High Court: Family Division judgments, 2020

In preliminary-issue litigation within financial remedy proceedings, the court may apply ordinary costs principles. A party who discontinues a discrete claim…

Reopening the quantum of a final lump-sum order by instalments is exceptional. The applicant must provide prima facie evidence of a fundamental and significant…

An expiring extended civil restraint order does not continue automatically. The court must decide whether extension is appropriate, having regard to all the…

not stated in the judgment.

In public law children proceedings, once the statutory threshold is crossed, placement must be determined by an holistic and proportionate evaluation of the…

The High Court may revoke an adoption order under its inherent jurisdiction, but the remedy is subject to a very high threshold. A lawfully and properly made…

In an adoption application concerning children placed in England under Scottish compulsory supervision orders, the court must apply English adoption law and…

In deciding whether to authorise medical treatment for a child, the court must make its own objective assessment of the child’s best interests. That assessment…

In an adoption case involving a married mother who sought confidentiality from her husband, the court may dispense with notification and consent requirements…

Under Article 13(b) of the 1980 Hague Convention, the person opposing return bears the burden of proving a grave risk that return would expose the child to…

In child-arrangements proceedings involving established domestic abuse, direct contact should be refused only where there is a clear risk of harm which cannot…

Mediation communications concerning arrangements for children attract a special form of privilege within the wider without prejudice protection. Disclosure is…

Under the Hague Convention, retention is a specific event and becomes wrongful when a parent repudiates an agreed temporary stay and keeps the child without…

In family proceedings, there is no general rule that the unsuccessful party pays the successful party’s costs. Under Family Proceedings Rules 2010, rule 28.1…

A child’s habitual residence is determined by the child’s degree of integration in a social and family environment, assessed from all the circumstances.…

Public authorities involved in care proceedings must provide the court and all parties with full and frank disclosure of material which supports or undermines…

The court may authorise a deprivation of a child’s liberty under its inherent jurisdiction where the arrangement falls within Art 5 of the ECHR and…

In committal proceedings, the court may proceed in the alleged contemnor’s absence where, having considered fairness, notice, the reason for non-attendance…

When the threshold for public-law intervention is met, the court must evaluate all realistic orders holistically, treating the child’s welfare as paramount and…

An indemnity costs order reflects the court’s disapproval of the paying party’s conduct before or during proceedings. It is appropriate where the paying party…

A claimant who has validly discontinued proceedings cannot withdraw the notice of discontinuance under CPR merely because the decision later appears unwise.…

Where an appeal challenges a fact-finding decision, the appellate court must consider whether fresh or overlooked evidence materially undermines the reasoning…

The upper two-year time limit in section 44(3) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 does not automatically bar an adoption application where it was made…

Under the inherent jurisdiction, the court may authorise a deprivation of a child’s liberty where the arrangements amount to a deprivation of liberty for Art 5…

In child-contact appeals, the appellate court must respect the trial judge’s evaluative judgment, but may intervene where the decision is plainly wrong. Ending…

In fact-finding proceedings concerning alleged child sexual abuse, findings must rest on evidence and properly drawn inferences, assessed in the context of the…

For a deliberate and substantial breach of a freezing order, imprisonment may be the appropriate sanction because such conduct undermines the administration of…

Where a local authority seeks to use force to convey a child from home to a residential school, parental consent may not provide a sufficient legal basis if…

The slip rule under FPR 29.16 may be used at any time to correct an accidental slip or omission in a judgment or order, including an order that has ceased to…

A Tipstaff passport order is an exceptional and intrusive measure. It may be used to prevent abduction, secure attendance at a hearing where there is a real…

Jurisdiction in parental-responsibility proceedings must be established under Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 or the applicable statutory scheme. Habitual…

An order permitting the temporary removal of children from the jurisdiction is a paramount welfare decision. The court must conduct a fair process, consider…

The court has power under FPR r.4.1(6) to rectify orders made under the Family Procedure Rules 2010, including substantive and final orders and orders made…

On the return date of a without-notice search order, fairness may require the court to defer final consideration of the order’s propriety where the respondent…

An appellate court considering permission to appeal should not substitute its own assessment for that of the first-instance judge merely because it might have…

