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- The father sought the summary return of his son to California. HHJ Robertshaw allowed oral evidence on the issue of acquiescence but found that very little of value or relevance was gained. The written communications did not support a defence of acquiescence under Article 13(a), and the judge was satisfied that adequate arrangements could be made to secure the child's protection after his return, so the defence under Article 13(b) (grave risk of harm/intolerability) also failed. A return order was made. Judgment, 08/05/2019, free
- After some delay, the mother sought permission to appeal against an order for the child to live with his father. Williams J reviewed the expert evidence and stated that almost every judge would have reached the same conclusion on the evidence available. The appeal was dismissed. Judgment, 01/05/2019, free
- Applications were made to redact a previous judgment concerning international child abduction, on the basis that criminal charges might be brought. Mostyn J said that such redactions would rob the judgment of the coercive effect that it was designed to achieve, and no decision to charge had yet been made. The applications were rejected. Judgment, 29/04/2019, free
- The mother took the children to Ukraine on an agreed holiday and did not return them. The father sought an order that would permit certain information about the case to be publicised. Mostyn J decided that the mother, her new husband and her father (a former Vice-President of Ukraine) could be named and their photographs published. Judgment, 23/04/2019, free
- The mother appealed against an order for the return of the child to Australia. The original retention of the child took place in Uganda, a country not party to the Hague Convention 1980. In Moylan LJ's view, a retention which takes place other than in a Contracting State is a retention which is justiciable under the Convention in a Contracting State, if and when the child travels to a Convention State. There is no need for removal to be to a Contracting State, nor is there any need for the retention to be in a Contracting State. McCombe LJ and Leggatt LJ agreed. Judgment, 23/04/2019, free
- Contrary to court orders, the father had wrongfully taken his son – a young man of nineteen with profound learning disabilities – to live in the USA. The mother sought an order for his return to the UK. Russell J DBE held that there were grounds for finding that a return to the UK was not in the young man's best interests. The child's future as an adult lay in the USA and these proceedings were to come to an end in recognition of that fact. The appropriate forum for any future litigation was the court in Texas. Judgment, 15/04/2019, free
- The father appealed against an order which prevented him from bringing further applications for contact or residence for three years. The judge had found that the children would suffer emotional harm if required to have direct contact with the father, who had completely lost sight of their welfare. Longmore, Peter Jackson and Coulson LJJ dismissed the appeal. Judgment, 09/04/2019, free
- The father of a twenty-one-year-old woman, who had served time in prison for his behaviour towards the mother, sought to vary a non-molestation order that prevented him contacting the daughter. The daughter was opposed to any contact, other than through her solicitors. Williams J saw no merit at all in the application. Judgment, 09/04/2019, free
- The father appealed from a finding that he had sexually abused his daughter, on the basis that the judge had failed to apply the relevant legal principles to the evaluation of the child's evidence. Williams J found that the judgment was flawed and remitted the matter for further hearing, stating that "in relation to allegations of sexual abuse of young children the court must not only deploy the generic fact-finding approach but must in particular identify the need for special care to be taken in evaluating the reliability of the evidence of young children". Judgment, 03/04/2019, free
- Parental responsibility after the separation of an unmarried same-sex couple who were not in a civil partnership, in circumstances where the prescribed HFEA forms were not completed due to an error at the IVF clinic. This had consequences for maintenance assessments and the child arrangements order. Theis J made the declaration of parentage sought by the applicant. Judgment, 29/03/2019, free