High Court: Family Division judgments, 2011

On an appeal from an exercise of the statutory discretion under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, an appellate court may intervene where the lower court has…

In determining contact arrangements in an unconventional family structure, the court should avoid forcing the facts into traditional parental stereotypes. The…

In child-protection fact-finding proceedings, the court must determine the issues on the balance of probabilities, while recognising that a party’s lie about…

In care proceedings concerning severely disabled children, the threshold in section 31(2) of the Children Act 1989 must be considered even where significant…

When deciding whether to grant leave to seek financial relief after a foreign divorce, the court must apply the statutory requirement that there be a…

A prohibited steps order may validly be made at an ex parte hearing before permission to apply for a Children Act 1989 order has been determined, provided the…

A child’s competence to give evidence and the discretionary decision whether evidence should be heard are separate questions. Competence requires sufficient…

In financial-remedy proceedings, materially deficient disclosure requires the court to consider adverse inferences, but those inferences must be properly drawn…

On an appeal from a discretionary financial remedy order, the appellate court ordinarily conducts a review rather than a rehearing. Under the Family Procedure…

In an international surrogacy case, the court must satisfy the statutory conditions for a parental order and authorise payments exceeding reasonable expenses…

For a parental order under Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, domicile is a mandatory jurisdictional requirement. An applicant may acquire an English…

Where conduct by trustees or others foreseeably obstructs implementation of an existing child-maintenance property order, the court may make practical…

Habitual residence is determined by the ordinary meaning of the words and all relevant circumstances. Residence must be more than temporary, but need not be…

Publication of a judgment handed down in private is not, without more, contempt of court where no statutory restriction applies. Proceedings concerning adults…

In family fact-finding proceedings, the party seeking a finding bears the burden of proving it on the balance of probabilities. Where several individuals might…

A matrimonial court may order a spouse to pay a lump sum, but it cannot make a direct order against a company’s assets where the company is not a party to the…

A freely entered nuptial agreement should generally be upheld unless it would be unfair to hold the parties to it. An agreement excluding sharing may be…

Where proceedings concerning parental responsibility for the same child and involving the same cause of action are already pending in one Member State, the…

In financial remedy proceedings, trust assets must be analysed according to the nature of the beneficiary’s interest and the trust’s true substance. A sham or…

A lottery prize received during a marriage is characterised by the parties’ arrangements and the circumstances of acquisition. Where the parties operate an…

In family proceedings concerning a vulnerable adult, costs do not ordinarily follow the event. The court must exercise its discretion by considering the nature…

An appeal does not operate as a stay of the order appealed against. A stay is exceptional and requires consideration of all the circumstances, the likely…

Under Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989, the court must exercise a broad statutory discretion by having regard to all the circumstances, with the child’s…

For the purposes of matrimonial financial relief, assets held through companies may fall within Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 24(1)(a), where one spouse…

In an application concerning a person in a minimally conscious state, withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration must be determined by an objective…

Where a court in the child’s state of habitual residence was seised before a foreign non-return order, it retains jurisdiction under Brussels II Revised unless…

On an application to purge contempt, the court’s powers are confined to three outcomes: immediate release, release deferred to a stated future date, or refusal…

Committal for contempt must comply with the open justice requirements governing committal orders. If a committal order is made in private, the court must state…

In best-interests proceedings concerning an incapacitated adult, the court must assess all realistic care options, including family placement, rather than…

In exceptional circumstances, the court may release information from private children proceedings to correct a materially false public account of the case. Any…

In an entrenched contact dispute, the child’s welfare remains the paramount consideration. A child’s firm opposition to contact must be taken seriously, but…

Jurisdiction to entertain an application for financial relief under Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989 may arise under the 1968 Convention, including through…

In an intentionally created family arrangement, the court should identify the parties’ actual agreed parenting roles rather than assume that the arrangement…

In financial remedy proceedings, the general rule is that each party bears their own costs. The court may depart from that rule where a party’s conduct in…

In a fact-finding hearing, the civil standard remains the balance of probabilities, whatever the seriousness of the allegations. Seriousness may affect the…

Applications for reporting restriction orders require a fact-sensitive balancing of the competing rights under articles 8 and 10 ECHR. Neither right has…

A parental-order application validly made by two commissioning parents may survive the death of one applicant before the order. The statutory conditions…

