High Court: Family Division judgments, 2018

In financial remedy proceedings, a trust’s assets may be relevant to a spouse’s resources even where neither spouse is a beneficiary, if the trust can…

Publication of information from private care proceedings requires prior court permission under section 12 of the Administration of Justice Act 1960. The court…

Legal professional privilege is not available for material evidencing fraud or iniquity. The concept is broad and includes dishonesty, trickery, sham…

When approving a compromise on behalf of a child, the court must decide whether it provides a real benefit to the child. The inquiry requires a fair, cautious…

A committal application in family proceedings must comply strictly with the procedural safeguards in the Family Procedure Rules. The application must identify…

An appellate court should not interfere with a financial-relief decision where it falls within the spectrum of reasonable decisions available to the…

When deciding whether to continue a reporting restriction order, the court must evaluate and balance all relevant public and private interests, including those…

The High Court may extend its inherent jurisdiction to authorise a capacitous vulnerable adult’s deprivation of liberty where existing legislation provides no…

In a family fact-finding hearing, the burden remains on the party making the allegations. The court applies the balance of probabilities, regardless of an…

A child’s welfare remains the controlling consideration when decisions are made about placement, contact, information, photographs or a name change following…

An expired Female Genital Mutilation Protection Order cannot be extended under the statutory power to vary or discharge an order. The court must instead treat…

When deciding between a special guardianship placement with extended family and continued placement with a foster carer, the court must apply the welfare…

In fact-finding proceedings concerning inflicted injuries, the court must determine whether a particular person probably caused the injuries. It must not…

In deciding whether a local authority should notify a father of his child’s birth, the child’s welfare is paramount. The court must consider the statutory…

When deciding whether a child should travel to a country where there is a risk of non-return, the court must assess the potential harm, the magnitude of the…

In fact-finding proceedings concerning suspected injury to a non-mobile infant, the local authority bears the burden of proving inflicted injury on the balance…

An executory financial remedy order may be revisited where a significant change of circumstances makes it inequitable to hold the parties to the original…

An application for financial remedies following divorce is not abusive merely because earlier financial provision was made during judicial separation…

Where prospective parents jointly undertake fertility treatment intending both to become legal parents, a statutory consent requirement may be satisfied by a…

Where a person cannot understand or weigh information about proposed medical treatment, the court may determine that the person lacks capacity even if the…

Post-separation earnings generated by an earning capacity are not matrimonial property subject to the sharing principle. They may nevertheless be relevant when…

A local authority’s duty under section 22(4) of the Children Act 1989 is qualified by the words “so far as is reasonably practicable”. A professional judgment…

An appellate court may determine an application for permission to appeal on paper where the procedure is proportionate and the application does not require…

In fact-finding proceedings concerning forced marriage and child protection, the court must assess the evidence cumulatively and fairly, while applying…

In a fact-finding case involving suspected non-accidental injury, the court must decide whether the evidence proves, on the balance of probabilities, that a…

Jurisdiction over parental responsibility ordinarily lies with the courts of the child’s habitual residence. A court first seised of matrimonial proceedings…

Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 is not a means of topping up provision made after an overseas divorce merely because an English…

Recognition of a foreign adoption under Adoption and Children Act 2002, section 66(1)(e), requires satisfaction of four matters: the adopters’ domicile in the…

Sentencing for contempt must mark the court’s disapproval and, where possible, secure future compliance. Imprisonment is not automatic. The court must consider…

For a child, whether a placement amounts to a deprivation of liberty depends on the acid test: continuous supervision and control, together with lack of…

In care and placement proceedings, adoption is permissible only where the child’s welfare throughout life requires it and nothing else will do. The court must…

In determining child arrangements, the children’s welfare is the paramount consideration, assessed by reference to the statutory welfare checklist. A court may…

A second transfer of jurisdiction under Article 15 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2201/2003 is permissible where the proposed transfer is back to the court…

