The Emperor's New Clothes : Divorce Process & Consequence

THE ANNEXES


Introduction to the Annexes

BACKGROUND TO THE CASES

Source of the cases

The cases are entirely first-hand, authored in almost all cases by the husband/father involved, but in a few cases by the son or second wife. Almost all authors were a party to the legal proceedings. They derive from two sources :

  1. from the ‘General Narrative’ section of the 1995 Families Need Fathers (FNF) survey; they are up to 1-page in length; later referred to under ‘survey’;

  2. from personal contacts within the network of the father's groups; they are the narratives of those individuals with well known cases; they are typically 5-10 pages in length; later referred to under ‘personal contacts’.

The FNF 1995 survey

This was taken in the summer and autumn of 1995 from members of FNF. The survey was designed to provide examples of case studies and statistics about family law. Approximately 1,500 members were provided with survey forms. Of these 346 men and 1 woman responded by November 1995. It was from these responses that the smaller case studies were drawn, and from which the statistics were extracted.

The ‘personal contact’ cases from the network of the father's groups

The major groups are Families Need Fathers (FNF) with about 2000 members, Dads After Divorce (DADs) with about 300 members, and Parents Forever Scotland (PFS) with about 100 members. Several more groups exist, and contacts are maintained between the groups. It is from this network that the ‘personal contact’ cases have been obtained.

The scale of the cases in perspective

The UK father's groups contain about 3,000 members in total. The largest group, FNF, has a membership of about 2,000, and receives about 5,000 calls per year, of which about 1 in 10 join the organisation. These figures may be related to the number of divorces in the UK, currently about 180,000 per year.

From the cases available, those selected are :

source

available selected
from survey :

from personal contacts :

346

approx. 31

121

27

Selection and categorisation

The cases have been selected and placed into categories, in order to illustrate the different aspects of these cases which are a cause of serious concern.

As free text narratives, most cases, as one would expect, include a combination of aspects. The cases are therefore placed according to that aspect which features most prominently, or is at least a major or significant contributory factor.

The codes to the categories

These are :

code indicates / principally refers to
survey : p a brief case / processes in family law
c a brief case / consequences for the individual
personal contact : min a shorter length case
max a longer length case

The ‘survey’ categories

The ‘survey’ cases have been further, more finely, categorised to illustrate separate aspects within the process and consequences of divorce/separation as identified below.

The categories for legal process are :

code topic
p1 - husband/father innocent of substantive wrong;
p2 - (ex-)wife behaves badly/in contempt of court;
p3 - (ex-)wife commits perjury;
p4 - false accusations of a serious nature;
p5 - legal costs are high;
p6 - malpractices by :

p6.1 - solicitors,

p6.2 - barristers,

p6.3 - welfare officers,

p6.4 - judges,

p6.5 - combination of these/others;

p7 - legal remedies sought in higher court;
p8 - complaint made about malpractices;
p9 - husband/father has no remedies/is defenceless.

The categories for social consequences are :

code topic
c1 - loss of children/damage to relationship;
c2 - loss of home and life savings;
c3 - loss by way of maintenance, problems with CSA;
c4 - damage to health/career;
c5 - subsequent quality of life;
c6 - subsequent attitudes to women, law, society, etc.

The ‘personal contact’ categories

Each of the ‘min’ category cases has an associated aspect. The ‘maj’ cases are associated as primarily about the legal process, or the social consequences as listed below.

 

case aspect
min1 status quo not recognised when father has custody
min2 judges indifference
min3 judges indifference
min4 solicitors aiding and abetting exclusion of father
min5 NSPCC criticised
min6 child’s perspective given
min7 girlfriend’s perspective given
min8 2nd wife’s perspective given
min9 injustice
min10 injustice
min11 no remedy in complaint
min12 helplessness
min13 mental health of wife (same case as min12)
min14 mental health of wife
min15 abduction
min16 involvement of police

 

case

aspect

maj1

legal

maj2

social

maj3

legal & social

maj4

legal

maj5

legal & (some) social

maj6

legal & (some) social

maj7

social

maj8

social

maj9

legal & (some) social

maj10

legal

maj11

legal

Selection for publication

The cases have been selected for publication using the criteria :

i) only first hand cases have been accepted;

ii) to be capable of categorisation;

iii) to ensure that the account will not identify authors or any other individuals;

iv) legible and comprehensible.

 

Preparation for publication

As preparation for publication, the cases have been edited only to remove names and locations which would allow identification of individuals. In the survey cases, this was achieved simply with the use of correction fluid before typing. In the personal contact cases, editing by word-processor was applied.

The authors of these cases, and any individuals involved in the case, are referred to only by a pseudonym or by initials.

Identification of individuals in cases

All cases are therefore anonymous, so that the individuals concerned have been able to tell their story, retaining privacy. Actual names of people and places have been either reduced to initials, replaced by pseudonym, or replaced with "-"s where this was necessary to ensure anonymity.

The editors have complete records. Those who wish to investigate individual cases further may be put into contact with the individuals concerned. This will only be done with the authority of the individual.

WHAT THE CASES DEMONSTRATE

The major issue

The cases, taken together, clearly show that the legal process involved in separation and divorce is disconnected from the social consequences of the process.

The legal process

The legal process is disconnected from the social consequences because of four major factors :

[1] Restoring Legal Marriage, The Cheltenham Group, Paper No. 1, 1994;

[6]The Presumption of Shared Residence, Families Need Fathers, 1994;

[15] Facing Reality, The Family Law Action Group, January 1994;

[10] Report to the (UN) Centre for Human Rights on Article 23 Clause 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, The Cheltenham Group, 1 July 1995.

The social consequences

The social consequences of current practice are for society and for the individuals in each case.

The consequences for society are well documented - see Restoring Legal Marriage - and we briefly mention :

The consequences for the individual, in terms of destruction of the fabric of their lives, are readily appreciated in the cases.

THE INDIVIDUAL FIRST-HAND CASES

The case studies are presented in :

Annex 1 - the ‘survey’ cases;

Annex 2 - the ‘personal contact’ cases.

THE STATISTICS

The analysis of the FNF survey of 1995 are presented as published in July 1996. The reports were titled :

These reports contain their own introduction. They are presented in annex 3.


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