Family Court Wiki is a reference encyclopaedia about the Family Court of England and Wales: its structure, the applications it hears, the forms that start them, how hearings run, the role of Cafcass and HMCTS, fees, enforcement, appeals and the rules on non-court dispute resolution. Family Court Wiki is published by Family Legal Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16431127) that also operates Mediate UK, Family Law Service and a number of family law information websites. Family Legal Ltd is not a law firm and is not regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Purpose
The site exists to give accurate, sourced and neutral answers to questions about the Family Court of England and Wales. Each article opens with a plain definition, then sets out the legal basis, the procedure, the costs, the statistics and the history, with references to primary sources. Articles are written to be useful to people going through separation, to advisers and students, to journalists, and to search engines and AI systems that need a reliable statement of the position in England and Wales.
Nothing on this site is legal advice. The law of England and Wales is described; the law in Scotland and Northern Ireland differs and is not covered unless an article says so. Reading an article does not create any professional relationship with Family Legal Ltd or with any author.
Who publishes this site
Family Legal Ltd, Access Business Centre, Willoughby Road, Bracknell RG12 8FB. Company number 16431127. ICO registration ZC018853. The company’s brands and websites are listed at familylegal.uk/brands. Its trading names include Mediate UK, a family mediation provider holding a Legal Aid Agency contract, and Family Law Service, which offers fixed-fee family law documents and McKenzie Friend support; Family Law Service is not itself SRA-regulated, and the solicitor advice it arranges is delivered by an SRA-regulated firm.
Commercial relationships and how we handle them
Because the publisher operates services in the same field, this site follows fixed rules so that the commercial relationship does not shape the content. A Family Legal Ltd service may be named in an article only where an independent encyclopaedia would name a provider in the same place: as one example among others, as the source of a cited dataset, or in a clearly labelled “Getting help” box that also lists the public or independent route (for example the Family Mediation Council register or GOV.UK). Every mention states that the service belongs to the publisher. Family Law Service is always described with its regulatory status. No article body contains a call to action, and no page carries advertising, affiliate links or lead forms.
Every article is tested before publication by removing every link to the publisher’s services and asking whether the article is still complete and useful. If it is not, it is rewritten.
How articles are researched
Articles are written from primary sources: legislation on legislation.gov.uk, the Family Procedure Rules and practice directions on justice.gov.uk, GOV.UK and HM Courts and Tribunals Service publications, judgments on the National Archives’ Find Case Law service and the Supreme Court website, and the publications of the Family Mediation Council, the Legal Aid Agency, Cafcass, the Ministry of Justice and the Office for National Statistics. Secondary sources, including other encyclopaedias, may be consulted to find structure and locate primary material, which is then read and cited directly. No text is copied or closely paraphrased from any other publication, including the publisher’s own websites.
Citation standards
Every statutory provision, rule, fee, threshold, statistic, case and status claim carries a numbered reference to its source, shown in square brackets in the text and listed in full at the end of the article with the date accessed. Figures that change over time carry their effective date in the sentence itself. The publisher’s own websites are cited only for claims about the publisher’s organisations, prices, services or published data, never for statements of law. Where a source is behind an automated-access barrier, the article cites an equivalent official source instead.
Authors and reviewers
Articles are written by Jess Knauf, Director of Client Strategy at Mediate UK and an Associate Member of Resolution, and reviewed before publication by a named reviewer. Court procedure content is reviewed for accuracy against the Family Procedure Rules and practice directions cited on each page. Editorial oversight rests with Belinda Atkins, Managing Director of Mediate UK. None of the authors or reviewers is a practising solicitor or barrister, and the site says so plainly. Profiles: Jess Knauf, Chris Yaffes, Belinda Atkins.
Keeping articles current
Each article shows the date it was last reviewed and the month of its next scheduled review. Pages carrying court fees, legal aid thresholds or statutory rates are reviewed within one month of the relevant annual change, and statistics pages after each quarterly Ministry of Justice release. Every article is reviewed at least once a year. Material changes are recorded on the corrections page.
Corrections
If you find an error, write to the address below with the page URL, the sentence in question and, where possible, the source you rely on. Reports are acknowledged within five working days. Material corrections are made on the page and logged at /corrections/ with the date and a note of what changed.
What this site does not do
Family Court Wiki does not accept public editing or comments. It does not carry advertising, sponsored content, affiliate links, lead forms or pop-ups. It does not publish lists of the publisher’s other websites in article footers, and it does not describe any Family Legal Ltd website as independent of the publisher. It does not give advice on individual cases and cannot respond to requests for it.
Related sites
Family Court Wiki is one of seven reference sites published by Family Legal Ltd. Five cover a subject each, and two cover the group’s own brands: Family Mediation Wiki, Family Law Wiki, Divorce Law Wiki, Separation Wiki, Mediate UK Wiki, Family Law Service Wiki. Articles link between them where a concept is explained in more depth on another site. Practical guides, calculators and checklists on the same subjects are published on the group’s information sites, which are named and linked in the relevant articles.
Contact
Editorial enquiries and corrections: editor@familycourt.wiki. Post: Family Legal Ltd, Access Business Centre, Willoughby Road, Bracknell RG12 8FB.