one child. S2 (7) of the Children Act 1989 states that where more than one person has Parental Responsibility for a child, each of them may act alone and without the other (or others) in meeting that responsibility. In certain specific cases, consent of all parties sharing Parental Responsibility is required and a Court Order would be needed, if an agreement cannot be reached. The following are examples of important decisions in a child’s life that should have the agreement of everyone with Parental Responsibility:

• Where a child lives.
• Whether or not a child has medical treatment.
• Decisions regarding a child’s education.
• Which, if any, religion a child follows.
• Deciding a child’s name and registering their birth.
• Giving consent for a child to leave the country, whether for a holiday for more than 28 days or permanently.

In England and Wales, Parental Responsibility lasts until the child reaches 18 or until an Adoption Order or other court order is made which extinguishes it.

Who has Parental Responsibly?

A mother automatically has Parental Responsibility for her child from birth. A biological father usually has Parental Responsibility if he is married to or is in a civil partnership with the child’s mother, at the time the child was born. If a biological father is not married to the mother, he can gain parental responsibility by being registered on the baby’s birth certificate following the birth. Both parents keep Parental Responsibility if they later divorce or separate.

Same-sex partners will both have Parental Responsibility if they were civil partners at the time of the treatment; for example, donor insemination or fertility treatment. For same-sex partners who are not civil partners; the second parent can obtain Parental Responsibility by a Parental Responsibility Agreement or by becoming a civil partner of the other parent and making a Parental Responsibility Agreement or jointly registering the birth.

Besides parents others may also acquire Parental Responsibility; for example, a Local Authority by obtaining a Care Order or Emergency Protection Order, a child’s guardian through a Will or Court Order, a child’s step parent by way of an Agreement with the parents or Court Order, grandparents or extended family through a Child Arrangements Order or Special Guardianship Order. Adoptive parents gain Parental Responsibility upon the Court’s approval of the Adoption Order.

If a child is born overseas and comes to live in the UK, Parental Responsibility depends on the UK country they are now living in. Our expert solicitors can advise you regarding the laws applicable to England and Wales.

Can you lose Parental Responsibility?

A mother will always have Parental Responsibility until the child is 18 unless an Adoption Order is made. A married father is in the same position. However, there are instances where Parental Responsibility could be lost, which include:

• Any person, including unmarried fathers who acquire Parental Responsibility by a Parental Responsibility Agreement or Court Order, may lose their their Parental Responsibility if the Court makes a subsequent Court Order extinguishing the Parental Responsibility or Adoption Order.
• A Local Authority will lose Parental Responsibility once their Care Order has ended, unless it has a Placement Order.
• If Parental Responsibility is acquired through a Child Arrangements Order or Special Guardianship Order, it lasts until the Orders are discharged by the Court.

How to obtain Parental Responsibility?

An unmarried father can obtain Parental Responsibility through the following:-

• By entering into a Parental Responsibility Agreement with the child’s mother, which is a formal document signed by both parents in front of specific witnesses. This is then filed with the Principal Registry of the Family Division of the High Court in London.  Such an agreement would confer the rights and duties set out above on the unmarried father.

• By being named as the father on the child’s birth certificate. From 1st December 2003, an unmarried father may register or re-register his name on the child’s birth certificate to acquire Parental Responsibility.

• By applying to Court for a Parental Responsibility Order. This may usually be the case where the child’s mother does not agree to a formal Parental Responsibility Agreement.

For advice regarding Parental Responsibility Agreements and Orders, contact our offices to book an appointment with one of our family solicitors for an initial consultation.

Being a football supporter himself, our solicitor Sukhdev Bisla can appreciate that the thought of receiving a football banning order is a distressing prospect. The deterrent effect cannot be underestimated. We can advise you and challenge such applications.

If you are convicted of a certain type of offence, the court must impose a Football Banning Order in addition to any sentence for the offence if it is “satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that making a banning order would help to prevent violence or disorder at or in connection with any regulated football matches”. We can assist you by challenging such applications in court.

Recent legislation, Section 192 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 amends this test such that where a person is convicted of a relevant offence, the court must impose a Football Banning Order, unless it “considers that there are particular circumstances relating to the offence or to the offender which would make it unjust in all the circumstances to do so”. This provision only applies to offences committed on or after the day appointed by regulations for it to come into force. We can assist you with regards to whether you are affected by this recent change in the law.

Should you require any advice or assistance regarding this area of law, please do not hesitate to contact the Dodds Crime Team on 01162628596 or crimeteam@dodds-solicitors.co.uk