Case Summaries

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.

Judgment of Cobb J considering whether the supervision arrangements for a young person placed in a residential placement amount to “complete supervision and control” when compared with the typical regime that would be in place for a child of the same age, station, familial background and relative maturity who is free from disability.

Judgment of Francis J addressing the circumstances in which damages recovered pursuant to HRA proceedings are subject to the Legal Aid Agency statutory charge in respect of the costs of those care proceedings. Appended to the Judgment, with the agreement of all parties, is a document entitled "Position of the Legal Aid Agency a to the application of the statutory charge in relation to care costs and Human Rights Act applications" which should be read in the context of all HRA claims where a similar costs issue arises.

Successful appeal to the Court of Appeal against an order made at the first directions hearing summarily dismissing a mother’s application under the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention.

Judgment of Keehan J in which following a surrogacy arrangement His Lordship was forced to construct a set of orders to secure the welfare of the children which fell very far short of the transformative effect of a parental order.

Unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court allowing the appeal and making a declaration that sections 1 and 3 of the Civil Partership Act 2004 (to the extent that they preclude a different sex couple from entering into a civil partnership) are incompatible with article 14 of ECHR taken in conjunction with article 8 of the Convention.

Applications for a reporting restrictions order precluding publication of information relating to financial remedy proceedings.

Long judgment of Baker J allowing a special contributions argument and an argument as to the latent value of a company at the date of the marriage so as to justify a departure from equal sharing of the assets in the husband’s favour. The judgment also considers the law on foreign pre-marital separation of property agreements and the approach to distinguishing between non-matrimonial and matrimonial property.

Court of Appeal judgment overturning a judgment which had found that a wife had acquired a domicile of choice in England