The court may set aside a default costs certificate where the circumstances make it unjust to deprive a party of a fair opportunity to dispute a substantial…

In an international relocation application, the child’s welfare is the paramount consideration. There is no presumption in favour of either relocation or the…

A court must give very serious weight to the wishes, feelings and religious beliefs of a Gillick-competent child. It must not assess whether the doctrines of…

A without-notice search order requires an extremely strong prima facie case, serious potential or actual damage to the applicant, clear evidence that the…

Habitual residence is a factual, child-focused question concerning integration in a social and family environment. An older child’s state of mind may be…

A certificate of entitlement to a decree nisi is not equivalent to the pronouncement of the decree. The procedural steps leading to pronouncement, including…

A court may use the inherent jurisdiction to authorise a child’s deprivation of liberty where the statutory conditions for secure accommodation are not all…

On an application for a legal services payment order, the court must be satisfied that the applicant cannot reasonably obtain appropriate legal services…

A child’s apparent ability to express a preference does not establish Gillick competence. The child must understand and appreciate the proposed treatment, its…

A notice under section 35 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 must be in writing, but it has no prescribed form or substance. The giver must intend…

An English local authority may place a looked-after child accommodated under section 20 of the Children Act 1989 in Scotland, without court permission…

Under Council Regulation 2201/2003, jurisdiction in parental-responsibility proceedings depends on the child’s habitual residence when the court is seised. A…

Under FPR 2010 r 6.36, the court may dispense with service of proceedings under the inherent jurisdiction on a parent who would otherwise be served under FPR r…

Under the 1980 Hague Convention, rights of custody have an autonomous and broad meaning. They include rights arising from joint parental responsibility and the…

The court has an inherent power, exercisable only in exceptional circumstances, to prevent an advocate from continuing to act. The question is whether…

In determining a child’s care arrangements, the court must undertake a global and holistic evaluation of the available options under Children Act 1989, section…

In determining competing care and adoption plans, the court must undertake an holistic and granular evaluation of the child’s lifelong welfare. It must weigh…

In care proceedings, the local authority bears the burden of proving disputed facts on the balance of probabilities. The court must evaluate the totality of…

In an international relocation case, the court must undertake a child-focused, holistic welfare analysis of every realistic option. Each option must be…

Orders made in private proceedings may generally be published unless publication is expressly prohibited. However, information relating to proceedings…

The judgment text was not supplied. No legal principle or holding can be reliably extracted.

Where a child is taken to a non-Brussels IIa state with consent obtained by serious deception, the consent may be invalid and the removal wrongful for the…

In child-arrangements proceedings, a court should not determine disputed allegations as a basis for restricting contact where fact-finding has not been ordered…

The commencement of an asylum application by or on behalf of a child bars enforcement of a return order under the Hague Convention 1980 until the asylum…

A continuing breach of a child-protection order requiring the return of children may justify imprisonment, even where the breach involves no violence and the…

In determining a child’s best interests, the court must assess welfare in the widest sense, including medical, emotional, social and psychological…

A child’s consent, or parental consent, cannot authorise a deprivation of liberty where the legal requirements for valid consent are absent. The court must…

An existing freezing order may be varied where there remains a real risk that the judgment or order it protects will go unsatisfied. A change of circumstances…

The court may determine an English statutory claim even where the relevant assets are abroad and enforcement may be difficult. Foreign law, including foreign…

In care and adoption proceedings, the local authority must prove the threshold criteria on the balance of probabilities. A parent’s lies may support the…

A non-party seeking access to court documents will ordinarily bear the reasonable costs of providing access, but costs remain discretionary. The court may…

In civil contempt proceedings, a breach of a court order must be proved to the criminal standard. The alleged contemnor bears the burden of establishing…

Where separated parents hold damages arising from a child’s disability claim, the court may regulate those funds under section 23 of the Matrimonial Causes Act…

Accredited journalists attending private family proceedings have no automatic right to inspect the court file or underlying documents. Disclosure is permitted…

Under the 1980 Hague Convention, consent to a child’s temporary travel does not establish consent to permanent relocation. Consent must be clear and…