For contempt arising from breach of a court order, the court must first construe the order and identify precisely what it required. It must then decide, on the…

In a non-Convention summary-return application, the child’s welfare remains paramount. There is no presumption that return will be in the child’s interests…

Under Children Act 1989 section 38(6), the court cannot direct an assessment on a theoretical or hypothetical basis. A realistic resource must be identified…

Habitual residence is a child-focused question of fact. The court must assess the child’s integration into the social and family environment, including…

Permission to appeal requires a realistic, rather than fanciful, prospect of success or another compelling reason for the appeal to be heard. If permission is…

In Hague Convention proceedings, wrongful retention may occur before the agreed return date where the travelling parent repudiates the temporary nature of the…

Permission to reopen earlier findings of fact in family proceedings requires more than speculation, hope, or a real prospect of success. The applicant must…

When deciding whether life-sustaining treatment should be withheld from an infant, the court must determine the child’s objective best interests. Welfare is…

The court may make a declaration of parentage where doing so serves the child’s best interests, including where an existing birth registration threatens to…

In a financial remedy claim where resources exceed needs, the court must apply the statutory discretion fairly, having regard to needs, sharing and…

The Gender Recognition Act 2004 establishes a permissive scheme. Where the statutory criteria are satisfied, a Gender Recognition Panel must grant a…

On a committal application for contempt in family proceedings, the applicant bears the burden of proving each allegation to the criminal standard. The…

Where a child is placed in the State’s care, prolonged failure to provide suitable accommodation and therapeutic support may itself constitute significant harm…

When assessing applications concerning children, the court must treat the children’s welfare as paramount and give appropriate weight to the effect of parental…

Termination of a father’s parental responsibility is governed by the child’s welfare and is a rare remedy. The court must assess the parent’s commitment…

In care and adoption proceedings, the court must assess each child’s welfare individually, applying the balance of probabilities and evaluating the evidence…

In a fact-finding hearing concerning alleged non-accidental injury, the local authority bears the burden of proving disputed facts on the balance of…

A solicitor cannot ordinarily bring forced marriage protection proceedings altruistically, without instructions from the persons named as applicants or a…

On a judgment summons for arrears of spousal maintenance, imprisonment requires proof to the criminal standard that the debtor had, or has had, the means to…

Committal for contempt requires proof, to the criminal standard, of deliberate disobedience to a clear order or undertaking. The order must identify precisely…

An appeal against findings of fact in private-law children proceedings is a review, not a rehearing. The appellate court should not interfere with a trial…

Permission to reopen earlier findings of fact in child-protection proceedings requires a three-stage process. At the first stage, the applicant must show a…

When varying or enforcing a financial arrangement embodied in a consent order, the court must assess fairness in the context of the parties’ agreement. The…

Where a child aged 16 or 17 is subject to care proceedings and may also fall within the jurisdiction of the Court of Protection, transfer is governed by…

Case-management directions should be proportionate to the issues requiring determination. A government department need not be joined, or required to give…

In care proceedings, the local authority must prove the threshold criteria on the balance of probabilities. The court must assess the children’s welfare as its…

Recognition of a foreign child-welfare measure may be refused under Article 23 of the Hague 1996 Convention where the child was not given an opportunity to be…

In an application for a declaration of parentage, the court must determine parentage on the balance of probabilities and must be satisfied that the evidence is…

Under article 16 of Council Regulation (EC 2201/2003), English procedural law determines the steps required to effect service. Where FPR 7.8 imposes no time…

Article 21 of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980 is not confined to parents or holders of parental responsibility.…

In adoption proceedings, the court must determine the children’s welfare throughout their lives by a global and holistic assessment of all realistic options.…

In Hague Convention proceedings, a child’s expressed wish to remain in the requested State is insufficient for the Article 13 child-objections exception unless…

In a fact-finding hearing involving serious domestic-abuse allegations, a judge who undertakes questioning on behalf of an unrepresented alleged perpetrator…

