Habitual Residence: The UK Supreme Court Judgment in A

On 9th September the UKSC delivered its judgment in A: http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/decided-cases/docs/UKSC_2013_0106_Judgment.pdf There is much of interest but 2 principal points are (a)the courts of England retain jurisdiction in respect of children who are UK subjects in certain limited circumstances. (b) the test for determining the habitual residence of a child is the European test set out in Mercredi-v-Chaffe and Re A. The English authorities including Shah-v-Barnet should no longer be followed. In particular they place too much emphasis on the intentions of the adults and too little on the factual situaiton of the child.

EU issues Best Practice Guide on 1980 Hague Abduction and Art 11(6-8) applications

The European Union Working Group on Article 11 of BIIR has now issued some best practice guidance on both Central Authority and Judicial processes in relation to how 1980 Hague Abduction Convention applications are handled and how Article 11(6-8) 'second bite of the cherry' applications are dealt with. The Guidance can be found at: https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_parental_responsibility-46-en.do and https://e-justice.europa.eu/fileDownload.do?id=6c30ffe7-40e7-4d9a-96b0-7c9a14370c3c

Legal Aid Consultation

The new consultation is out. https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/transforming-legal-aid-next-steps/consult_view My preliminary reading (paras 125 on) suggests that the 1 year residence (a) The government have said that obligations under EU or international law as specified in Sch 1 LASPO (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/10/schedule/1 )will not be covered by the 1 year residence test and will be covered by legal aid. Para 17 of Sch 1 of LASPO covers EU and International Agreements relating to children (which includes 1980 Hague) and so I assume legal aid continues for Hague (b) Forced Marriage cases will not be covered by the 1 year residence test. (c) Various child protection cases will not be covered by the 1 year residence test including care (LASPO Sch 1, para 1) child abduction cases (para 10) (d) Inherent jurisdiction will not be covered by the 1 year residence test.