High Court: Family Division judgments, 2008

When approving a compromise on behalf of a child, the court must decide whether the settlement is in that child’s best interests. The assessment is global and…

On an appeal from an ancillary-relief order, fairness requires the court to identify and quantify the parties’ minimum future needs, including housing and…

A Family Division judge may, under section 8(1) of the Supreme Court Act 1981, exercise Crown Court jurisdiction in an appropriate case. However, restraint…

In an application for a parental order following foreign surrogacy, the court must apply the statutory parenthood provisions to the arrangement, including…

In ancillary relief proceedings, a third party should not be joined merely to investigate whether a claim might exist or to obtain a fuller picture. Joinder…

In care proceedings, the identification of a perpetrator is determined on the simple balance of probabilities. Where harm is established but the perpetrator…

Under Article 15 of Brussels II bis, the court with substantive jurisdiction must decide whether transfer is appropriate. A court in another Member State may…

A child under six weeks old may be placed for adoption with parental agreement, including a written agreement under rule 35 of the Adoption Agency Rules 2005.…

In care proceedings, the local authority must prove the alleged facts on the ordinary civil standard: the balance of probabilities. Section 31 does not permit…

Where a parent in family proceedings is also involved in relevant immigration, asylum, housing or criminal proceedings, the family court must have full and…

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 creates an absolute bar on storage or use of gametes in the UK without effective consent. The court cannot…

In ancillary-relief proceedings, the corporate veil may be pierced only in tightly confined circumstances. The claimant must establish both the relevant degree…

A party who agrees to a consent order in court, hears the judge pronounce it, and signs the order cannot subsequently resile from it because of a change of…

Practitioners in family proceedings must comply meticulously with the applicable court-bundle Practice Direction. This obligation applies equally to regular…

Wardship cannot be used to prevent or control the lawful exercise of statutory immigration powers. Challenges to detention, removal, or detention conditions…

In care proceedings, placement with a parent remains the starting point where consistent with the child’s welfare. The decisive question is whether the court…

Under Article 12 of the Hague Convention, settlement must be assessed on the whole circumstances of the case. Physical stability, schooling and community links…

A McKenzie friend has no automatic right of audience. Under section 27(2)(c) of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, the court may grant permission where…

In ancillary relief proceedings, an alleged agreement may be dealt with by a notice to show cause where there is a strong case that it was concluded and a…

In family proceedings concerning children, the judge has a broad discretion to determine the appropriate mode of hearing. A hearing may be conducted without…

Proprietary estoppel requires an assurance or conduct creating an expectation of an interest in land, reliance, detriment and unconscionability assessed in the…

Where publicity may identify a vulnerable child, the court must balance the competing Article 8 rights and any relevant Article 12 rights. The former automatic…

Permission under paragraph 19 of Schedule 2 to the Children Act 1989 may lawfully be given for a child in local-authority care to live abroad with relatives…

Care proceedings are ordinarily private. Publication of information concerning them may engage the statutory restrictions in the Children Act 1989 and the…

In child fact-finding proceedings, serious allegations remain subject to the civil standard of proof. Their seriousness requires particularly cogent evidence…

Under Article 13(a) of the Hague Convention, acquiescence concerns the wronged parent's actual consent to the child's continued presence in the new…

Where an adult lacks capacity, the Court of Protection may make interim welfare orders, including orders authorising compulsory removal, detention and medical…

In determining arrangements for children, the court must give primary weight to their welfare and to the need for a secure, long-term placement. Where a parent…

Parties to ancillary relief proceedings owe a continuing duty of full and frank disclosure of material facts, documents and information relevant to the issues…

In determining a child’s future, welfare remains the paramount consideration. In an international case the court must assess welfare in the light of the…

Public judgments may properly identify local authorities and other professionals whose work deserves praise. The public interest is served by presenting a…

An interim secure accommodation order cannot be made independently of an adjournment. Under section 25(5) of the Children Act 1989, the court must first decide…

Under Article 13 of the Hague Convention, a parent may consent or acquiesce to a child remaining abroad for a specified period and subject to clear conditions…

Where the court authorises the deprivation of liberty of an incapacitated adult, the order must provide effective safeguards under Article 5(4). Reviews must…

In determining arrangements for a child who had been subjected to a forced marriage, the court treated the child’s welfare as requiring close attention to her…

The inherent jurisdiction and parens patriae jurisdiction should be exercised with extreme caution where a child is physically outside the jurisdiction and…

The court’s protective jurisdiction over vulnerable adults must be exercised by reference to capacity, best interests, proportionality and Convention rights.…

In ancillary relief proceedings, business valuation is a broad forensic tool used to test the fairness of the proposed award. It is not a detailed accounting…

A wasted costs order is compensatory and punitive. It requires proof that the legal representative acted improperly, unreasonably or negligently, that the…

In ancillary relief proceedings, a joint-lives maintenance order may be appropriate where the parties’ future financial circumstances are materially uncertain…

In Hague Convention proceedings, consent to a child’s removal must be true and unequivocal. An apparent agreement based on a material misunderstanding or…

An order under section 34(4) of the Children Act 1989 authorises, but does not require, a local authority to refuse contact. At an early stage of care…

In a short marriage where most wealth was acquired before the relationship, the needs principle may be the dominant consideration and may subsume any arguable…

In fact-finding proceedings concerning suspected inflicted injury, medical evidence that shaking was the most likely cause established only a real possibility.…

In care proceedings based on alleged sexual abuse, the local authority must prove the allegation on the balance of probabilities. Physical findings which are…

In Hague Convention proceedings, the question whether a child should be separately represented is whether that representation will add enough to the court’s…

In care proceedings, the ordinary balance of probabilities applies. The seriousness of an allegation affects the inherent probabilities and therefore the…

A foreign adoption made under the law of the adopters’ domicile may be recognised under the common law where the adoption validly creates the status of parent…

In exercising its discretion on costs, the court must consider all the circumstances, including the terms and timing of offers, the information available, the…

Under the Hague Convention, a parent’s right to co-decide a vital matter affecting a child’s upbringing and education may amount to a right of custody. A…

In determining a child’s welfare where separated parents live in different countries, the court must treat welfare as paramount and assess all relevant…

Once care proceedings have ended and no injunction or continuing order restricts publicity, the former parties may generally identify themselves publicly…

The family court may authorise disclosure of material from care proceedings for use in related criminal proceedings where the balancing exercise clearly…

Where a residential assessment is necessary in care proceedings, the court may direct it under section 38(6) of the Children Act 1989. The court cannot require…

On variation of a joint-lives periodical payments order, compensation for relationship-generated disadvantage is an aspect of fairness, not a separate head of…

Child maintenance is not automatically limited to a Child Support Agency assessment. The assessment may provide a useful starting point, particularly in…