Rights on Paper Mean Nothing Without Access to Justice
- Deanna Newell
- Jul 5
- 4 min read
The government’s proposed reforms for cohabiting couples have rightly been welcomed as a long-overdue step forward. Stronger rights for unmarried partners, greater recognition of economic abuse, and improved protections when relationships end are all positive developments.
But there is a question policymakers, solicitors, barristers, and ministers must answer honestly:-
What good are legal rights if people cannot afford to enforce them?
From my own lived experience of coercive, financial, and economic abuse, I know there is a profound difference between rights on paper and access to justice in reality.
For years, debates about family law reform have focused on fairness, protection, and modernising the law. Those conversations matter. But too often they fail to reflect what life actually looks like for survivors.
Economic abuse rarely begins overnight. It develops gradually.
A couple has children. One parent reduces their working hours or leaves employment altogether to care for the family. The other becomes the main earner. Financial dependence grows. One person controls the money, makes the decisions, and determines access to resources. Independence slowly disappears.
Years later, when the relationship breaks down, the survivor is expected to simply leave.
But leave with what?
No independent income.
No savings.
No assets in their own name.
No access to family finances.
No immediate ability to return to work because childcare responsibilities remain.
No realistic way to pay thousands of pounds in legal fees.
Meanwhile, the person who controlled the finances often retains that advantage long after separation. This is the reality of economic abuse.
The government’s proposals recognise coercive control and economic abuse.
Recognition matters.
But recognition alone does not pay for legal representation.
Recognition does not reduce delays in the family courts.
Recognition does not resolve problems with child maintenance.
Recognition does not provide emergency financial support when someone leaves an abusive relationship.
Recognition does not guarantee access to justice.
The uncomfortable truth is that many survivors navigate the family justice system alone. They complete online applications without legal advice because they cannot afford it. They agree to arrangements they do not fully understand because they have no practical alternative. They continue to experience financial hardship long after the relationship has ended.
For many survivors, abuse does not end with separation. It's effects continue through debt, housing insecurity, financial instability, and the long struggle to rebuild an independent life.
If the government is serious about protecting victims of economic abuse, reform must go further.
We need meaningful access to legal aid.
Legal rights are of little value if only those with money can afford to use them. Survivors should not have to choose between their safety and their ability to obtain legal advice.
We need stronger financial disclosure requirements.
Too often, financial control continues through the court process itself. Greater transparency and meaningful consequences for non-disclosure are essential if fairness is to mean anything in practice.
We need better coordination between services.
Domestic abuse organisations, the Child Maintenance Service, and the family courts should not operate in isolation. Survivors deserve a system that works together rather than one that places the burden of navigating it on those already facing trauma and financial hardship.
We need emergency financial support.
Leaving an abusive relationship often creates immediate financial crisis. No one should be trapped by the simple fact that they cannot afford to leave.
We need policies shaped by lived experience.
Those who have experienced coercive, financial, and economic abuse understand the realities that statistics alone cannot capture.
Their voices should help shape the reforms designed to protect them.
Most importantly, policymakers must understand that justice is not measured by what is written in legislation. It is measured by whether ordinary people can actually use it.
The family justice system cannot claim success simply because rights exist on paper.
Success is when a survivor can leave safely.
Success is when a parent can support their children without fear.
Success is when economic abuse is recognised, challenged, and remedied in practice, not merely acknowledged in principle.
This article is not about one family or one case. It is about a wider issue affecting thousands of parents and survivors across the country.
Legal rights matter. But rights alone are not enough.
Access to justice, financial support, and effective enforcement are what transform rights on paper into protection in practice.
Until that happens, there will remain a gap between legal rights and lived reality.
And it is survivors and children who continue to pay the price.
We need reform that brings the Child Maintenance Service and the family courts together. Too often, survivors are forced to navigate separate systems that fail to communicate with one another.
Child maintenance, financial arrangements, and child welfare should not operate in isolation. Better coordination between the Child Maintenance Service, the family courts, and domestic abuse services would reduce delays, improve accountability, and provide families with more effective support.
A justice system that works in silos places additional burdens on those already facing trauma and financial hardship. A joined-up approach would help ensure that children are properly supported and that survivors are not left battling multiple processes while trying to rebuild their lives.
Justice works best when the systems designed to protect families work together, and not separately.
About DN Family Law
DN Family Law exists to support individuals and families affected by domestic, financial, and economic abuse, helping survivors rebuild their lives with safety, dignity, and hope for the future.
Founded by Deanna Newell, DN Family Law is an advocacy and support service dedicated to assisting those experiencing coercive control, financial abuse, economic abuse, and post-separation abuse.
Drawing on lived experience with a deep understanding of the challenges survivors face, Deanna is committed to promoting safety, accountability, and meaningful access to justice.
DN Family Law advocates for:-
Recognising and addressing coercive control
Raising awareness of financial and economic abuse
Protecting children from the impact of abuse and conflict
Supporting neurodivergent children and families
Challenging post-separation abuse and family court injustices
Promoting evidence-based, child-centred decision-making
“Every family deserves safety. Every child deserves stability. Every survivor deserves to be heard.”
Because rights on paper are only meaningful when people can access them, DN Family Law is committed to ensuring that survivors are heard, supported, and empowered to move forward with confidence, dignity, and hope.
Deanna Newell Family Law
Advocacy for truth-tellers, survivors, and the children who deserve better
