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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 City Council v LS & Ors (Secure Accommodation Inherent Jurisdiction) [2019] EWHC 1384 (Fam)
  Judgments (09/06/2019)
  Application for a 17 year old at risk from gang violence to be placed into secure accommodation against his mother's wishes.
• Dorset Council v E (Article 15 BIIR) (Rev 1) [2019] EWFC 35
  Judgments (08/06/2019)
  A request by the Slovakian Central Authority (SCA) to transfer proceedings to the Slovakian courts pursuant to Article 15 of Brussels II Revised Regulation (BIIR) was refused by His Honour Judge Dancey sitting as a section 9 judge, primarily on the basis of the children being settled in their foster placement in England, the need for a fact-finding and police investigation here, and the ability through Member State cooperation to undertake assessments of the wider family in Slovakia.
• TY v HY (Return Order) [2019] EWHC 1310 (Fam)
  Judgments (05/06/2019)
  Application for the return of a child to Israel under the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985.
• A Clinical Commissioning Group v P (Withdrawal of CANH) [2019] EWCOP 18
  Judgments (04/06/2019)
  Where P’s views prior to incapacitation can be ascertained with sufficient certainty, they should generally prevail over the very strong presumption in favour of preserving life.
• J-S Children [2019] EWCA Civ 894
  Judgments (03/06/2019)
  A father’s (1) application for permission to appeal the continuation of interim care orders and (2) appeal concerning the power to order electronic tagging. Application and appeal dismissed. Guidance on ‘academic appeals’ and permission to appeal decisions.
• R (A Child) [2019] EWCA Civ 895
  Judgments (02/06/2019)
  Appeal against a finding that a grandmother was in the pool of possible perpetrators of an injury to a young child. Appeal allowed on the basis that the judge’s finding went further than the evidence allowed. Court of Appeal clarifies the test for permission to appeal.
• Crowther v Crowther [2017] EWCA Civ 2698
  Judgments (02/06/2019)
  The Court of Appeal allows the Husband’s appeal following financial remedy proceedings and remits the case for a re-hearing. The questioning of the Husband by the judge went beyond assisting a litigant in person wife to present her case. The process at Final Hearing was therefore inadvertently unfair because the husband had no advance warning of the point then raised and so was unable to present his own case in order to meet it.
• I (Children) [2019] EWCA Civ 898
  Judgments (02/06/2019)
  Appeal in care proceedings, allowed by consent. Reference made and guidance given in relation to ‘clarification’ of judgments and fresh evidence.
• Re N (children) [2019] EWCA Civ 903
  Judgments (31/05/2019)
  Appeal by a father against the dismissal of his application to vary a s.91(14) order.
• S (A Child) [2017] EWCA Civ 2695
  Judgments (28/05/2019)
  An appeal dealing with the issue of designation of a Local Authority in the rare cases in which the child, having been removed from the parents at birth, has no ordinary residence either in its own right, or by way of deemed ordinary residence by reference to his or her primary carer.
• C Children (RCJ Civil Appeals) [2017] EWCA Civ 2696
  Judgments (23/05/2019)
  Appeal by a local authority in relation to an application for permission to refuse contact.
• Purvis v Purvis [2019] EWFC 31
  Judgments (19/05/2019)
  Mostyn J’s judgment on an application under FPR 24.12 for a letter of request to be issued to the US authorities for examination, unusually, of the respondent to financial remedy proceedings.
• A Local Authority v A Mother & Ors [2019] EWCA Civ 799
  Judgments (19/05/2019)
  Appeal by a local authority against a finding in care proceedings regarding injuries suffered by a baby.
• TB v KB and LH (Capacity to Conduct Proceedings) [2019] EWCOP 14
  Judgments (15/05/2019)
  Court of Protection case on capacity to conduct proceedings
• MB v TB (Art 13 Alleged Risk of Oppressive Litigation) [2019] EWHC 1019 (Fam)
  Judgments (15/05/2019)
  In Hague Convention proceedings Mr Justice MacDonald ordered the summary return of a child to the State of Israel, rejecting the mother’s “grave harm” defence which relied on her assertions both as to the alienation of the child from her by the father and on what she described as his “relentless and oppressive” use of the legal system in Israel.
