In our March 2016 update, we reported that the High Court had found that the denial of bereavement benefits to a mother on the ground she was not married to her partner at his date of death, and where children were impacted, was unlawful. The DSD appealed this decision and the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal.
The Court of Protection granted an order for a declaration of incompatibility of a section of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act with the Convention.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), by a majority of 4 to 3, has held that detaining an individual following his breach of a contact order, where he had no legal representation did not violate his right to liberty and security of person.
An unmarried mother challenged the decision of the DSD to refuse to provide her with benefits under the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (NI) Act 1992, following the death of her partner.
Judgment was handed down in the family division of the High Court in England and Wales on 11th September in a case where seven couples, who had assisted reproduction through sperm donor, issued proceedings for a declaration that they were the legal parents of their offspring.
