Case Summaries

Application by maternal grandmother of X prior to a fact-finding hearing for her 17-year son, who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, to give oral evidence. Application refused. The balancing exercise set out in Re W [2010] UKSC 12 applied.

Application by mother for a residence order in respect of the parties’ daughter and for permission to relocate her from UK to Australia. Applications granted. Payne v Payne (2001) and K v K (2011) considered.

Father’s appeal against the making of an interim care order in care proceedings concerning a 14-month old child, H.

Judgment of Mr David Salter sitting as a deputy judge of the Family Division of the High Court in a financial remedies case where the parties had been married for 15 years and involving issues of pre-marital wealth, the sharing principle, reattribution of assets rather than setting aside earlier dispositions and containing an important reminder of the correct method for valuing pensions in payment.

Decision of Tugendhat J sitting in the Queen’s Bench Division concerning enforcement of two German judgments against a serving soldier made in divorce proceedings in Germany in 2003.

Court of Appeal. Mother’s appeal against findings in relation to the deaths of two children where there had been contradictory medical evidence. Appeal dismissed.

Application by the husband in financial remedy proceedings for the return of his passport which had been impounded by the court pursuant to earlier orders. Application dismissed.

Judgment on appeal from a final order in ancillary relief proceedings.

Application for parental order under s 54 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 in respect of twins conceived as a result of a surrogacy agreement between the Israeli applicants and a clinic in India. Issues as to domicile.

Application under the 1980 Hague Convention for return of a child to Spain in which the central issue was whether the child, P, was habitually resident in Spain.

Judgment of the President, sitting in the Court of Protection, concerning the question of the approach to be applied in an application for DNA testing of an adult lacking capacity to establish paternity of a third party.

Judgment of Mostyn J dealing with the procedure to be used when applying for permission to appeal a financial consent order and offering guidance on the court’s powers when determining such an application.

Application for a declaration under Family Law Act 1986 section 55(1)(c) that a second marriage ceremony in the UK, following a ceremony in the United States, was of no legal effect. Declaration granted.

High Court proceedings in which father sought to restrict the extent to which mother involved the child in the practice of her religion as a Jehovah’s Witness. Principles to be applied in cases relating to religious upbringing.

Proceedings relating to a child (A) retained in Poland by his mother. Father applied under Brussels II Revised seeking orders (a) making A a ward of court; (b) requiring that A be returned to this jurisdiction; and (c) in the alternative seeking contact. Held that the English court retained jurisdiction. Interim contact order made.

Application in the Court of Protection by the sister of an 68-year old woman to move her to a new nursing home and to remove restrictions on her contact. Application unsuccessful.