An appeal by a Father from an aspect of a FGMPO which prohibits the parents from removing the child from the jurisdiction of England and Wales until she is 16 years of age. Appeal allowed and case remitted for full hearing. The Court of Appeal also made a number of important observations concerning FGMPO cases.
Appeal against an order which capitalised spousal maintenance and increased child maintenance.
Successful Local Authority appeal from a High Court order dismissing its application for care orders in respect of five children aged between 1 and 16 years. The Court of Appeal held that the use of percentages and or ‘aggregation’ is not the proper approach to the judicial function in respect of the “simple application of the balance of probabilities”.
Supreme Court judgment in defended divorce case in which the question of the correct inquiry to make when applying s.1(2)(b) MCA 1973 was considered.
An appeal in which the issue was whether the respondent mother should be prohibited from removing D temporarily for a holiday in Japan, her country of origin.
Judgment of Mrs Justice Knowles dealing with the issue of police disclosure in relation to a fact finding hearing in which Her Ladyship had already given judgment. That hearing had been beset by problems arising from late disclosure by the police. This judgment sets out important suggestions about the efficient process of disclosure between the criminal and family jurisdictions.
Unsuccessful appeal against an order of Cohen J imposing a sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment for contempt of court in a case involving three children who had been made wards of court where the children had not been returned to England in breach of High Court orders
Local authority’s successful application for permission to withdraw care proceedings and successful defence of an application for a costs order against the authority.
Supreme Court judgment concluding that the judge at first instance had been entitled to decline to vary the periodical payments order so as to require the husband to pay all of the wife’s rental costs.
Appeal concerning the limits of a local authority’s powers and duties to provide accommodation for children in need under s.20 of the Children Act 1989. The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the appeal. It held that the appellants did not object or unequivocally request the immediate return of the children, so there had been a lawful basis for the children’s continued accommodation under s.20 of the Children Act 1989
The Court of Appeal had to decide whether under BIIa Article 19, the Family Court was correct to assert jurisdiction over two children aged 6 and 4 and order their return from Poland. The Court of Appeal considered the law on applications to set aside orders, jurisdiction in matters of parental responsibility and the taking of evidence from EU Member States. In allowing the Mother’s appeal the Court emphasised that the purpose of the Brussels regulations is to foster practical comity between jurisdictions for the benefit of families. This calls for an acceptance of outcomes that are, on occasion, surprising or unpalatable.
Court of Appeal judgment concerning the construction of effective service of divorce proceedings under Article 16 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 (“BIIa”).
Application by the Child and Family Agency to transfer care proceedings from Ireland to the family court in England and Wales.
Decision of the High Court (Chancery Division) on appeal in TLATA proceedings upholding a direction made permitting one beneficial owner of a property to buy out his siblings’ (the other beneficial owners’) interests in the property as opposed to a sale on the open market, with reference to the Court of Appeal’s decision in Bagum v Hafiz [2016] Ch 241.
Father’s application for the summary return of two children to the Ivory Coast, a non-Hague Convention state, refused by the High Court
Mother’s successful appeal from a refusal of her application for an adjournment for six months and the making of a final care and placement order in relation to her daughter L, who was just 7 months old at the time of the original hearing. The mother’s case was that she was making good progress in addressing her alcoholism and that there was supporting medical evidence to this effect.
