High Court: Family Division judgments, 2021

When determining parental responsibility, the child’s welfare remains paramount. The court may restrict a parent’s exercise of parental responsibility by a…

In determining disputed facts in private family proceedings, the court applies the ordinary balance of probabilities. The seriousness of allegations or…

In an international relocation application, the child’s welfare is paramount. The court must undertake a global, holistic evaluation of each realistic option…

In determining child arrangements after an international relocation, the court must conduct a welfare evaluation focused on the children’s present and future…

A local authority may be restrained under the inherent jurisdiction from consulting or informing a parent with parental responsibility about a child in care…

For Hague Convention purposes, habitual residence is determined by the child’s situation immediately before removal. The court must decide whether the child…

Under Brussels IIa, a change in a child’s habitual residence during pending proceedings does not displace the jurisdiction of the court first seised. The…

An order preventing all direct and indirect contact between a child and a parent is exceptional. It should be made only where the circumstances are exceptional…

A committal application under Part 37 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 should identify the required matters and information, but an irregularity does not…

Under the 1980 Hague Convention, a person may have inchoate rights of custody where they undertake primary care, are not sharing that responsibility with a…

Where land is acquired in joint names with an express declaration of trust, that declaration ordinarily determines the parties’ beneficial interests.…

Under the Presumption of Death Act 2013, the court must make a declaration where a missing person has not been known to be alive for at least seven years, even…

In determining child arrangements, the child’s welfare remains the paramount consideration. The court must assess the real risk of emotional and psychological…

Compliance with the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005 is mandatory, but a breach does not automatically invalidate a placement order. The court must assess…

A local authority holding a care order may arrange and consent to Covid-19 or winter flu vaccination for a looked-after child under section 33 of the Children…

Transnational marriage abandonment is a broad concept, not a formulaic term. It may arise where one spouse exploits the other’s vulnerability or immigration…

The High Court’s inherent jurisdiction to authorise the deprivation of a child’s liberty is not extinguished merely because a placement will not comply with…

The High Court’s inherent parens patriae jurisdiction over a child outside England and Wales is exceptional, protective and residual. It may be exercised only…

On an application to enforce a child arrangements order, the court must identify an actual breach of the order’s terms. Failure to achieve its broader purpose…

Applications to remove a child temporarily to a non-Hague Convention country are determined by the child’s best interests. Where there is a risk of retention…

A general civil restraint order may be extended where extension is appropriate. The court must consider the whole history, including the conduct that led to…

In a family fact-finding hearing, allegations must be proved by the party making them on the balance of probabilities. Findings must be based on evidence and…

In deciding whether to publish a family judgment identifying the parents, the court must conduct an intensive, fact-specific balancing exercise between the…

In determining competing child arrangements, the child’s welfare remains paramount. For an articulate young person aged 15, ascertainable wishes and feelings…

Where a child who lacks capacity requires urgent medical treatment, the court may authorise deprivation of liberty and the use of physical or chemical…

A reporting restriction order requires a close and careful balancing of the children’s Article 8 rights against the media’s Article 10 rights. A restriction is…

In a dispute concerning life-sustaining treatment for a child lacking capacity, the court must make its own objective assessment of the child’s best interests…

Adoption is justified only where it is necessary and proportionate, meaning that no other arrangement is likely to meet the child’s lifelong welfare needs. In…

Under Article 13(b) of the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, the returning parent must establish a grave risk that…

In private-law children proceedings, a fact-finding hearing concerning domestic abuse must be necessary and proportionate to the welfare issues before the…

For the purposes of Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996, the definition of “relative” in section 63(1) does not include a step-nephew. The statutory reference…

In a Hague Convention return application, a parent’s refusal to return with the child does not by itself establish the Article 13(b) exception. The court must…

In determining child-arrangements disputes, the court must focus on the children’s welfare and balance the value of each parent’s involvement against their…

Diplomatic immunity under the Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964 and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations is not incompatible with Articles 3 or 6 ECHR…

Where a parent agrees that a child may remain abroad for an identifiable temporary period, the retention is not wrongful during that period merely because the…

Where a local authority seeks permission to withdraw care proceedings, the court must consider whether the threshold criteria are met and, if they are or may…

The High Court has inherent jurisdiction to revoke a lawfully made adoption order, but the discretion is severely restricted. It may be exercised only in…

Under the 1980 Hague Convention, a return application succeeds only if the child was habitually resident in the requested state immediately before the alleged…

Transactions at an undervalue fall within Insolvency Act 1986, s 423 where putting assets beyond a claimant’s reach or prejudicing the claimant is a purpose of…

Where medical treatment for a minor is finely balanced, involves differing medical views, or lacks agreement among those concerned with the patient’s welfare…

For care proceedings with an international dimension, jurisdiction depends on the child’s habitual residence rather than mere physical presence, subject to the…

Article 37(b) of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 ordinarily requires notification where a court appoints a guardian for a foreign-national…

An anti-suit injunction may be granted in children proceedings where the English court has personal jurisdiction over the respondent, a sufficient interest in…

