M was granted leave to apply to revoke an adoption placement order under s24(2)a ACA 2002. Her two children (by now age 6 and 4) were taken into care after various incidents of domestic abuse and M’s excessive alcohol use. The judge approved the LA adoption plan, dispensed with M’s consent to adoption and made …
Continue reading “Adoption – placement order”
Mostyn J has issued amendments to standard orders relating to child abduction or wrongful removal/retention in foreign jurisdictions. They take immediate effect. This follows publication of guidance from the President’s Office, Liaison between Courts in England and Wales and British Embassies and High Commissions Abroad, which includes specimen clauses. They are relevant where assistance is …
Continue reading “Procedure – child abduction”
The new divorce law – the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 – is in force from 6 April, as is the new online service for applications for divorce. Under the new system, the element of ‘fault’ will be removed from divorce applications and the parties can make a joint application to end the marriage …
Continue reading “Procedure – new divorce law”
What is the correct approach to an application for maintenance pending suit (MPS), particular where the paying party has given ‘lamentable’ disclosure of their financial position? Here, W claimed MPS of £17,000 a month. Mostyn soundly rejected H’s statement in his witness statement that he could not afford to pay MPS. He criticised H for …
Continue reading “Financial remedies – maintenance pending suit”
The process by which the Recorder reached the conclusion that the threshold criteria under s31 CA 1989 were satisfied was fair. F failed in his appeal following a fact-finding hearing in care proceedings in respect of his daughter, aged 2. The recorder made the findings sought by the LA – but also made additional findings, …
Continue reading “Care proceedings – fact-finding”
This was the second rehearing of W’s claim for financial remedies orders in what the judge described as having ‘a very unusual history’. The parties were divorced in 2010. Two orders, including a consent order, had previously been made but were set aside by reasons of H’s non-disclosure. It was a single issue case around …
Continue reading “Financial remedies – company shares”
Don’t use s25 statements to attack the other party but stick to the evidence, the Family Court has warned litigants. The comment comes at the start of a ruling in high-value financial remedy proceedings in a case that involved both a pre-marital and a post-marital agreement and a prospective inheritance from W’s wealthy father. However, …
Continue reading “Financial remedies – statements”
The parties sought a parental order in relation to Z who was born in 2017 to a surrogate mother in Georgia. The application was made against the background of care proceedings, which resulted in final orders in relation to the parties’ older children. However, it wasn’t until the care proceedings were under way that it …
Continue reading “Surrogacy – parental order”
What is the court’s approach to an opposition to an application for an adoption order on the basis of change of circumstances? The prospective adopters sought an adoption order in respect of two children (now 10 and 6), but the birth parents (who have since had another child who is living with them) opposed the …
Continue reading “Adoption – objections”