In a relinquished-baby case, adoption without notifying or assessing the putative father and wider family may be lawful where it is necessary and proportionate…

Where there are serious grounds for questioning a litigant’s capacity, the court must investigate the issue sufficiently to reach an informed decision, while…

An appeal is a review, not a rehearing. The appellate court may interfere with factual findings only where the first-instance judge was wrong or there was a…

A court may support an unpaid maintenance and litigation-funding order with a pound for pound injunction where the payer funds his own lawyers while leaving…

Where a child is settled in England and the settlement exception to return under the Hague Convention is established, the court retains a broad discretion…

An application by a parent to discharge a care order under Children Act 1989, s 39, is determined by the children’s welfare. The applicant bears the burden of…

Real ownership may differ from formal ownership. The formal owner and the person who paid for an asset provide important starting points, including through the…

Permission to withdraw care proceedings must be granted where the local authority cannot establish the threshold criteria in Children Act 1989, section 31(2).…

Where children have lived continuously in another country for a substantial period and have become habitually resident there, the court may bring English…

In care proceedings, the court must treat the children’s welfare as paramount and must be satisfied that making an order is better for the children than making…

In reviewing a refusal of direct contact, the appellate court must review the decision below rather than determine the issue afresh. Permission should be…

When deciding whether children should visit a non-Hague Convention country, the court must conduct a welfare evaluation focused on three matters: the magnitude…

On capitalising spousal maintenance, a court must avoid double recovery. It should not award the full capitalised sum, continuing maintenance and interest for…

A female genital mutilation protection order is discretionary and should be made only where there is an appropriate current risk requiring protection. The…

In determining child arrangements, the court’s paramount consideration is the child’s welfare. There is no presumption in favour of a natural parent or family…

Police disclosure into family proceedings must be timely, complete and assessed against the family court’s wider evidential needs. A police disclosure team…

In care proceedings arising from the inflicted injuries and death of an infant, the local authority must prove disputed facts on the balance of probabilities.…

On an application to revoke a placement order, the child’s welfare throughout life is paramount. The court must conduct a full evaluation of all relevant…

In an application for the return of a child removed abroad, the child’s welfare and best interests are paramount. The court must evaluate the practical…

In determining a child’s welfare after the statutory threshold is crossed, the court must assess all realistic placement options holistically. There is no…

The statutory threshold for a care order is assessed at the date of the application. Later events may be considered only so far as they illuminate the position…

Under Article 15(5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003, the receiving court’s essential task is to decide whether accepting jurisdiction is in the child’s…

Proceedings under the Hague Convention are intended to be swift and summary. They should not be prolonged indefinitely while one party pursues unresolved…

Where material which is prima facie protected by legal professional privilege is deliberately disclosed by an employee of a solicitor’s firm to the court, and…

In a non-Hague summary return application, the child’s welfare is paramount. The court may order return to a foreign jurisdiction without conducting a full…

In international child-abduction proceedings, the court with retained jurisdiction under Article 10 of Brussels IIa should ordinarily determine whether that…

In a non-Hague Convention child-removal case, the child’s welfare remains paramount. The court must choose between a summary return and a fuller determination…

Under the Hague Child Abduction Convention, a child wrongfully removed within one year should ordinarily be returned forthwith. A defence based on consent…

Where a person disappears during a sea voyage, is not seen again, leaves personal belongings and travel documents behind, and a police investigation concludes…

Relevant evidence is not automatically excluded because it was obtained unlawfully or improperly. The court must assess all the circumstances and decide…

The statutory charge depends on the proceedings or dispute in connection with which legally aided services were provided. Where Human Rights Act damages are…

A child arrangements order cannot be enforced by committal unless the procedural safeguards for contempt proceedings have been followed. A party’s admitted…

A composite clinic consent form may satisfy the statutory requirements for legal parenthood where it records the partner’s consent to treatment and…

