No rubber stamp
Sir: Your correspondent, Nicholas Mostyn (Letters, 20 November), refers dismissively in his letter to 'parents simply obtaining a rubber stamp to their private arrangement by a junior judicial officer' in cases where those parents were seeking to achieve a clean break in their financial affairs follow- ing a divorce.
As he rightly says, Court of Appeal deci- sions made it clear that this was impossible
to achieve in respect of child support. I assume that parties concerned would have been properly advised of this by their lawyers.
I spend a portion of each day considering whether or not such a rubber stamp should be affixed to consent orders submitted to the Court in matrimonial proceedings, and must point out to Mr Mostyn and your readers that this is far from being an auto- matic exercise. In each case the Court has to consider whether it is right to make such an order in light of the financial circum- stances of the parties. Many draft orders have to be returned for reconsideration as the Court does not consider the proposals contained to be fair and reasonable to both parties, or their children, or, on occasion, to the public purse. There is of course nothing to stop parties reaching an agree- ment between themselves, if they so wish.
I am troubled by Mr Mostyn's implica- tion that such matters are dealt with by the Court at an inadequate level and in a per- functory manner. This is not so, and liti- gants involved in these sad matters should be confident that it is not so.
District Judge K Hollis
Hayes Farmhouse, Barcombe Mills, East Sussex
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