Judges in family cases should not adjourn final decisions simply to “press the pause button” the Court of Appeal has warned.

Judges in family cases should not adjourn final decisions simply to “press the pause button” the Court of Appeal has warned.

Giving judgment in S-L (Children: Adjournment), Lord Justice Peter Jackson (pictured) said adjourning a decision should be a “positive purposeful choice that requires a proper weighing-up of the advantages and disadvantages and a lively awareness that the passage of time has consequences”.

In cases involving children, he said, there can sometimes be good reasons for adjourning a final decision in order to obtain necessary information. however, he added that although there is an ove...

Hannah Gannagé-Stewart
Deputy Editor
Solicitors Journal

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