Case Summaries

Judgment of the Court of Appeal concerning a dispute as to whether the appropriate order for an 18 month old boy should be a special guardianship order or an adoption order.

Judgment of the President dismissing 21 divorce petitions, decrees nisi and decrees absolute on the ground that each had been obtained through deceiving the court by the provision of a false address (and in some cases forged signatures).

Judgment of MacDonald J confirming that a High Court judge does have power to set aside a return order made by another High Court judge under the inherent jurisdiction but that the applicant must be able to demonstrate a change of circumstance, or material non-disclosure, relevant to the evaluation of the welfare of the child such as to justify the setting aside of the order as being in the child’s best interests.

Local Authority application for an adoption order in circumstances where the birth mother consented to the adoption, but there were doubts as to her capacity to do so.

Appeal by 16-year-old boy in which the essential question was whether he was being deprived of his liberty within the meaning of and for the purposes of Article 5 of the ECHR.

Decision of the Upper Tribunal allowing a mother’s appeal against the decision of the First Tier Tribunal determining a non-resident father’s liability for child maintenance, remitting the matter for reconsideration at an oral hearing.

Judgment in care proceedings concerning two children from Namibia who were suspected of being victims of human trafficking.

Second appeal by father against the First-Tier Tribunal’s decision which took account of his redundancy when fixing his liability for child support.

Appeal of the decision of a circuit judge not to reopen findings of fact made by magistrates.

Judgment of Cobb J in the Court of Protection regarding an application for a declaration that it was not in the best interests for a patient to continue to receive life sustaining treatment.

Hayden J corrects judicial error in purported revocation of adoption order, where that order was ultra vires.

Application by local authority deemed by Mrs Justice Theis to be under the Family Procedure Rules 2010, Rule 14.21, invoking the Part 19 procedure to seek the Court’s guidance regarding any further steps the local authority should take in relation to a child placed in a foster-to-adopt placement at birth under a s20 agreement.

Appeal as to whether a child should be returned to Italy, her country of habitual residence at the relevant time, following her wrongful abduction from Italy to England by her mother in 2016.

Appeal against refusal to set aside orders for service by email on a Respondent outside the jurisdiction; appeal dismissed on the basis that FPR rule 6.1(b) gives the court the power to make such orders.

Appeal by the Trustees in Bankruptcy against an order postponing the sale of a jointly owned matrimonial home until H’s death, or earlier permanent vacation of the property by H, with a parallel postponement of the order for possession.

Child support appeal demonstrating major errors by the CSA, FTT and Independent Case Examiner with ‘a procedural mess of Gordian knot complexity’.