When determining applications affecting a parent’s parental responsibility, participation in care proceedings or access to documents, the child’s welfare…

A judgment will not ordinarily be reopened to admit evidence of alleged fraud where the applicant deliberately decided not to investigate or rely on that…

Where shares are registered in one person’s sole name, equity starts from the position that the legal owner is also the beneficial owner. The person alleging a…

In an application for a Female Genital Mutilation Protection Order, the Family Court must conduct its own assessment of risk. It is not bound by, or required…

A financial remedy consent order may be set aside for mistake where the facts forming its basis were unknown when it was made, those facts would have produced…

In applications concerning life-sustaining treatment for a child lacking capacity, the court must determine the child’s objective best interests. Welfare is…

On an interim application concerning children, the court must determine the least worst available option by applying the paramountcy principle and focusing on…

In an application concerning vaccination of a child in interim local-authority care, the welfare principle requires the court to assess vaccination by…

In family proceedings concerning children, costs do not generally follow the event. The court retains a broad discretion to order costs where a party has acted…

Under the 1980 Hague Convention, habitual residence depends on the child’s degree of integration in a social and family environment. A lawful, permanent…

An application under the inherent jurisdiction for the summary return of children to a non-Convention country is determined by the children’s welfare, which…

In determining a child’s welfare, a transfer of primary care is not confined to cases of last resort. It may be ordered where it is necessary and proportionate…

Under Art 13(b) of the 1980 Hague Convention, the court must assess the risk on an immediate return by reference to the evidence and the summary nature of the…

In child abduction proceedings under the 1980 Hague Convention, habitual residence depends on the children’s integration in a social and family environment…

Legal professional privilege may be waived where a party puts the substance of instructions to legal advisers in issue and relies on an alleged mismatch…

Where a child requires a deprivation of liberty but no suitable registered secure placement is available, the statutory safeguards applicable to secure…

A non-molestation order should ordinarily specify an end date. An indefinite order remains legally permissible where the facts justify continuing protection…

Permission for a child to travel to a non-Hague Convention country depends on the child’s best interests. Where travel carries a risk of retention, the court…

Payment for a lay advocate depends on where the assistance is provided and what function it performs. HMCTS is responsible for funding a lay advocate for a…

Habitual residence under the 1980 Hague Convention is a factual question requiring a comparative assessment of the child’s integration in the social and family…

Permission to withdraw Hague Convention proceedings is governed by the overriding objective, including expedition, fairness, proportionality and saving…

A legal services payment order may fund both prospective and unpaid costs incurred in ongoing proceedings where the applicant could not reasonably obtain…

Children’s expressed wishes and feelings must be assessed in the context of all the evidence. They should not be treated as determinative where the evidence…

Security for obligations arising from a matrimonial settlement should be fashioned proportionately to the nature of the dispute and the circumstances of the…

The statutory criteria for a parental order under Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, s 54, require a purposive and Convention-compliant…

Where parents agree that children will live temporarily in another country, retention becomes wrongful only when the agreed conditions for return have been met…

In an application concerning withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from an infant, the governing principle is the child’s best interests. The court must…

Third-party litigation funding is not unlawful in family proceedings merely because the funder receives a share of the recovery. The modern law of champerty…

Permission to appeal requires a real prospect of success or another compelling reason. An appellate court must not substitute its own evaluation for that of…

In an Article 12 settlement case, the relevant date is the date on which proceedings were issued in the requested state. Settlement is assessed holistically…

Article 13(b) of the 1980 Hague Convention is not confined to cases where children would return to a parent’s care. The court must assess the situation on…

In an application for summary return under the Hague Convention, settlement is assessed holistically and from the child’s perspective. Physical, emotional and…

In determining medical treatment for a minor, the court must make its own objective assessment of the child’s best interests. Best interests has a wide meaning…

In care proceedings involving unexplained serious injuries to an infant, the local authority bears the burden of proving the allegations on the balance of…

An academic application in the public-law field may be heard only in the court’s cautious discretion and where there is a good reason in the public interest.…

Consent to a child’s removal under the Hague Convention must be assessed in the realities of family life, not by contractual principles or an assumed duty of…