In ancillary relief proceedings, the court must apply Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 25, by evaluating all the circumstances and giving appropriate…

Where CAFCASS management and a court-appointed guardian disagree irreconcilably in care proceedings, the manager’s view does not automatically prevail. CAFCASS…

Capacity must be assessed by applying the statutory test in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 “no more and no less”. The court must consider whether the person can…

Under the Hague Convention, habitual residence is a question of fact determined by the particular circumstances. For a young child of married parents, one…

When deciding whether a vulnerable child should give oral evidence, the court must balance the potential benefit of the evidence in determining the truth…

In determining a child’s welfare, biological, gestational and social or psychological parenthood may each be significant, depending on the circumstances. A…

Financial relief on dissolution of a civil partnership is approached on the same statutory basis as ancillary relief on divorce. The sharing principle is not…

Under Article 11(7) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003, the court of the child’s former habitual residence may examine custody after a Hague Convention…

Wardship remains available in private-law proceedings where the child’s welfare requires it, although it is unusual. It may be appropriate where persistent…

When the inherent jurisdiction is invoked to resolve a dispute about medical treatment, the child’s welfare is paramount and the court must exercise an…

Without notice relief is exceptional and should be sought only where there is genuine urgency. The applicant must provide a balanced and particularised account…

For divorce jurisdiction under the fifth indent of Article 3(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003, the applicant must establish habitual residence in…

Under the lex loci celebrationis, a foreign marriage is formally valid in England if it complies with the form required or recognised as sufficient by the law…

In care proceedings, the ordinary position remains that there should be no order as to costs. The court may depart from that position where a party’s conduct…

A child’s attendance at an important hearing about their future is not subject to a presumption that attendance will be harmful. The court must undertake an…

Withdrawal of family proceedings does not amount to an adjudication on the issues. It brings the proceedings to an end and the withdrawal order cannot be…

After care proceedings have ended, Children Act 1989 section 97 no longer prevents identification of persons involved. Section 12 of the Administration of…

In care proceedings, a discrete fact-finding hearing concerning an earlier child’s death should be ordered only where it is necessary for the proper resolution…

A bankruptcy order should be annulled only where the statutory conditions are satisfied. Inability to pay debts concerns commercial insolvency, not merely…

In an overseas surrogacy case, a Parental Order may be made where the conditions in Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, section 54(1)–(8), are…

The High Court’s inherent protective jurisdiction over adults survives the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It may be used where an adult outside the Act’s definition…

In proceedings under Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989, the court must act compatibly with the child’s Convention rights and give effective priority to…

In deciding between kinship care and specialist foster care for a severely disabled child, the court must assess the carers’ actual ability to understand and…

In ancillary-relief proceedings, pre-marital property is relevant but its treatment remains fact-specific and discretionary. The court should ordinarily ask…

In care proceedings, the threshold under section 31(2) of the Children Act 1989 may be established where injury occurred during shared care and it is…

A child’s habitual residence cannot ordinarily be changed unilaterally by one parent exercising parental responsibility through a wrongful removal. The court’s…

Following a refusal by a foreign court to return a wrongfully retained child, the court of the child’s habitual residence exercises an original welfare…

Whether the threshold for a care order is met under Children Act 1989, section 31(2), is assessed objectively. A parent’s learning disability may explain…

In a relocation application involving genuinely shared care, the child’s welfare remains paramount. The court must assess the practical effect of the proposed…

Where a court has made a financial order for a child’s benefit, the court may impose a fixed date for payment to secure effective implementation. A trust…

Apparent bias is assessed by identifying the circumstances bearing on the allegation and asking whether a fair-minded and informed observer would conclude that…

In ancillary relief proceedings, a freezing order requires objective facts showing a likely disposition, transfer, movement or dissipation of assets with the…

In determining contact with extended family, the decisive question is whether contact serves the children’s interests. A grandparent’s strong desire for…

Permission to appeal may be granted only where the proposed appeal has a real prospect of success or there is some other compelling reason for it to be heard.…

In care proceedings, the local authority must prove the statutory threshold on the simple balance of probabilities. The seriousness of an allegation or its…

In determining competing applications for a child’s residence, the paramount consideration is the child’s welfare, assessed by applying the welfare checklist…

A court may refuse to hear a party who is in wilful contempt where the contempt impedes the course of justice and no other effective means secures compliance.…