• Gloucester County Council v JD & Others [2019] EWHC 1101 (Fam)
  Judgments (15/05/2019)
  Judgment of Williams J in care proceedings relating to two children where a Child Arrangements (“live with”) Order was made in favour of the father and his partner who live in Portugal.
• Giusti v Ferragamo [2019] EWCA Civ 691
  Judgments (30/04/2019)
  This is an appeal against a decision of Francis J to stay the wife’s English divorce petition and dismiss her application for a single joint expert to be instructed to provide an opinion on Italian law.
• W-L (A Child: RCJ-Civil Appeals) [2017] EWCA Civ 2690
  Judgments (03/05/2019)
  Case summary coming soon
• Lachaux v Lachaux [2019] EWCA Civ 738
  Judgments (11/05/2019)
  An appeal against the recognition of a divorce in Dubai and against the dismissal of child arrangements order.
• Re: T-S (Children) [2019] EWCA Civ 742
  Judgments (11/05/2019)
  An appeal concerning the approach of a court to a potential impasse with a local authority on an important element of the care plan. In the instant case, an impasse had not been reached. The appeal was allowed, though none of the local authority’s grounds were accepted.
• R (Children) [2018] EWCA Civ 3050
  Judgments (03/05/2019)
  Appeal against an order which moved two children from the care of a friend of the mother to foster care.
• B (children) [2018] EWCA Civ 3049
  Judgments (03/05/2019)
  This was an appeal in relation to a decision made by His Honour Judge Glenn Brasse that one of the children in care proceedings should be separately represented.
• Pierburg v Pierburg [2019] EWFC 24 (11 April 2019)
  Judgments (08/05/2019)
  Unsuccessful application for a divorce petition to be heard in this jurisdiction
• Re H (Abduction:Retention in Non-Contracting State) [2019] EWCA Civ 672
  Judgments (27/04/2019)
  This was an appeal from a return order made in Hague Convention proceedings by Mostyn J.
• Vasilyeva v Shemyakin [2019] EWHC 932 (Fam) (16 April 2019)
  Judgments (29/04/2019)
  This case involved an application for leave under s.13 Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 to apply for the leave of the court to apply for financial relief in England and Wales. The test for the grant of leave is whether there is “substantial ground” for the making of an application.
• H-L (Children - Summary Dismissal of Care Proceedings) [2019] EWCA Civ 704
  Judgments (28/04/2019)
  This was a successful appeal by the Local Authority against the decision of HHJ Wicks dismissing care proceedings at an interim procedural stage, against opposition from the Local Authority and Children’s Guardian. The Court of Appeal determined that the Judge had erred in finding that threshold was not crossed and that he should not have summarily dismissed the proceedings [46].
• G-L-T (Children) [2019] EWCA Civ 717
  Judgments (28/04/2019)
  Lady Justice King grants an appeal against a finding made by HHJ Farquhar within care proceedings that a father had ‘failed to protect’ his son.
• RP (Appeal costs) [2019] EWCA Civ 680 (16 April 2019)
  Judgments (27/04/2019)
  An appellant attempted to recover litigation costs against the LA and Cafcass and failed.
• Thum v Thum [2019] EWFC 25
  Judgments (27/04/2019)
  Mostyn J refused an application by a husband to revoke a disclosure order made during financial remedy proceedings
• Guest v Guest & Guest [2019] EWHC 869 (Ch)
  Judgments (25/04/2019)
  A claim based on proprietary estoppel for a share in a family business where a son worked for 30 years at a reduced wage.
• Baron & Others (4 Defective Divorces) [2019] EWFC 26
  Judgments (25/04/2019)
  Sir James Munby upholds the decision of Sir Stephen Brown P in Butler v. Butler, The Queen’s Proctor Intervening [1990] 1 FLR 114 as correct and properly to be followed; where a divorce petition has been issued in breach of section 3(1) MCA 1973, then the petition is null and void and the court has no jurisdiction to entertain it. This defect is not curable by amending the original petition. The court has no power to grant discretionary relief in such circumstances.