In contempt proceedings arising from an alleged breach of a freezing order, the applicant bears the burden of proof to the criminal standard. The court must…

The High Court’s inherent jurisdiction to revoke a lawfully made adoption order is severely curtailed. Revocation is available only in highly exceptional and…

Recognition of a foreign adoption at common law depends on the four criteria in Re Valentine's Settlement: domicile of the adopter in the foreign country…

Capacity to conduct family proceedings is decision-specific. The threshold for a final declaration of incapacity is high because such a declaration…

In balancing competing rights under Articles 8 and 10 ECHR, a child’s best interests are a primary, but not paramount, consideration. The court must intensely…

In fact-finding proceedings under Part IV of the Children Act 1989, the local authority bears the burden of proving each material fact on the balance of…

In proceedings concerning a child taken abroad, the court held that the welfare principle under the Children Act 1989 governed an inward return application…

The court may recognise a foreign adoption under the inherent jurisdiction where four requirements are satisfied: the adopters were domiciled in the foreign…

Article 13(b) requires the court to assess the situation that would exist on the child’s return, including the effect of the return on a primary carer’s mental…

Whether a family fact-finding hearing should proceed remotely is an individual case-management decision. The court must assess fairness, justice, the welfare…

Permission to appeal out of time may be granted where the court considers all relevant circumstances, including the length and explanation of delay, compliance…

When deciding whether to identify a public authority or professionals in a family judgment, the court must conduct a rigorous parallel analysis of the…

In fact-finding proceedings, the burden rests on the party seeking findings and the standard is the balance of probabilities. A witness’s lies about some…

In an adult child’s claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, the court must first decide whether the deceased’s disposition…

Case management decisions concerning remote final hearings must be kept under review, but fairness requires the judge to raise any material concern arising…

A local authority must apply for a secure accommodation order where the statutory test is met and the child requires secure accommodation. A shortage of secure…

Whether a contested Family hearing should proceed remotely is an individual case-management decision. The court must balance fairness, effective participation…

Disclosure of documents from a determined asylum claim into private law family proceedings requires a fact-sensitive balancing exercise. The court must weigh…

In a needs-based financial remedy claim, the court must undertake the discretionary exercise required by section 25, considering all relevant circumstances.…

A deprivation of liberty may be authorised for a child in an unregistered placement where the restrictions are necessary, proportionate and the least…

Where a child habitually resident in England and Wales has been wrongfully retained in another EU Member State, a domestic return order may fall within the…

A divorce decree remains valid where a competent court had jurisdiction and dissolved the parties’ marriage, even if the decree identifies the wrong ceremony…

In family fact-finding proceedings, a conclusion that a witness has lied on one issue does not establish that the witness has lied generally. The court must…

The statutory requirement that a child’s home be with parental-order applicants may be interpreted broadly and purposively. It is not confined to cases in…

A freezing order requires the restrained value to remain genuinely unencumbered and practically accessible. Assets that cannot readily be realised without the…

In welfare proceedings concerning children habitually resident abroad, the court’s paramount consideration was the children’s welfare under Children Act 1989…

Permission under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 requires an arguable case with some chance of success and a need for renewed judicial investigation.…

In financial remedy proceedings, a pre-nuptial agreement is not given weight merely because it is clear or customary in the jurisdiction where it was signed.…

Where the 1980 Hague Convention does not operate between the United Kingdom and a British Overseas Territory, the court may nevertheless entertain an…

Section 100(3) of the Children Act 1989 does not prescribe a particular form or timing for an application for leave to invoke the inherent jurisdiction…

In a financial remedy claim involving a family home acquired through fraudulent mortgage and benefit arrangements, illegality is a relevant factor but is not…

In financial remedy proceedings, a private-company valuation is an evaluative aid to achieving fairness, not an exercise in mathematical precision. The court…

Under the Hague Convention, a child wrongfully removed within one year must be returned forthwith unless a Convention exception is established. The Article…

In financial remedy proceedings, the court must first assess the resources available to the parties, including resources whose precise value cannot be…

A sanction imposed by a court order takes effect unless the defaulting party applies for and obtains relief. An application for an adjournment is not, without…