An appellate court may allow a judge to correct an error or omission in a draft judgment before it is handed down, even where the correction changes the…

When finalising a family order, the court should minimise opportunities for further costly litigation, consistently with justice and fairness. Where existing…

Section 31(2) requires significant harm, or likelihood of it, and attribution to care that it would not be reasonable to expect a parent to provide. The…

When deciding whether to permit temporary removal of a child to another country, the court must assess the risk of non-return, the likely consequences if the…

Access to family-court documents is discretionary. The court must consider all the circumstances and balance the applicant’s rights against the privacy…

In fact-finding proceedings concerning suspected child abuse, the local authority bears the burden of proving each allegation on the balance of probabilities.…

In committal proceedings, contempt must be proved to the criminal standard. The order said to have been breached must be clear on its face as to what it…

Where children have lived openly and for a substantial period in another country, the court may discharge earlier return and wardship orders when those orders…

A court may, in exceptional circumstances, impose a short delay on disclosure of a report in family proceedings where immediate disclosure could prejudice an…

In fact-finding proceedings, the local authority bears the burden of proving disputed facts on the balance of probabilities. The court must decide whether an…

Applicants seeking to vary or discharge an injunction must identify the precise relief sought and provide evidence complying with the applicable procedural…

In care proceedings, the court must determine welfare on the individual facts and apply the statutory welfare checklist. A care order is justified where the…

This judgment was a short coda recording a child’s progress after transfer from unsuitable secure accommodation to a specialist clinical unit. It contains no…

Local authorities must address the statutory framework governing private fostering when a child is placed with non-relatives for more than 28 days. They must…

In determining the end-of-life arrangements for a child, the court’s paramount concern is the child’s best interests. Continued artificial ventilation may be…

In an application under the Hague Convention for the return of a child wrongfully removed from Poland, the court must order return where no applicable defence…

In applications under Children Act 1989, Schedule 1, provision must be assessed by reference to the children’s needs and the carer’s continuing role, rather…

Under Article 39(2) of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961, the reasonable period during which diplomatic privileges and immunities continue…

An FGM protection order may restrict a child’s removal from England and Wales where there is a real risk of female genital mutilation abroad. The court must…

Interim maintenance is directed primarily to current and future liabilities. It should not ordinarily be used to make capital provision disguised as…

In surrogacy cases where no parental order has been made, commissioning adults remain unable to acquire legal parenthood unless the statutory conditions are…

Permission is required for contempt proceedings based on a false statement verified by a statement of truth. Where alleged lies on oath are pursued solely for…

In an Article 15 transfer request, the requested court’s function is summary and limited. It should not determine the substantive welfare merits or permit…

A parental order under Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, s 54, may be made where the statutory conditions are satisfied, including the requirements…

Where a substantive family claim cannot fairly proceed because of uncertainty about the estate, inadequate preparation, defective notice, or a party’s…

In disputes concerning medical treatment and end-of-life arrangements for a child who lacks capacity, the governing test is the child’s best interests. Those…

Habitual residence is principally a child-centred question of fact. The court must assess the child’s degree of integration in the relevant social and family…

In child-arrangements proceedings, the welfare of each child remains the paramount consideration. A child’s wishes and feelings must be considered as facts…

In care proceedings, the court may determine threshold and welfare issues without a fact-finding hearing where the parties agree the material facts and a trial…

Applications to re-open perfected findings of fact on the basis of new evidence require a broad, fact-sensitive assessment of whether the evidence could affect…

A court of first instance has no power to vary or discharge a final capital order, except within the limited statutory power concerning a lump sum payable by…

Where a child is objectively confined by the State and is not realistically free to leave, consent to the confinement must be both authentic and enduring.…

In family proceedings, a court may determine a final hearing summarily and without oral evidence where the circumstances justify that course. However, each…

An appeal in a children case can succeed only where the first-instance judge was wrong or there was a procedural or other irregularity. Permission requires a…

