Judges working together across national borders to achieve justice in family cases is one of the advantages of EU membership, and it is to be hoped that the arrangements in place are not disturbed by Brexit.
Recently, the Supreme Court considered an application to enforce a judgment made by a Romanian court concerning a child of Romanian parents who lived with his mother in England.
The child was born in Romania but came with his parents to live in this country. The parents' relationship later broke down and the father returned to his homeland. He commenced divorce and child custody proceedings in Romania and a Bucharest court directed that the boy should live with his father.
The latter applied to the High Court under the Brussels II (Revised) Regulation (BIIR) for recognition and enforcement of the Romanian judgment in England and Wales. That application was, however, refused on the basis that the Romanian court had not given the child an opportunity to express his wishes and feelings in respect of whether he preferred to live with his mother in England or with his father in Romania. That ruling was subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal.
In striking out the father's challenge to that decision, the Supreme Court found that it had no jurisdiction to entertain his appeal. It noted that BIIR was intended to provide a speedy and essentially administrative process by which judgments given by the courts of member states could be recognised and enforced elsewhere in the EU. That objective would not be advanced by the availability of too many potential avenues of appeal.
Says Amanda Holland,
Roughly one in six UK marriages now involves a foreign national and one result of that has been that cases involving childcare arrangements on the break-up of relationships with an international dimension are now routine.
Our family law specialists can assist with any aspect of the law relating to the breakdown of a family relationship.
For help or advice on any family law matter, contact a member of our Family Law Team.
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