Where disclosure of a witness’s identity creates a real and immediate risk of serious harm or death engaging Articles 2 or 3 of the ECHR, the court must give…

Under Access to Health Records Act 1990, a deceased patient’s personal representative and a person who may have a claim arising from the death are distinct…

At a first hearing dispute resolution appointment, the court should distinguish between an interim child arrangements decision and a final order. A…

In a non-Convention child-abduction case, the court must determine jurisdiction, forum and welfare as separate questions. Habitual residence is a child-focused…

Dialysis may constitute medical treatment for mental disorder under section 63 of the Mental Health Act 1983 where the physical condition requiring it, or the…

In financial remedy proceedings, a High Court judge should not transfer related Admiralty proceedings into the Family Division without the issue first being…

The common law permits recognition of a foreign adoption made outside applicable international conventions and statutory schemes. Recognition requires…

In care proceedings, a child may be placed abroad with wider family members where the placement best serves the child’s welfare and adequately protects the…

In cross-applications for child arrangements involving international relocation, the court must determine the child’s paramount welfare by a holistic and…

A female genital mutilation protection order requires evidence establishing, on the balance of probabilities, that the person to be protected faces a relevant…

Challenges to family arbitration awards are subject to the statutory framework in the Arbitration Act 1996. Permission to appeal on a question of law is…

Contempt in the face of the court must be proved by the applicant to the criminal standard. The court must be sure that the alleged conduct occurred and that…

The High Court may exercise its nationality-based inherent jurisdiction to protect a British child living abroad, including by making the child a ward of court…

not stated in the judgment.

In a fact-finding hearing concerning a child’s death, the court must assess the totality of the evidence and decide disputed facts on the balance of…

A non-party costs order may be made against a local authority directed to prepare a section 7 report where its conduct is sufficiently reprehensible or…

In an exceptional financial-remedy case, compensation for relationship-generated disadvantage may be awarded where a spouse gave up a promising career for the…

In a Hague Convention child-abduction application, an objection under article 13 requires a three-stage assessment: whether the child objects, whether the…

When deciding whether to make a Female Genital Mutilation Protection Order, the family court must conduct its own assessment of risk. It must consider all…

A contempt finding for breach of a freezing order depends on the proper construction of the order and proof, to the criminal standard, that the respondent…

Part III financial relief after an overseas divorce is directed to alleviating the adverse consequences of inadequate foreign financial provision. The court…

A local authority with a care order may ordinarily authorise routine childhood vaccinations under Children Act 1989, s 33(3). Vaccination is preventative…

Non-contentious probate business does not become contentious merely because the parties disagree about the administration of an estate. A beneficiary’s right…

When deciding whether life-sustaining treatment should be withheld from a child, the court must exercise its own independent and objective judgment. The…

Religious confidentiality is not absolute where disclosure is necessary to protect children from sexual abuse. Material gathered by religious elders while…

Where foreign proceedings concerning parental responsibility have concluded, jurisdiction is determined by the children’s habitual residence under Council…

Under Children Act 1989, Sch 1, financial provision is directed to the child’s needs and dependency. It may include provision for the primary carer where that…

In an application to restrict publication of treating clinicians’ names, the court must balance open justice and freedom of expression against the…

Where a patient satisfies the applicable death by neurological criteria, the court should determine whether death has occurred by applying the relevant…

Applications to publish judgments and permit reporting in private family proceedings require an intense, fact-specific balancing exercise between the relevant…

A deprivation of liberty assessment must ordinarily address the child’s actual circumstances at the time of the application. A contingent care plan, intended…

A marriage validly celebrated under the law of an unrecognised territory may nevertheless receive recognition in England and Wales where recognition concerns…

In family fact-finding proceedings involving alleged domestic abuse and sexual assault, fairness requires the court to implement the protections for vulnerable…

A unilateral assurance by a sovereign state may be legally binding in international law if it clearly expresses an intention to be bound. Its reliability and…

Under the Hague Convention, a child’s objection requires a two-stage gateway inquiry: whether the child objects to return in Convention terms, and whether the…

A party alleging misconduct in civil or family proceedings bears the burden of proving it on the balance of probabilities. The seriousness of the allegation or…