• Grandison v Joseph [2019] EWHC 977 (Fam)
  Judgments (18/04/2019)
  A husband appeals against an order forcing him to transfer properties into his sole name after he had reneged on an agreement with his wife to do so. Appeal dismissed.
• Ipekci v McConnell [2019] EWFC 19
  Judgments (13/04/2019)
  Judgment of Mr Justice Mostyn refusing to give effect to a prenuptial agreement in circumstances where inter alia it failed to meet the Husband’s needs and there had been no independent legal advice. The court also underlines the importance of compliance with FPR PD27A and the Efficiency Statement of 1 February 2016
• H v T (Judicial Change of Mind) [2018] EWHC 3962 (Fam)-1
  Judgments (11/04/2019)
  Appeal heard by MacDonald J of an order following financial remedy proceedings. The Husband had been given permission to appeal on his first ground of appeal only, essentially that the Judge at first instance had failed to make adequate capital provision for the Husband.
• A (Children) [2019] EWCA Civ 609
  Judgments (11/04/2019)
  A father’s appeal against an order dismissing his application for leave to oppose the making of adoption orders under section 47(5) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002. The maternal grandfather’s proposal to now care for the children, having been aware of the proceedings, did not constitute a sufficient change in circumstances. Appeal dismissed.
• PR v JES v TER (Appeal: Sexual Abuse, Fact Finding) [2019] EWHC 791 (Fam)
  Judgments (08/04/2019)
  This was an appeal against findings made within private law proceedings
• C (Declaration of Parentage Written Consent), Re [2019] EWHC 648 (Fam) (12 February 2019)
  Judgments (08/04/2019)
  Application for a Declaration of Parentage following administrative errors by the fertility clinic
• B (Children) [2019] EWCA Civ 575
  Judgments (04/04/2019)
  Case summary coming soon
• G (Children: Intractable Dispute) [2019 ]EWCA Civ 548
  Judgments (04/04/2019)
  This is the second judgment from the Court of Appeal in a long running private law Children Act dispute.
• CM v CM [2019] EWFC 16
  Judgments (01/04/2019)
  Application to determine the wording of a letter of instruction to an expert in financial remedy proceedings. Mr Justice Moor commends the use of arbitration to decide such issues.
• M v P [2019] EWFC 14 (22 March 2019)
  Judgments (01/04/2019)
  Judgment of Sir James Munby (Sitting as a Judge of the High Court) in a case concerning an application by the Queen’s Proctor to set aside a decree nisi of divorce granted in the Willesden County Court in 2013.
• Birmingham City Council v MM and FF [2018] EWFC 94
  Judgments (28/03/2019)
  Judgment of Keehan J giving reasons for granting a local authority permission to withdraw care proceedings.
• AJ v DM [2019] EWHC 702 (Fam)
  Judgments (28/03/2019)
  Judgment of Cohen J concerning jurisdiction and locus for financial remedy proceedings
• CS v SBH & Ors [2019] EWHC 634 (Fam)
  Judgments (25/03/2019)
  Appeal against an order dismissing the mother’s application for a variation of an order that the child should live with the father.
• Wodehouse v Wodehouse [2018] EWCA Civ 3009
  Judgments (25/03/2019)
  The Court of Appeal discharges a lump sum order made against a third party trust in the context of financial remedy proceedings.
• Takhar v Gracefield Developments Limited and others [2019] UKSC 13
  Judgments (21/03/2019)
  Appeal considering whether when it is alleged that a judgment was obtained by fraud, that judgment may only be set aside where the applicant can demonstrate that the alleged fraud could not have been uncovered with reasonable diligence in advance of the obtaining of the judgment.
