That Family Law Guy

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That Family Law Guy Daniel Ryan is an award-winning McKenzie Friend, , podcast host and novelist.

Making family law more human through McKenzie Picave.

🎙️ https://www.youtube.com/
📚 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HL6LZ71C Professional McKenzie Friend, Solicitor's, Barrister's, Mediator's and Social Worker

07/10/2026

🚨 “IN FAMILY COURT, I FELT GUILTY UNTIL I COULD PROVE I WAS INNOCENT.”

An allegation is not a finding of fact.

But what does it feel like when allegations are made against you - and you believe you are suddenly fighting to prove something didn't happen?

In the second part of his interview on That Family Law Guy: Unfiltered, ‘David’ talks to about his experience of being accused in family court and why he felt the process treated him as though he were “guilty until proven innocent.”

For David, the consequences weren't simply legal.

They affected his family, his relationship with his children and his trust in a system he had expected to treat everyone fairly.

⚖️ Allegations of abuse must be taken seriously. Safeguarding children and victims is essential.
But taking an allegation seriously is not the same as automatically treating an allegation as proven.

Family courts are often being asked to navigate incredibly difficult competing accounts - and getting that process right matters enormously to everyone involved.

Because both safeguarding and fairness matter. They shouldn't have to compete.

‘David’ is not his real name. His identity has been protected due to the sensitive nature of his story, and this interview reflects his personal account of events.

💬 Do you think family court strikes the right balance between acting on allegations and ensuring they are properly tested?

🎙️ Watch the second part of David’s interview with in the latest episode of That Family Law Guy: Unfiltered, available now on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

07/10/2026

🌿 DON’T FORGET TO NOTICE THE BEAUTIFUL THINGS.

Life can get very loud.

Work. Stress. Family problems. Court proceedings. Money worries. Relationships. The endless list of things we need to sort out, fix or get through.

And sometimes we're so focused on surviving the difficult days that we forget to notice the good things happening quietly around us.

The sunshine on your face. ☀️
A conversation that makes you laugh.
A song you love.
Someone you care about.
A few peaceful minutes when nothing needs fixing.

In this video, has a simple reminder for all of us:

Whatever you're going through, don't become so consumed by the difficult things that you stop noticing the beautiful ones.

They might be small.
But sometimes the small things are exactly what we need. ❤️
So today, take a moment. Look up. Look around.

What beautiful thing have you noticed today?

07/10/2026

🚨 “I THOUGHT I COULD RELY ON THE FAMILY COURT.”

What happens when you enter the family court believing the system will help protect your relationship with your child - and your experience leaves you questioning that belief?

🎙️ Our brand-new episode of That Family Law Guy: Unfiltered is LIVE NOW.

In the first part of his interview, Mike begins telling his story.

In this clip, he recounts a two-hour stand-off while trying to collect his daughter - an experience that became part of a much longer and incredibly difficult journey through family conflict and the court system.

Mike believed that if he did things properly, followed the process and relied on the family court, the system would work.

His experience left him feeling very differently.

This is Mike’s personal account, and every family court case has its own circumstances. But his story raises a question that many separated parents will recognise:

⚖️ What happens when having a court order and being able to rely on it feel like two completely different things?

And behind all of the conflict, there is still a child whose childhood continues while the adults try to find a way forward.

💬 Have you ever had an order in place but still struggled to make the arrangements actually happen?

🎥 This is just Part One of Mike’s interview. Follow us as we share more of his story over the coming days - or watch his full interview now in the brand-new episode of That Family Law Guy: Unfiltered on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

06/10/2026

What happens when someone who spends every day in family court starts writing fiction?

For Daniel, the answer was novels that explore the parts of family life, relationships and the justice system that aren’t always comfortable to talk about.

Writing as Patrick M Picave, his stories are fictional - but they venture into very real territory: love, separation, abuse, power, justice, parenthood and what happens when people are pushed beyond their limits.

📚 The Respondent - five women. Five abusers. One pact the court could never imagine.

📚 The Law of Attraction - a very different story about relationships, desire, consequence and the complicated places love can take us.

And there’s plenty more to come.

In this clip, Daniel talks about the novels, why he writes them and the world he’s building as Patrick M Picave.

The Respondent and Law of Attraction are AVAILABLE ON AMAZON NOW.

Would you read fiction written by ?

06/10/2026

⚖️ DO JUDGES ALWAYS GET IT RIGHT?

Judges make decisions that can have an enormous impact on families.

Where children live. How much time they spend with each parent. What happens next when two people simply cannot agree.

And with that responsibility comes something we don't always talk about:

Judges are human too.

In this video, shares his thoughts on judges, the difficult job they are asked to do and the reality of making hugely important decisions based on the evidence and information put before them.

You might disagree with a decision. You might feel frustrated, unheard or convinced that the court has got something wrong.

But understanding how and why decisions are made is an important part of navigating family court.

⚖️ A judge can only decide the case that's actually presented to them - which is why preparation, relevant evidence and presenting your position clearly matter so much.

💬 What has your experience of judges in the family court been like? Did you feel listened to and understood?

As always, please keep the discussion respectful and don't share confidential details about proceedings or identify any children.

🎙️ For more straight-talking family law discussion, watch That Family Law Guy: Unfiltered with on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

06/10/2026

📣 HAVE YOU RECENTLY BEEN THROUGH THE CHILD-FOCUSED COURT PATHWAY? WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU.

