A Practical Guide to Contact and Residence Disputes, Including Remedies, for Family Lawyers in Scotland

Disputes involving the welfare of children whether in relation to who the children live with, whether the children should have contact with the non-resident parent, one parent wishing to move to another country with the children, ensuring a court order is complied with, or the wrongful removal of the children from a country are all notoriously sensitive and difficult to resolve.

Lawyers faced with such problems and dilemmas need to provide their clients with solutions. The book is a practical aid designed to assist lawyers in their working lives provide solutions to their clients. The book covers the various childcare disputes. In each case, it sets out the law, how the courts implement the law and how to enforce the law or ensure compliance with a court order.

As the book is a practical aid, then it was important to cover the significant changes introduced to the Sheriff Court Rules for Family Actions in September 2023 and what the law will be once the provisions of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 come into force. The Act will introduce significant changes as to how childcare disputes are dealt with by the courts, including the presumption that a child of any age will be capable of forming a view.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Quail is a practising family lawyer with over thirty years' experience in this area of law. Tom has provided seminars to other family lawyers, on a range of family law matters and has had articles published in the Journal of the Law Society of Scotland on a regular basis.

Tom is a Solicitor Advocate and Convener of the Law Society Panel accrediting solicitors as Child Law Specialists.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 - Parental Responsibilities and Rights and Court Orders

Chapter 2 - Relocation of Children

Chapter 3 - Non Compliance With Contact and Residence Orders

Chapter 4 - Contempt of Court Proceedings

Chapter 5 - Sheriff Court Rules in Relation to Family Actions

Chapter 6 - Applications Under the Child Abduction & Custody Act 1985 - The 1980 Hague Convention

Chapter 7 - The Children (Scotland) Act 2020

Chapter 8 - Services to be Introduced and Updated by the Children (Scotland) Act 2020