• Re W (Children) (Abduction: Implementatioon of Return Order) [2019] EWHC 357 (Fam)
  Judgments (20/03/2019)
  Application before Mrs Justice Knowles for directions to implement a return order in child abduction proceedings, the outcome turning on construction of the order as amended by the Court of Appeal.
• Re: ABCDEF (Fact Finding: Honour Based Violence) [2019] EWHC 406 (Fam)
  Judgments (20/03/2019)
  Judgment of Keehan J (1) dismissing allegations of honour-based violence, (2) finding that the mother had wrongly and maliciously sought to exclude the father from the child’s life, and (3) making a non-party costs order against an expert reporter who had serially failed to comply with court directions.
• B (A Child: Post-Adoption Contact) [2019] EWCA Civ 29 (30 January 2019)
  Judgments (18/03/2019)
  Appeal heard by the President of the Family Division, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Coulson which concerns the issue of post-adoption contact.
• M v F (Appeal: Fact Finding) [2019] EWHC 572 (Fam) (12 March 2019)
  Judgments (18/03/2019)
  Mother’s appeal on grounds relating to issues of fairness and public policy, the Findings and the application of the law in respect of a fact finding judgment.
• K (A Child: Stranding: Forum Conveniens: Anti-Suit Injunction) [2019] EWHC 466 (Fam)
  Judgments (15/03/2019)
  Application for the summary return of a child from India: Mr Justice Williams considered whether English proceedings concerning the welfare of a child should be stayed in favour of those taking place in India; consideration of whether an anti-suit injunction should be made against the father pursing those Indian proceedings.
• Re A [2019] EWHC 612 (Fam)
  Judgments (15/03/2019)
  Appeal by mother against an order stopping all direct contact to her daughter
• S (A Child - Hague Convention 1980 - Return To Third State) [2019] EWCA Civ 352
  Judgments (14/03/2019)
  Successful appeal to the Court of Appeal against an order that the child be returned to Hungary, the Court of Appeal considering that there had not been proper consideration of the efficacy of the safety measures purportedly put in place following undertakings given by the father and despite Hungary not being the state of the child’s habitual residence.
• M (Female Genital Mutilation Protection Order - No Order on Application), Re [2019] EWHC 527 (Fam)
  Judgments (14/03/2019)
  Judgment of Knowles J considering whether a FGMPO made without notice to the parents should continue until M is 18 or older.
• Q & V (1980 Hague Convention and Inherent Jurisdiction Summary Return) [2019] EWHC 490 (Fam) (06 February 2019)
  Judgments (11/03/2019)
  Application for the return of Q, aged 17 to Poland under the inherent jurisdiction and for the return of V aged 12 to Poland pursuant to the 1980 Hague Convention
• Q (Child - Interim Care Order - Jurisdiction), Re [2019] EWHC 512 (Fam)
  Judgments (07/03/2019)
  Judgment of Knowles J concerning an issue of jurisdiction, namely whether an interim care order can subsist after the subject child reaches their seventeenth birthday.
• Re H (Care and Adoption - Assessment of wider family) [2019] EWFC 10
  Judgments (06/03/2019)
  Judgment of Cobb J considering whether a local authority is required, by statute or otherwise, to notify wider family members of the existence of the subject child, and/or assess them, when they are not proposed by parents as potential alternative carers, and where the parents (or either of them) specifically do not wish the wider family to be involved.
• G-E (Children : Hague Convention 1980: Repudiatory Retention and Habitual Residence) [2019] EWCA Civ 283 (01 March 2019)
  Judgments (06/03/2019)
  Appeal by Father to the Court of Appeal against the dismissal of his application under the Hague Child Abduction Convention 1980. (The judge had found that by the date of the wrongful retention of the children by the mother they were habitually resident in England and Wales.)
• F v M (Temporary Leave to Remove: Alleged Risk of Onward Abduction to Non-Hague Country)
  Judgments (05/03/2019)
  F’s application to temporarily remove the children to a Hague Convention country, in circumstances where M alleges risk of onward abduction to non-Hague country.
