Case Summaries

Application for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal, with appeal to follow, against findings of fact by an intervener in care proceedings, TW. Permission granted and appeal allowed.

A magistrates’ court is entitled to take account of child maintenance paid by a method other than that specified by the Child Support Agency when making a liability order under section 33 of the Child Support Act 1991.

Appeal by grandparents against a refusal to make an order for costs in their favour in care proceedings, in which the local authority unsuccessfully sought findings against them. Appeal successful.

Application for permission to appeal by father against findings of fact by judge at first instance within wardship proceedings of evidential complexity. Permission granted on certain grounds and appeal allowed in part.

Appeal by Polish father under the Hague Convention against refusal to grant return order on the grounds that it was against his daughter’s interests. Appeal successful.

Appeal by adopters, supported by local authority, of order of Holman J setting aside adoption order and granting mother permission to oppose the making of an adoption order. Appeal allowed.

Grandmother’s appeal of dismissal of her application for post-adoption contact. Appeal unanimously dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

Judge’s telephone conversation with the child’s guardian in the privacy of his room in the course of private law children proceedings was a material procedural irregularity. Appeal allowed, judge’s orders set aside and case returned for a hearing by a different judge.

Appeal and cross appeal against findings of fact within care proceedings. The Court of Appeal allowed the Mother’s cross-appeal, set aside the judge’s finding that the mother and the father should be consigned to a pool of possible perpetrators of injuries sustained by the child in December and substituted a finding that the father was the perpetrator of the injuries.

Consideration of the appropriate order where a local authority sought to place a child pending final hearing where his father lived in Turkey.

Appeal by father in care proceedings against refusal by the judge to set aside findings of fact following recusal by the judge. Appeal allowed.

Following delay in the judgment in a complex child care application, the judge delivered an extempore judgment which after representations by counsel seeking leave to appeal, was supported by a further “supplemental” judgment. The Court of Appeal held that the judgment was deficient and that the judge should have composed a written judgment in this case. Permission to appeal granted and appeal allowed.

Applications in the Court of Appeal relating to a permission to appeal the refusal to continue an injunction concerning the disclosure of confidential information pertaining to the parties’ personal and business relationship. No order made.

An expert specialising in forced marriage and “honour violence” cases was satisfied that A wished to regularise her marriage. Consent order duly approved. The President stressed the importance in such cases, of a suitable expert meeting with the person subject to the proceedings to enable the court to make a realistic assessment, pursuant to section 63A (2)Family Law Act 1996, and emphasised the importance of independent representation.

A US commercial surrogacy agreement case where Hedley J gives reasons for making a Parental Order pursuant to Section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 in favour of the applicants in respect of a child known as L.

Care proceedings: Appeal of a refusal by a Recorder to set aside findings and conclusions of a fact-finding hearing in circumstances where the Recorder had a current professional relationship with the guardian. Appeal allowed.