Case Summaries

Fact-finding of sexual and physical abuse and subsequent welfare decision for long-term specialist foster care for the child.

Wife’s application for a financial remedies order where the quantum of the assets amounted to c. £19 million yet there was virtually nothing at all in the name of the Wife

Successful appeal from the summary dismissal of an application brought by parents to discharge a care order

Judgment deciding the issue of jurisdiction in care proceedings concerning a Romanian national who had been habitually resident in Romania for all of her life until she came to live in the UK in 2013.

Financial orders made in W’s favour under s 16 of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 following a foreign marriage and divorce on the basis of the parties’ substantial connection with this jurisdiction.

Appeal against an order terminating the wife’s substantive spousal maintenance award and imposing an immediate clean break whilst leaving unaltered her obligation to pay part of her eldest daughter’s school fees

Judgment in financial remedy proceedings in which the wife appealed against various orders at first instance and contended that various circumstances amounted to Barder events. Appeal dismissed and civil restraint order imposed.

Judgment in financial remedy proceedings involving a short marriage and c. £6.9M assets, the court considering a ‘clutter’ of ‘doomed’ arguments as to pre-acquired earning capacity, contribution and conduct (including add-backs), and whether it should make a ‘higher order’ if a party will settle for less.

Judgment concerning the extent to which the wishes and feelings of children are relevant when considering whether the criteria for transferring jurisdiction pursuant to Art 15(1) of Brussels IIa are met.

A wife’s claim for financial remedy involving extreme litigation misconduct by the husband.

Moylan J determines a financial remedies application in a case dominated by the wife’s suspicion of the husband’s business dealings.

Judgment within care proceedings concerning (i) whether the court had jurisdiction under Article 8 Brussels IIA; and (ii) whether to accede to a request by the Lithuanian Central Authority for a transfer of jurisdiction under Article 15 Brussels IIA. Held that the court had jurisdiction on the basis that the children were habitually resident in England and Wales at the time proceedings were issued, and that the criteria warranting a transfer under Article 15 BIIA were not met. Accordingly the request by the Lithuanian Central Authority was refused.

Dismissal by the Court of Appeal of linked applications by a father in private law children proceedings: (i) permission to appeal a fact-finding judgment and subsequent welfare decision; and (ii) an appeal against a non-molestation injunction prohibiting the father from recording his meetings/handovers with the mother.

Appeal against finding that a cohabitee was entitled to 85% of the beneficial interest in a property where there was no express declaration of trust. Appeal dismissed.

Application by the local authority to authorise the deprivation of liberty of a child in its care, who had been placed in a residential children’s home.

Important decision of the Court of Appeal concerning adoption cases with a foreign element, the possibility of ‘limping’ adoptions, and future good practice in relation to section 20 Children Act 1989: misuse and abuse of s.20 will ‘no longer be tolerated’ and ‘it must stop’.