I had a little trip to the smelly old smoke yesterday to record a programme for BBC Radio 4. The programme is called Splitting the Assets and is airing on Radio 4 at 8pm on 3 Feb (repeating on the Sat night too I think). It involved yours truly, Sir Paul Coleridge (retired HCJ, Marriage Foundation etc), Nicola Mattheson-Durrant (Professional McKenzie Friend) and Marc Mason from the University of Westminster discussing the experiences of litigants in person dealing with financial remedy cases in the family court. The programme is structured around clips of interviews with litigants in person telling how it was for them (generally not great). There was lots more I’d like to have said but I think it will be an interesting, if depressing, listen. I don’t know if the degree of adaptation that has gone on in terms of judge’s handling of cases and changes in approach to litigants in person will really come across – there are genuine horror stories, and going to court is horrid and stressful whether you are represented or not, and whether your judge is friendly and efficient or not (my experience is mostly they are but there are of course exceptions) – but I hope that the programme will not make litigants even more anxious. There are resources out there to help you, whether you have a lawyer, a bit of advice here and there, or whether you go it alone, perhaps with the support of a friend or by paying for a McKenzie friend. A reminder that resources are out there can be found here : www.familycourtinfo.org.uk which contains both links local to the Bristol area and nationally applicable resources and information.
You can read more about the programme on the BBC website here.
I hope mediation gets a mention.
yes, I made sure it did!
Recorder duly set and I will listen with interest. And on air you can’t mess up your apostrophes!
Oh god. I know you will call me up on split infinitives or something…
I found the lawyers awful on both sides. My ex is an atheist and swore to the bible and proceeded to lie under oath. I had the feeling that by taking the nonreligious oath, I was seen as less than honest. He lied, so I later lied. He then hacked my email and submitted it and I got in trouble for that but he never did for hacking my email. He had his accountant write his company at zero and negative value, etc etc. I then found my solicitors had charged me for work on another case, a friend I had recommended. I ended up in a high court against them for that and gave in representing myself. The judge was useless. How many people would pay for work a contractor did on their neighbours house? Insane that the solicitor could get away with that! Divorce was absolutely the most awful thing to go thru and more than a full time job. And, yes, you have only scratched the surface. A good start though…
[…] family barrister Lucy Reed, of St John’s chambers in Bristol, who described the recording on her Pink Tape blog. Other participants included Sir Paul Coleridge (retired HCJ, Marriage Foundation etc), Nicola […]