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Judgments

The list below is of key judgments published this year. Click the folders on the left hand side to browse the archive of judgments now available on the site since we started publishing in 2005.

• A (A Child) (1980 Hague Convention: Set Aside) [2021] EWCA Civ 194
  Judgments (07/03/2021)
  A father successfully appealed a decision to set aside a return order.
• Re O (Judgment: Adequacy of Reasons) [2021] EWCA Civ 149
  Judgments (01/03/2021)
  Appeal against findings that the father sexually abused his daughter. Appeal allowed; case remitted for rehearing.
• Project for the Registration of children as British citizens & Anor [2021]
  Judgments (01/03/2021)
  Appeal and cross appeal concerning the fees charged for children to register as British citizens. Court upheld finding that the Secretary of State had failed in her duty under s.55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 to assess children’s best interests and ensure that these were a primary consideration
• R (Children: Control of Court Documents) [2021] EWCA Civ 162
  Judgments (22/02/2021)
  An appeal in which the court deals with “the Family Court's powers to control the distribution of sensitive material and the principles on which such powers should be exercised.” [11]
• WX v HX (Treatment of Matrimonial and Non-Matrimonial Property) [2021] EWHC 241 (Fam) (10 February 2021)
  Judgments (18/02/2021)
  Application for a financial remedy order in a 33-year marriage, involving the identification of matrimonial and non-matrimonial property.
• G (Abduction Consent discretion) [2021] EWCA Civ 139 (09 February 2021)
  Judgments (18/02/2021)
  The case concerned an appeal against a return order made under the 1980 Hague Convention. The appeal mainly centred on the judge’s exercise of his discretion to make a return order, although the father challenged the findings made on the issue of consent.
• AG v VD 04.02.21 anonymised to publish
  Judgments (17/02/2021)
  Matrimonial finance proceedings with a jurisdictional issue resolved in favour of the English court despite previous financial proceedings in Russia. H lost on his assertion that he had transferred most of his wealth to his son from a previous marriage. But H’s substantial assets from property development businesses were determined to be pre-marital. The matter therefore concluded with an award based on need, not on sharing as sought by W.
• Lancashire CC v G (No 4)(Continuing Unavailability of Regulated Placement) 2021 EWHC 244 (Fam)
  Judgments (17/02/2021)
  This is a sad case seeking to raise the alarm about the drastic shortage of regulated placements capable of meeting the welfare needs of children with complex emotional and behavioural needs. The case concerned G who, in Mr Justice MacDonald’s words, is “a highly troubled and vulnerable young woman with multifaceted emotional and behavioural difficulties and at high risk of serious self-harm or suicide”.
• Derhalli v Derhalli [2021] EWCA Civ 112
  Judgments (15/02/2021)
  A husband’s unsuccessful second appeal in possession proceedings which depended upon the proper interpretation of a Consent Order in financial remedy proceedings.
• TK v. ML [2021] EWFC 8
  Judgments (15/02/2021)
  Mostyn J emphasises the prime criterion of temporal proximity when seeking to establish a causal link for the purposes of relying on residual jurisdiction The preliminary issue before the court was whether it had jurisdiction to hear M’s C100 application pursuant to s.8 CA 1989.
• IU anonymised [2020] EWFC 98
  Judgments (12/02/2021)
  Case Summary coming soon
• A City Council v X, Y and Q (DOLS: Lack of secure placement)[2021] EWHC 123 (Fam)
  Judgments (08/02/2021)
  
• JB (a child) Re (sexual abuse allegations) [2021] EWCA Civ 46
  Judgments (08/02/2021)
  Appeal against findings of sexual abuse on the basis of allegations made by a child for the first time at age nine about incidents that had happened some 4-5 years previously upheld.
• Finch v Baker [2021] EWCA Civ 72
  Judgments (03/02/2021)
  This was a 2nd appeal in a financial provision case. Moylan LJ gave the only substantive judgment. The appeal was dismissed.
• A Local Authority v TA & Others [2021] EWCOP 3
  Judgments (27/01/2021)
  Judgment handed down by Mr Justice Cobb on 22nd January 2021
• Salford CC v W and Ors [2021] EWHC 61 (Fam)
  Judgments (27/01/2021)
  MacDonald J in the High Court, Family Division: (1) dismissed a prohibited steps order application preventing Roman Catholic sacraments for children ages 4-11 in a proposed Special Guardianship setting, and (2) adjourned an application for a declaration on their legal status (for purposes of eventually determining the local authority’s obligation to pay remuneration), pending involvement in the question from both local authorities (Norfolk and Suffolk).
• OX44/2020 [2021] EWHC 91 (Fam)
  Judgments (26/01/2021)
  Applications pursuant to Part 19 FPR 2010 within adoption proceedings to determine whether the local authority is under a duty to notify the Romanian Central Authority of the proceedings and if not, should their assistance be sought to identify the birth father and wider family.
• A Local Authority v JK & Anor [2021] EWHC 33 (Fam)
  Judgments (25/01/2021)
  Application by Local Authority for orders under FPR Part 19 r14.21 and inherent jurisdiction to endorse decision not to disclose a child’s existence to his father and maternal family dismissed. Court critical of delay in applications
• F v M [2021] EWFC 4
  Judgments (22/01/2021)
  Mr Justice Hayden’s detailed judgment, making extensive findings of coercive and controlling behaviour, underlines the need for the court to assess a pattern or series of acts cumulatively.
• Rattan v Kuwad [2021] EWCA Civ 1
  Judgments (18/01/2021)
  A wife’s successful appeal from an order allowing a husband’s appeal against a maintenance pending suit order.
• London Borough of Southwark v A Family [2020] EWHC 3117 (Fam)
  Judgments (08/01/2021)
  
• Crowther v Crowther & Ors [2020] EWHC 3555 (Fam)
  Judgments (07/01/2021)
  Successful application for indemnity costs on preliminary issues in financial remedy proceedings when allegations of fraud and conspiracy were withdrawn and claims discontinued shortly before the trial.
• RE AB (Court of Protection: Police Disclosure) [2019] EWCOP 66
  Judgments (07/01/2021)
  The Court considered an application by a ‘Police Force’ for disclosure of psychological reports prepared in relation to AB who was and is the subject of proceedings in the Court of Protection and who is an immensely vulnerable person.
• Z v University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust & Ors [2020] EWCOP 69
  Judgments (07/01/2021)
  A decision by Mr Justice Cohen in the Court of Protection, which reiterated his previous decision to end life sustaining treatment for RS, an unconscious man in a vegetative state. This application had been brought by RS’s estranged birth family, who argued that RS would wish to be kept alive based on his Catholic faith and who sought to move him to Poland.
• London Borough of Lambeth v L (Unlawful Placement) [2020] EWHC 3383 (Fam)
  Judgments (06/01/2021)
  Authorisation of deprivation of liberty of a 13 year old boy in a placement out of jurisdiction – local authority had delayed significantly in issuing application – reminder that a local authority leaves itself open to liability in damages (sometimes considerable) if a child is placed in circumstances amounting to a deprivation of liberty without first seeking such an order
• M v H ( private law vaccination) [2020] EWFC 93
  Judgments (06/01/2021)
  MacDonald J granted a specific issue order authorising the administration of vaccinations to two children, ages 6 and 4 in accordance with the NHS vaccination schedule. In doing so he considered the role of the court in this area, the application of the principles set out in Re H (A Child: Parental Responsibility: Vaccination) [2020] EWCA Civ 664 in private law disputes, the use of expert evidence and the approach to proportionality under Article 8.