Determining the correct intra-UK jurisdiction for child welfare proceedings (Re T (Children) (Jurisdiction: Matrimonial Proceedings))

Article summary

Family analysis: In a detailed legal analysis, Lord Justice Moylan set out why the High Court had erred in determining that a contested ‘internal’ jurisdictional dispute between England and Scotland regarding child welfare proceedings must be resolved under the 1996 Hague Convention on Parental Responsibility and Protection of Children (the 1996 Hague Convention). The judgment is forthright in setting out that the Family Law Act 1986 (FLA 1986) applies to determining jurisdiction in intra-UK private children cases, instead of the 1996 Hague Convention, as apparent from both the dicta in Re W-B (Family Proceedings: Appropriate Jurisdiction within UK), and certain key explanatory documents relating to the 1996 Hague Convention itself. Also fundamental to the determination of jurisdiction between England and Scotland in child welfare proceedings is the existence of any ‘continuing’ matrimonial proceedings, which will typically operate to exclude, essentially automatically, the other intra-UK country from exercising such child welfare jurisdiction. David Wilkinson, solicitor at Slater Heelis,...