What’s on the horizon for family law in 2025
Family law in 2025 is expected to continue to evolve, to reflect the dynamic nature of society and the increasing influence of technology. Jane Ingleby, Partner in the family and children team in the Leeds office at Mills & Reeve looks at some of the key developments that are likely to take place during 2025.
Technology Integration
This is becoming more pronounced with the rise of AI presenting new challenges for the legal profession. Increasingly sophisticated tools are enabling parties to generate deepfake audio clips, photographs and messages with a real risk of such material being introduced into court proceedings.
There are a range of technology products which can detect fake evidence, and the court also has the power to appoint a Digital Forensics Expert to produce a report on the authenticity of evidence. We are likely to receive judicial guidance on this growing area in 2025.
Standish v Standish
Permission has been granted for an appeal of the Court of Appeal’s decision to the Supreme Court which will be heard in April 2025, as such there is likely to be further developments in this area of law and the circumstances in which assets become “matrimonalised”.
Recognition of non-traditional families
Laws have been updated to recognise and protect the rights of non-traditional families, including those formed through surrogacy, adoption and same sex partnerships. This includes clearer guidelines on parental rights and responsibilities.
Surrogacy Law
The Law Commission 2023 report stated that as surrogacy has increased almost fourfold in the last decade recommendations were needed to reform the current law. We will need to wait and see if any of the recommended reforms are enacted, meanwhile surrogacy is expected to continue to increase in 2025.
Potential reform of financial remedies law
The Law Commission published a scoping report in December 2024 with a view to possible reform of the law relating to finances on divorce which also includes possible reform of the law relating to Nuptial agreements. The report sets out potential models for reform and we are now waiting for the government’s response.
Pilot scheme for lower value cases
This will begin in February 2025 for 12 months. The scheme will apply to cases with net assets under £250,000 where the court process will be compressed so that these cases can be dealt with quickly and efficiently.
Children law
The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 will add new sections 10A and 10B to the Children Act 1989 so that where one parent has tragically killed the other parent and has parental responsibility for the children the crown court must make a Prohibited Steps Order (PSO) preventing the offender from exercising their parental responsibility until/unless the prohibited steps order is either discharged or varied.
Cohabiting couples
Cohabiting couples are the fastest family type in the UK with around 3.6m couples living together. Many people still believe in the myth of “common law marriage” and are unaware of the lack of legal protection should they separate.
The Labour Party committed to giving cohabitants greater rights and protections before the election, this area of law desperately needs reforming so hopefully it is high on the government’s agenda.
Transparency within the family court
This issue has been high on the agenda for some time and this will continue in 2025. The transparency reporting pilot has been extended for an additional year and will now take place in all Financial Remedy Courts.
The trend for greater transparency will also extend to children proceedings. Since January 2025, all public law children proceedings are covered by the reporting provisions (unless heard by lay justices).
From 1 May 2025, all private law children proceedings, proceedings under the inherent jurisdiction and proceedings under the 1980 and 1996 Hague Conventions will be covered by the reporting restrictions (unless heard by lay justices).
From 29 September 2025, all children proceedings heard by lay justices will be covered.
Non-court dispute resolution (NCDR)
2024 brought a focus on NCDR and failure to engage properly in NCDR can result in costs penalties. As the Family Courts continue to be overwhelmed with a significant backlog of cases it is likely that there will be increased use of the NCDR processes to reduce the number of cases being referred to court.
Increased reporting of Family Court cases will likely see more families using NCDR particularly where privacy is important.
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