Case Summaries

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’.

Judgment of MacDonald J in care proceedings in which he considers the issues of compliance with the "Guidelines for Judges Meeting Children who are Subject to Family Proceedings" [2010] 2 FLR 1872 and with compliance with case management directions.

Decision of the President prohibiting the publication of what was intended to be a guidance judgment by a circuit judge concerning the use of covert recordings in private law proceedings. The President makes preliminary observations about the complexity of this increasingly significant issue and invites the Family Justice Council to consider the question.

A wife’s successful appeal against a financial remedies order which had provided her and the children with a time-limited occupational interest in properties notwithstanding that there were capital funds available to meet housing needs.

Appeal against the discharge of a reporting restriction order in proceedings for financial provision under Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, Part III, and the Children Act 1989.

Judgment of Munby P in which the President highlights the importance of obtaining a court order where administrative errors invalidate written consent to legal parenthood under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.

Claim for a declaration that rights under the ECHR had been breached and for damages was denied as the court was not empowered to grant the declaration and the damages claim must be considered by a higher court.

Judgment of Baker J in which he made a ‘highly unusual’ request for transfer of a case under Article 15 of Brussels IIA that had concluded at first instance and was before the appeal court in another Member State.

Judgment of Baker J in a successful appeal in private law children proceedings between two unrepresented parents