• Y and E (Children) (Sexual Abuse Allegations), Re [2019] EWCA Civ 206
  Judgments (28/02/2019)
  Unsuccessful appeal against findings made in care proceedings that a father had abused his daughter. Detailed analysis of shortcomings alleged on appeal in relation to ABE procedure.
• Button v Salama & Anor [2019] EWHC 363 (Fam)
  Judgments (28/02/2019)
  Mr Justice Mostyn gives a judgment formally asking the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to use “all available diplomatic measures” to help locate a British child, Elsa Salama, who has been missing in Egypt since 2011.
• Cowan v Foreman & Ors [2019] EWHC 349 (Fam)
  Judgments (28/02/2019)
  Judgment of Mr Justice Mostyn considering an application under section 4 of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 for permission to make a substantive application under the Act against the estate of the Claimant’s deceased husband.
• Re P & N (Section 91(14):Application for Permission to Apply: Appeal) [2019] EWHC 421 (Fam)
  Judgments (27/02/2019)
  Successful appeal in private children law case where application by F subject to a s.91(14) order for permission to apply for s.8 order was granted without hearing from M. Correct test and procedure for such applications considered.
• Re B (Capacity- Social Media-Care and Contact) [2019] EWCOP 3
  Judgments (22/02/2019)
  Judgment of Cobb J setting out his conclusions in relation to a range of capacity questions on issues relevant to the life of Miss B, a woman with learning disabilities - including inter alia, use of the internet and communication by social media.
• Re A (Capacity Social Media and Internet Use- Best Interests) [2019] EWCOP 2
  Judgments (22/02/2019)
  Judgment of Cobb J following a hearing in which His Lordship had been invited to make final capacity declarations under section 15 Mental Capacity Act 2005, and best interests decisions, in relation to a young man, A.
• K (Children), Re [2019] EWCA Civ 184
  Judgments (21/02/2019)
  The central issue of the appeal was whether the first instance judge was wrong to make a finding that the appellant father had sexually abused his 6-year-old daughter. The father contended that the evidence was inadequate to support the judge’s findings.
• R ( A Child - Appeal - Termination of Contact) [2019] EWHC 132 (Fam)
  Judgments (20/02/2019)
  Appeal against the decision that R should have no direct contact with the father, an order as to indirect contact and an order under section 91(14) Children Act 1989.
• L-W Children [2019] EWCA Civ 159
  Judgments (20/02/2019)
  Court of Appeal judgment allowing the mother’s appeal to overturn a finding of failure to protect
• G (Children: Fair Hearing), Re [2019] EWCA Civ 126 (07 February 2019)
  Judgments (18/02/2019)
  Procedural appeal against interim care orders by a mother who stated that she was subjected to improper judicial pressure that led to the orders being granted without opposition on her part. Appeal allowed.
• Re E (Abduction Article 13B Deferred Return Order)
  Judgments (13/02/2019)
  Father’s application for an order requiring the return of his daughter to Spain, pursuant to the Hague Convention.
• X (Wardship - Foreign Proceedings - Child's Evidence) [2019] EWHC 91 (Fam)
  Judgments (13/02/2019)
  Application for X, a ward of the court, to travel to India to answer a witness summons issued by the Indian Criminal Court to give evidence in his mother’s criminal trial in India in which she was charged with the murder of X’s father.
• L v M (Rev 1) [2019] EWHC 219 (Fam)
  Judgments (13/02/2019)
  Application by Father, pursuant to the jurisdiction of the High Court, for the return of twins aged 18 months (both of whom were wards of court) to the jurisdiction of England and Wales.
• A v B and C (by her Children’s Guardian) [2018] EWHC 3834 (Fam)
  Judgments (06/02/2019)
  Judgment of Keehan J making a child arrangements order that C, a 16 year old girl, should live with her father but spend time with her aunt on no less than three occasions per week and, pursuant to s.12(2)(a) of the Children Act 1989, granting parental responsibility to the aunt.
• A (Children) Re [2019] EWCA Civ 74
  Judgments (06/02/2019)
  Successful appeal of a fact-finding judgment in private law proceedings.
