The fourth edition of my book The Family Court without a Lawyer – A Handbook for Litigants in Person is available to pre-order now. At the moment, if you order it directly from the publishers you get the digital edition free! Wey-hey! It’s all for only £20! Which, given how much blood, sweat and tears has gone into it I think is a bargain, frankly.

It would probably help if I told you what is in the 4th edition that isn’t in the 3rd. Obviously, it has been comprehensively updated, because quite a lot has changed since the last time I performed this task in 2017. In fact, I think this is the most substantial update the book has had since the first edition in 2010.

Apart from the additional pressures and different ways of working that have been compounded and accelerated by the covid pandemic (more use of digital platforms, electronic documents, and remote hearings, greater pressures on resources and longer delays), there have been some important changes to the law and procedure in a couple of areas, most notably in connection with divorce and domestic abuse.

As of a couple of months ago we now have ‘no fault divorce’ in England and Wales, meaning that you no longer need to prove what a rat your ex has been, accept that you were unbearable partner or wait years in order to obtain a divorce. If your relationship has broken down you are (with very few exceptions) now entitled to divorce. Although this makes things much simpler and hopefully less unpleasant, there are lots of changes to the process of getting from A: married 🙁  to B: divorced 🙂 , which the book sets out.

The whole approach to domestic abuse has become much more sophisticated over the last few years, and with that better understanding of what victims of domestic abuse need to be able to make use of the court process and to keep themselves and their children safe, comes a shift in procedure, in rules – and in law. Whether you are a victim of abuse, or someone who has been accused of it (rightly or wrongly) you need to understand what to expect and what protections the court offers to you. The book sets all that out, including those parts of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 which directly affect family court cases. These primarily relate to what special arrangements (participation directions) the court will make where there are allegations of domestic abuse between two parents, and in particular what happens if one of them doesn’t have a lawyer and they need to be able to challenge evidence they don’t accept but without being allowed or required to ask questions of their abuser or the person that is accusing them. In addition, the Act brought changes to the law around when a court can filter out future applications (often called barring orders), making clear that these orders can be appropriate much more often than to date.

As ever, I hope the book will be useful and will help you to navigate an anxious and confusing period in your life. If you do end up going to court, knowing a bit about what to expect is as good a way as any of managing your anxiety and of thinking through your options. If you can avoid court, do – but if you can’t, then go prepared.

If you aren’t persuaded, do follow the link to the publishers above and you can read some nice reviews some lovely people have written about the previous edition.

And now, after months of waiting for the final pieces of new law to drop into place, for new regulations to be issued, and for my final edits and corrections to be sorted… I am going on a well earned holiday (just as soon as I do one final hearing). See you in the autumn.