In care proceedings, the court must evaluate the realistic welfare options holistically rather than linearly. Adoption against a parent’s wishes is permissible…

Sentencing for contempt must reflect both punishment for past breaches and, where the breach continues, coercion to secure compliance and enable reparation.…

The court may extend publication restraints beyond a child’s 18th birthday where the facts justify protection of the child’s private life. The court must…

A nuptial agreement should be given effect where it was entered into freely, with full appreciation of its implications, unless it would be unfair to hold the…

Diplomatic immunity does not prevent the family court determining care proceedings or making final care orders where the relevant immunity has ended. A Foreign…

A declaration of incompatibility concerns whether existing legislation is compatible with a Convention right. It does not determine whether legislation is…

Under Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003, recognition of a divorce judgment from another Member State is mandatory unless one of the limited grounds for…

In care proceedings, the court must determine whether the statutory threshold and welfare requirements are satisfied on the evidence. It must not remove…

In exceptional circumstances, a parent’s procedural and family-life rights may be restricted where participation or disclosure would cause serious harm to…

A fact-finding hearing should be ordered only where it has a realistic prospect of producing findings capable of affecting the child’s welfare and protection.…

Failure to serve a response pack with particulars of claim may provide some other good reason to set aside a default judgment under the Civil Procedure Rules…

The High Court may use wardship for a child accommodated under Children Act 1989 section 20 where doing so is compatible with the statutory scheme and fills a…

In fact-finding proceedings concerning alleged radicalisation, the local authority bears the burden of proving the pleaded facts on the balance of…

Under the Presumption of Death Act 2013, the High Court may make a declaration of presumed death where a missing person is thought to have died or has not been…

Where permission is required before a contempt application may be made, the court cannot substantively determine the permission application until it has been…

For jurisdiction under Council Regulation (EC) 2201/2003, a child’s habitual residence cannot be established under Article 13 merely because it cannot be…

A court may release a party from an undertaking given in family proceedings where a significant change of circumstances has undermined the basis of the…

In civil contempt proceedings, a person who has already served imprisonment for breaching an order to return children may be committed again for breaching a…

In contempt proceedings, the court must first construe the order and identify precisely what it required. It must then decide, on the criminal standard of…

In fact-finding proceedings concerning suspected fabricated or induced illness, the local authority must prove each disputed fact on the balance of…

In determining whether life-sustaining treatment should continue for a child, the court must decide whether providing the treatment is in the child’s best…

In child-arrangements proceedings involving alleged domestic abuse and transnational marriage abandonment, the court must determine disputed facts on the…

In a relocation case, the court must evaluate the practical consequences of refusing relocation for the applicant parent and the consequential effect on the…

A court may vacate and re-list a final hearing where the issues, evidence and submissions cannot fairly be accommodated within the available fixture. The…

In financial remedy proceedings, the court must assess all the circumstances under Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 25. Equal contributions do not require…

In a Hague Convention summary-return application, acquiescence depends on the wronged parent’s actual state of mind. The abducting parent bears the burden of…

In financial remedy proceedings, needs are a protective floor rather than a ceiling on a party’s entitlement. A needs assessment should not be distorted by a…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the proposed grounds have no real prospect of success. A further expert adjournment is unnecessary under section…

For a child in care, Article 5 is engaged when the arrangements amount to a confinement. This is assessed by comparing the child’s actual restrictions with…

Applications for leave to apply to revoke a placement order under section 24 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 require a two-stage approach. The court must…

In disputes about life-sustaining treatment for a child who lacks capacity, the court must make its own independent and objective assessment of the child’s…

Where a child maintenance order is inadequate because a child has progressed to tertiary education, the court may vary the order to provide equivalent support…

When the High Court makes an inherent-jurisdiction order which mirrors a statutory secure accommodation order, it should conform as far as practicable to the…

An appellate court should not interfere with a trial judge’s assessment of witnesses and documentary evidence unless the decision was wrong or affected by a…