High Court: Family Division judgments, 2006

The inherent jurisdiction over incapable adults is a protective jurisdiction, substantially analogous to wardship. It extends beyond cases involving the…

For an adult, the question whether there has been a deprivation of liberty under Article 5 depends on the person’s concrete situation, assessed by reference to…

Where an incapacitated adult’s care and residence are in issue, the Family Division may use its inherent jurisdiction to determine what arrangements best serve…

Where parents have agreed and implemented an international arrangement for a child’s residence, the English court should resist reopening residence issues…

Habitual residence is a fact-based question determined in all the circumstances. A child may acquire habitual residence in a foreign country even where the…

On an application to vary a nominal periodical payments order, the court must assess all the circumstances, including the statutory factors and changes since…

In family proceedings involving serious allegations, the court must preserve both the vulnerable witness’s protection and the litigant’s fair opportunity to…

Where a child may otherwise be placed for adoption, the court must balance the child’s right to grow up within the natural family against the Article 8 rights…

Where a party’s will is overborne at the time of a marriage ceremony by coercive pressure, including threats of violence, isolation or withholding travel…

A post-nuptial agreement does not oust the court’s jurisdiction in ancillary relief proceedings. It may carry substantial weight, but only after the court…

Documents disclosed in private family proceedings remain subject to the court’s control. Unauthorised disclosure may constitute contempt of court. The…

In family proceedings heard in the presence of the media, open justice requires disclosure of written advocacy and other documents where their absence would…

Under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 the Crown Court has exclusive jurisdiction over restraint, confiscation and enforcement proceedings. That does not remove…

not stated in the judgment.

In an application to relocate a child permanently abroad, the child’s welfare remains the paramount consideration. The court may use the framework in Payne v…

Where a child does not know the identity of his biological father, the court may need to consider whether intervention is required, even if the original…

In financial-relief proceedings, the statutory exercise under section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 requires all the circumstances to be evaluated…

Where a court has jurisdiction over parental responsibility under Brussels IIR, it may make a final contact order even though the practical arrangements and…

In care proceedings, privacy is not an overriding principle. A court considering media access, reporting restrictions or identification must apply a…

Without notice relief is exceptional. The general starting point is that affected persons should be heard, and departure from that principle must be…

Care proceedings should not be commenced or continued on the basis of suspicion unsupported by reliable evidence. Removal is not justified merely because…

Where children move lawfully to another Member State under a valid court order, a later failure to comply with contact arrangements does not retrospectively…

In ancillary relief proceedings, the court must ordinarily assess the parties’ financial circumstances and available assets at the hearing date. That does not…

In fact-finding proceedings concerning alleged sexual abuse, the civil balance of probabilities applies. The seriousness of an allegation affects the inherent…

English law did not recognise a foreign same-sex marriage as a marriage where the parties lacked capacity under their ante-nuptial domicile law. The Civil…

In ancillary relief proceedings, the court determines beneficial ownership from the parties’ actual intentions and the surrounding evidence. A presumption of…

Approval under paragraph 19 of Schedule 2 to the Children Act 1989 may authorise a child in local-authority care to live abroad where the statutory safeguards…

In a very high-value matrimonial case, the court must begin and end with the discretionary balancing exercise required by section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes…

In an application to relocate a child abroad, the child’s welfare remains paramount. There is no presumption in favour of the parent seeking permission…

In care and adoption proceedings, serious deliberate violence, coupled with continuing denial, lack of remorse and failure to engage with professionals, may…

Where children are wrongfully removed from their state of habitual residence, the court hearing a Hague Convention application ordinarily considers the…

Information from private family proceedings may be communicated to a police officer serving in a child-protection role where the communication furthers child…

An adult patient who lacks capacity may lawfully receive treatment without consent where it is in her best interests. Best interests extend beyond clinical…

Under art 12 of the Hague Convention, settlement requires both physical integration into a community or environment and emotional and psychological security…

In care and residence proceedings, the court may determine a young person’s age on the balance of the evidence, including reliable medical evidence where it is…

Under Schedule 1, the court has jurisdiction to order an interim payment towards a parent’s legal costs where the payment is properly characterised as being…

Non-payment in breach of a matrimonial money order is itself contempt of court. Proof that the failure was culpable or wilful is not required to establish…

In determining whether life-sustaining treatment should be withdrawn from a child lacking capacity, the court must make its own best-interests assessment. The…

A final ancillary-relief consent order cannot be reopened merely because one party later regrets a generous bargain, received poor legal advice, felt pressure…

A protective costs order may be made in family status proceedings which are essentially quasi-public where the dispute concerns the elucidation of public law.…

A restriction under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 is a discretionary and exceptional intrusion on a parent’s ability to bring proceedings concerning…

A customary marriage requires the parties’ common intention and consent to become married. A ceremony may contain features associated with marriage, but those…

An applicant for an inspection appointment will ordinarily pay the neutral third party’s costs in the first instance, subject to final allocation between the…

An Emergency Protection Order is a draconian measure justified only by a genuine emergency and positive evidence establishing reasonable cause to believe that…

In a medical-treatment dispute concerning a child without capacity, the court must independently determine the child’s objective best interests under Children…

An appeal from magistrates in a child-support matter lies only by way of case stated under section 111 of the Magistrates' Court Act 1980, subject to a short…

Legal advice privilege can attach to solicitor-client communications made during a conveyancing transaction, including the sale of registered land. The…

Where a child lacks capacity, the court may intervene on the application of a person with a proper interest to determine what course is in the child’s best…

The court may exercise its protective jurisdiction where there is a real possibility of harm to a vulnerable adult. Preventive relief is particularly important…

Where courts in different Member States are seised of related matrimonial proceedings, the English court should respect the operative decision of the foreign…