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Law Soceity wary on shared parenting

Posted by: admin    Tags:      Posted date:  March 13, 2012

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The Law Soceity’s family law committee has cautioned against introducing a legal presumption of shared parenting after divorce, following indications that the government may seek to change the law.

Childrens minister Tim Loughton has said that the government is ‘looking closely at all the options for promoting shared parenting through possible legislative and non-legislative means.’ He said: ‘Our vision is to establish that, under normal circumstances, a child will have a relationship with both his or her parents, regardless of their relationship with each other.’

A statutory presumption of shared parenting following divorce or seperation was considered but rejected in the Family Justice Review, led by former civil servant David Norgrove, published last November. Norgrove said such a change risked creating a presumption of a parental right to shared time, undermining the principle of paramountcy of the welfare of the child set out in the Chldren Act 1989.

Naomi Angell, co-cahir of the Law Soceity’s familt law committee, said the committee would oppose a presumption of shred time, thought i supportede the idea of maintainging contact with both parents where safe to do so. The right to contact should be viewed from the child’s persepctive, Angell said/

The Ministry of Justice said it will publish its response to the Norgrove review shortly.