A local authority with parental responsibility under a care order will ordinarily be entitled to apply for EU Settlement Scheme status for an eligible child…

Revocation of a lawfully made adoption order is available under the inherent jurisdiction only in highly exceptional and very particular circumstances.…

An appellate court may interfere with family fact-finding where the judge applied an erroneous legal approach, reached a conclusion unsupported by the…

An application under Article 21 of the 1980 Hague Convention is governed by the child’s welfare under Children Act 1989, s 1. The principles governing…

In care proceedings, the threshold may be satisfied by a real risk of significant harm arising from a parent’s likely care, even where the feared harm is not…

A local authority exercising parental responsibility under a care order has broad powers, but those powers are subject to statutory limits and the court’s…

Parental responsibility includes consent to medical treatment. A parent’s ability to consent continues where a child is not Gillick competent, and also where a…

A court of co-equal jurisdiction must loyally follow an existing order unless it has been set aside or stayed by the appropriate court. Where a foreign court…

In Hague Convention proceedings, an Article 13(b) defence requires proof of a grave risk that return would expose the child to physical or psychological harm…

In determining whether life-sustaining treatment should be withdrawn from a child lacking capacity, the court must assess the child’s welfare in the widest…

On an appeal concerning an occupation order, fresh evidence may be admitted where it could not reasonably have been obtained for the original hearing, would…

For an inward return application concerning a child aged over 16, the court must determine jurisdiction by applying the child-focused test of habitual…

In care proceedings, further litigation of threshold issues may be disproportionate where all parties accept that a final care order is necessary and the…

Where a child has been wrongfully removed from a Contracting State, that State retains jurisdiction under Article 7 of the 1996 Hague Convention until the…

When varying an executory financial remedies order under the Thwaite jurisdiction, the court must ask two questions: whether there has been a significant and…

Appeals from case-management decisions attract a wide margin of discretion. Intervention is justified only for an error of principle, reliance on irrelevant…

In determining jurisdiction in an international child case, consent to a holiday does not amount to consent to permanent relocation. A removal or retention is…

Under article 13(b) of the 1980 Hague Convention, the respondent must establish a grave risk that return would expose the child to harm or an intolerable…

In Hague Convention proceedings, the court must determine whether removal was wrongful by applying the law of the child’s habitual residence. Under Article…

A court may authorise a deprivation of a child’s liberty where the arrangements satisfy the Storck and Cheshire West criteria and the measures are lawful…

Wrongful retention under the Hague Convention, whether before or after the planned return date, requires a clearly agreed due date within an agreed finite…

Recognition of a foreign adoption under the common law requires satisfaction of the Re Valentine’s Settlement criteria. The court must be satisfied that the…

International relocation and child-arrangements decisions are determined by the child’s paramount welfare. The court must undertake a holistic, non-linear…

In findings-of-fact proceedings, the burden remains on the party making each allegation, and the standard is the balance of probabilities. The court must…

Under the inherent jurisdiction, the court may authorise a child’s deprivation of liberty where the placement engages Art 5 of the ECHR and the order is in the…

Capacity to marry requires only a broad understanding that marriage creates a recognised union carrying mutual expectations of society, comfort and assistance.…

The court may authorise the deprivation of a child’s liberty under the inherent jurisdiction where the proposed arrangements constitute a deprivation of…

In an application concerning withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from a child, the governing question is whether providing the treatment is in the child’s…

In deciding whether to grant parental responsibility to a person who does not have it automatically, the court must treat the child’s welfare as paramount. The…

Where suitable secure accommodation is unavailable, the inherent jurisdiction may authorise a deprivation of liberty in another placement, but the safeguards…

In Hague Convention proceedings, joinder of children is determined by their best interests. An older child’s opposition to return is relevant but is not, by…

Under the 1980 Hague Convention, a prompt-return obligation following wrongful removal remains subject to article 13, but the discretion is not governed by the…

Interim financial provision is governed by reasonableness, assessed in all the circumstances. The marital standard of living is an important factor, but the…

There is no automatic requirement to join a child as a party to adoption proceedings. Joinder depends on the circumstances specified in the Family Procedure…

A prohibited steps order restricting a child’s religious observance must be based on objective evidence and justified by the child’s best interests. The court…

The court may vary periodical payments where a lump sum remains unpaid, provided the variation reflects the financial consequences of the default and avoids…

A Gillick competent child does not have an absolute right to refuse medical treatment. The court may override the decision of a competent minor where the…

Once the court’s jurisdiction is invoked in relation to serious medical treatment for a child, it must exercise its own independent and objective judgment by…

Applications to withhold a child’s birth and proposed adoption from a putative father and wider family require urgent and thorough investigation, followed by a…

A parental order under Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, s 54, has profound legal and personal consequences, and the child’s welfare is paramount.…

Permission to withdraw care proceedings must be granted where it is plain and obvious that the local authority cannot satisfy the threshold criteria for a…

The inherent parens patriae jurisdiction may protect British children abroad, but it is an exceptional, residual jurisdiction requiring great caution. The…

In deciding whether life-sustaining treatment should be withdrawn from a child, the court must assess the child’s best interests objectively, with welfare…