Maria Hancock

Called 1995   |   Email: mh@westgate-chambers.co.uk

Legal 500:“Maria Hancock has gained a reputation as a fighter for parents in contested care and difficult contact disputes, frequently appearing against local authorities’. Maria Hancock has gained a reputation as a tenacious advocate for parents in contested care and contact disputes”.

Area of Practice

Family law, primarily children and public law proceedings. Associated Judicial Review or Human Rights applications.

Notable Cases

• P (Children) (Identity of Mother) 2011 EWCA Civ 795 – Child’s maternity in dispute. Child refusing to participate in DNA test. The Court did not err in refusing to order a Fact Finding Hearing on the issue. Importance of knowledge of parentage – appropriateness of Fact Finding Hearings.
• Re: F [2008] 2 FLR 550 – represented the Father in an Appeal in a case in which the Local Authority’s conduct was described as an example of the worst kind of sharp practice, disgraceful, an abuse of power and wholly unacceptable. In the bringing of the Appeal, the father was described as having done a public service in exposing the Local Authority’s disgraceful conduct.
• Re: A (Children)(Non Accidental Injury) [2009] EWCA Civ 1577 [2010] 2 FCR 588 – Non accidental injury to a three day old baby, in which the family said that hospital staff had caused the injury.

Qualifications

B.A. (Hons) OU

CQSW

Professional Associations

Family Law Bar Association

South Eastern Circuit

Sussex Bar Mess

Additional Information

Maria is a family lawyer who specialises in Public Law Children Act proceedings, predominantly representing parents, relatives or children in Care Proceedings.

She also has expertise in the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Trusts of Land claims and intractable contact disputes in Private Law Children Act Proceedings.

Her reputation has been built on presenting her clients’ cases fearlessly and for leaving no stone unturned in case preparation.

Quick to identify injustices from any abuse of power on the part of Local Authorities or other public bodies, she is not afraid to appeal decisions in appropriate cases or make applications for Judicial Review or claims pursuant to the Human Rights Act 1998.

Recommended in Legal 500.

Treasurer, Kent & Sussex FLBA (previously secretary).

Pupil Supervisor.

Interests

Dancing (Modern Jive, Ceroc, Smooth Jive).

Travel

House renovation.