• Re E (Scottish Adopters English Adoption Proceedings) [2019] EWFC 9
  Judgments (06/02/2019)
  Judgment of Cobb J concluding that the adoption application in respect of a child placed for adoption in Scotland with Scottish adopters could be determined in the Family Court of England & Wales.
• Lemmens v Barbara Brouwers (Ex Lemmens) [2018] EWCA Civ 2963
  Judgments (30/01/2019)
  Appeal against a costs order made at the conclusion of the hearing determining an application for a variation of periodical payments.
• Daga v Bangur [2018] EWFC 91
  Judgments (30/01/2019)
  Financial remedy judgment in which the husband failed in his application for a lump sum to meet needs and which serves as a cautionary tale when pursuing a claim against a discretionary trust.
• BC v BG [2019] EWFC 7
  Judgments (29/01/2019)
  Judgment in respect of a wife’s application for an order that an arbitral award should not be made an order of the court and that the dispute be remitted to the Family Court for reconsideration or back to the arbitrator.
• Northamptonshire County Council v M and N [2018] EWFC 82
  Judgments (23/01/2019)
  Judgment of Keehan J, who being satisfied that the mother would fabricate and/or exaggerate symptoms in her son and present him for repeated and frequent appointments for examinations by healthcare professionals and would start to induce symptoms in N, made a Special Guardianship order in favour of the maternal grandparents.
• H, Re [2018] EWHC 3761 (Fam)
  Judgments (23/01/2019)
  Mostyn J dismisses committal application as a result of ‘fatal errors’ in the procedure adopted.
• M v Derbyshire County Council and others [2018] EWHC 3734 (Fam)
  Judgments (23/01/2019)
  Unsuccessful application for permission to reopen findings of fact in a case involving non-accidental injuries to a child.
• S v D (Hague Convention: Domestic Abuse: Undertakings: Return to Third State [2019] EWHC 56 (Fam)
  Judgments (18/01/2019)
  Judgment of Cobb J considering a father’s application under the Hague Convention and Article 11 of Council Regulation (EC) 2201/2003 seeking the return of his son to Hungary, despite the parties being habitually resident in Germany at the time of the child’s removal. The decision considers the use of undertakings to protect against the grave risk of harm to the child if his return is ordered.
• YC v AC [2018] EWHC 2406 (Fam)
  Judgments (15/01/2019)
  Judgment dealing with an application by a Turkish mother under the Hague Convention for summary return of a child to Turkey.
• AR v JR [2018] EWHC 3626 (Fam)
  Judgments (09/01/2019)
  Application by the husband pursuant to rule 4.4(1)(b) of the FPR 2010 that the wife’s application for financial remedies in the divorce suit be struck out on the basis that it was (a), vexatious, and/or duplicative and/or (b), on the basis there had been prior compromise within earlier judicial separation proceedings.
• X (A Child) (No 5) [2018] EWHC 3442 (Fam)
  Judgments (09/01/2019)
  Judgment of Sir James Munby in which he decided not to extend a reporting restrictions order in relation to the birth parents in a case with a significant history where the names of the birth parents were already in the public domain.
• X (A Child) (No 4) [2018] EWHC 1815 (Fam)
  Judgments (09/01/2019)
  Rehearing of a fact-finding within care proceedings, following conflicting expert evidence called at the subsequently-abandoned criminal trial years later.
• Quan v Bray & Ors [2018] EWHC 3558 (Fam)
  Judgments (01/01/2019)
  Judgment of Mostyn J concerning a wife’s application seeking periodical payments for joint lives and the adjournment of her capital claims.
• Martin v Martin [2018] EWCA Civ 2866
  Judgments (01/01/2019)
  Court of Appeal financial remedies decision addressing issues of the approach the court should take to the valuation of shares in a private company and how to determine non-marital wealth.
• C (Children) (Abduction Article 13 (B)) [2018] EWCA Civ 2834
  Judgments (01/01/2019)
  Successful appeal of the dismissal of a father’s application under the Hague Child Abduction Convention 1980