Parents must not use children as ammunition
in divorce cases, the leading family law judge in the UK has
said.

Sir Nicholas Wall, the president of the
Family Division, is a persistent critic of the way in which divorcing couples
often conduct themselves.

In a speech in London entitled ‘Changing the
Culture’, he said: “Too often parents use their children as the battleground
(and sometimes the ammunition) to refight the rights and wrongs of the
relationship.”

Sir Nicholas said: “It has long been my view
that adversarial proceedings are often not the best way to resolve family
disputes”.

He said the views of children needed to be
taken into account more often and that European judges were often amazed that
British judges did not do this “let alone that we do not come off the bench to
visit families in the home”.

According to The Daily Telegraph, he advised
family judges to become the equivalent of “a case manager”.