Re C (A Child) [2021] EWFC 32 Date:21 APR 2021
(Family Court, Sir James Munby, 13 April 2021)
Jurisdiction – Financial remedies – Sch 1, Children Act 1989 – Mother moved to England – Father issued proceedings in Monaco – Whether English court had jurisdiction to hear mother’s application
The court held that the English court had jurisdiction to hear the mother’s application on the basis of the Maintenance Regulation.
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Case No: ZC19P04101
Royal Courts of Justice -
Between : -
Mr Stewart Leech QC and Ms Petra Teacher (instructed by [a firm]) for the applicant (C’s mother)
By John Hyde2021-04-14T06:50:00+01:00
Fromer Family Division president Sir James Munby has used a foray back onto the bench to launch a stinging criticism of the costs accrued and directions ignored in lengthy family court disputes.
In a ruling on whether the English court had jurisdiction to hear a Children Act application from a French mother, Munby said it was necessary to add a final comment on the sums involved in what he called ‘preliminary skirmishing’.
The former president, who retired from the post in 2018 but continues to sit on certain cases, explained that the costs incurred to date in this country by the mother and father were almost £900,000 combined for this single hearing. This included counsel costs of more than £630,000.
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1. This is the fourth judgement I have delivered in this matter. At the beginning of my first judgment (see Lancashire CC v G (Unavailability of Secure Accommodation) [2020] EWHC 2828 (Fam)) I recalled the maxim that the measure of a society can be obtained from how that society treats its most vulnerable members, citing the formulation adopted by Nelson Mandela on 8 May 1995 that there can be no keener revelation of a society s soul than the way in which it treats its children .
2. Approaching
six months on from the commencement of these proceedings under the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court on 28 August 2020, it is possible to apply this illuminating metric to our society by reference to the extent to which G s acute and complex emotional and behavioural needs have been met. The scales tip very heavily against us.
NOTE: PICTURE POSED BY MODEL. A silhouette of a child is seen, as a disturbing report revealed that children are among hundreds of young women being trafficked into Ireland to be sold into the sex trade.. An “ongoing and acute” lack of suitable care places for society’s most vulnerable children has left a High Court judge with no choice but to authorise a suicidal Lancashire teenager’s placement in “sub-optimal” emergency accommodation. Mr Justice MacDonald said the 16-year-old, a “highly troubled and vulnerable young woman with multifaceted emotional and behavioural difficulties”, is at a high risk of self-harm or suicide.