Private Children Law - Procedure, Practice & Caselaw

Introduction

In the area of private children law, many key developments have been seen which all practitioners need to be aware of.

There have been developments in the area of parental responsibility, presumption of parental involvement, child arrangements and enforcement, as well as matters surrounding domestic abuse and the procedure for running children law matters.

The developments surrounding bundle preparation and the developments surrounding the Pathfinder pilots in various parts of England and Wales, which will be replacing the procedure for private children law cases. There will also be an exploration of the use of experts in cases involving alienating behaviours.

All these developments and more will be explored in this webinar.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• Pathfinder Pilot - How is it working? What do you need to know?
• How is the CIR Report different to the S.7 CA 1989 Report?
• Decision Hearings under the Pathfinder Pilot - What to expect
• Consideration of key cases involving pathfinder, including C v D [2025]
• Changes to Bundle Practice Direction - PD27A from March 2026 and onwards
• Fact Finding hearings and impact of Re E (A Child) [2025]
• Non molestation injunctions and private children law - Revised guidance by the President on fact-finding hearings and domestic abuse in private children law proceedings - 2026
• Developments in fact - Finding hearings and private children law
• Restriction of parental responsibility in cases of homicide - Consideration of Victims and Prisoners Act 2024
• Restriction of parental responsibility in cases of Sexual Offences against children - Consideration of Victims and Courts Bill 2026
• Use of and duration of s.91(14) CA 1989 orders following Re A (Children) (Appeal against Duration of section 91(14) order) [2025]
• Proposals to repeal presumption of parental involvement from CA 1989
• Costs in Private Law Proceedings - Effect of Y v X (Costs) [2026]
• Use of experts in children proceedings - Effect of Re: Y (Experts and Alienating Behaviour: The Modern Approach) in running private law cases where parental alienation is raised as an issue
• Developments surrounding Domestic Abuse Protection Orders and Pilots in 2026
• Family Reporting and Private Children Law - Ongoing developments

This pre-recorded webinar will be available to view from Tuesday 15th September 2026

Alternatively, you can gain access to this webinar and 2,300+ others via the MBL Webinar Subscription. Please email webinarsubscription@mblseminars.com for more details.