The Child-Focused Court Pathway is intended to put children at the heart of family court proceedings.

But what does it actually feel like for the families going through it?

wants to hear from parents who have recent, first-hand experience of the pathway.

Did you feel your child's voice was genuinely heard?
Did the process feel more child-focused?
Were your concerns properly listened to?
Did it make proceedings quicker or clearer - or did you encounter problems you weren't expecting?

And, most importantly, did the reality match what the pathway is supposed to achieve?

⚖️ We want to hear the good, the bad and everything in between. This isn't about pushing a particular view - it's about understanding what families are actually experiencing on the ground.

💬 If you've recently been through the Child-Focused Court Pathway, please share your experience in the comments or message us privately if you'd prefer (or email [email protected]).

Please don't identify children or share confidential details from proceedings. We're interested in your experience of the process itself.

📢 And please share this post. The more families we hear from, the better picture we can build of how the new approach is working in practice.

05/10/2026

💔 “DIVORCE TOOK SOMETHING FROM ME THAT I CAN NEVER GET BACK.”

Some losses can be rebuilt after a relationship ends.

Money can be earned again. A new home can be found. A new life can begin.

But time? You don’t get that back.

In the third and final part of Mike’s interview on That Family Law Guy: Unfiltered, he reflects on what his divorce and the years that followed have cost him - particularly the time and experiences with his children that he feels he has lost forever.

And that’s what makes prolonged family conflict so devastating.

While adults are dealing with solicitors, applications, hearings and disputes, children are growing up.
Birthdays happen. Christmases pass. Ordinary Tuesdays come and go.

And sometimes it’s those completely ordinary moments that a parent misses the most.

⏳ You can rebuild a life after divorce. But you cannot go back and relive your child’s childhood.

Mike’s story is his personal experience, but it raises a question worth thinking about for every separating family:

💬 When conflict takes over, are we thinking enough about the time that can never be given back?

🎙️ Watch the third and final part of Mike’s interview with in the latest episode of That Family Law Guy: Unfiltered, available now on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

05/10/2026

💜 DOMESTIC ABUSE DOESN’T ALWAYS LOOK LIKE DOMESTIC ABUSE.

Sometimes there are no bruises.
No smashed doors. No police at the house. No single moment you can point to and say, “That was when it started.”

Sometimes it is gradual.

The questioning. The monitoring. The criticism. The isolation. The control.

Behaviours that, taken individually, might be explained away - but together can create a pattern that leaves someone changing how they behave simply to avoid the consequences.

For Week Two of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, continues the conversation around the realities of domestic abuse and why recognising the signs matters.

💜 Abuse doesn't have to be physical to be real.

And you don't have to wait for a relationship to become physically violent before taking controlling, frightening or intimidating behaviour seriously.

Throughout October, we'll continue using our platform to talk openly about domestic abuse - including the experiences that can be much harder to see from the outside.

💬 What signs of domestic abuse do you think society still fails to recognise?

Please keep the conversation respectful, particularly towards anyone choosing to share their lived experience.

05/10/2026

💔 MONOLOGUE MONDAY: BEFORE THEY WERE “THE RESPONDENT”… THEY WERE SOMEONE YOU LOVED.

spends much of his working life dealing with the leftovers of broken love affairs.

The anger. The allegations. The court applications. The statements. The battles over children.

But behind almost every case is something that's incredibly easy to forget:
Most of these parents once loved each other.

There was a time when the person now referred to as “the Applicant” or “the Respondent” wasn't a name on the other side of a court case.

They were joy.
They were hope.
They were the person you chose. The person you imagined a future with. And, for many, the person you chose to create a family with.

Relationships can end painfully. Sometimes there are very serious reasons why they must end.
But the children left standing amongst the wreckage still need warmth.

They need permission to love.

They need to know that enjoying time with Mum isn't a betrayal of Dad - and loving Dad isn't an act of disloyalty towards Mum.

❤️ The love affair may be over. Your child's need to feel loved by their family isn't.

This Monologue Monday, asks whether, amongst all the hurt of separation, we can remember something of the people we were before we became opposing parties.

Not necessarily for each other.

For the children who came from a time when there was still love.

💬 Do we lose sight of that too easily when relationships break down?

🎙️ For more honest conversations about family, separation and the human stories behind family court, watch That Family Law Guy: Unfiltered on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

04/10/2026

🚨 PARENTAL ALIENATION ISN’T A GAME - AND YOUR CHILD SHOULDN’T BE CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE.

When a relationship ends badly, emotions can run incredibly high.

But whatever has happened between two adults, deliberately damaging a child’s relationship with a safe and loving parent can have consequences far beyond the immediate conflict.

In this video, talks about parental alienation and why children should never become a weapon in a battle between their parents.

They shouldn't be asked to choose sides.
They shouldn't feel guilty for loving Mum or Dad.
And they shouldn't carry adult anger that was never theirs to carry.

There is also an important distinction: protecting a child where there are genuine safeguarding concerns is not the same thing as deliberately undermining a safe parental relationship. Every situation needs to be considered on its individual facts.

💔 Your relationship with each other may have ended. Your child's relationship with their parents is a different relationship entirely.

When it is safe for them to do so, children deserve the freedom to love both parents without feeling that loving one means betraying the other.

💬 What do you think prolonged parental conflict does to a child caught in the middle?

🎙️ For more straight-talking conversations about separation, children and family court, watch That Family Law Guy: Unfiltered on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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