Monday, 27 February 2017

Jurisdiction to vary orders relating to children: CJEU decision of 15.2.17


Not really any dramatic new law but this decision adopts a the same sort of approach to applications to vary custody/contact order that the Court of Appeal adopted in Re G (jurisdiction: art 19 biia) [2015] 1 flr 276.  Basically once you have a final order in Member State  A you cant apply to ‘vary’ it where the child is now HR in Member State B.

In Case C‑499/15, W-v-X

REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Vilniaus miesto apylinkÄ—s teismas (District Court, Vilnius, Lithuania).

Article 8 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, repealing Regulation (EC) No 1347/2000, and Article 3 of Council Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 of 18 December 2008 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and cooperation in matters relating to maintenance obligations, must be interpreted as meaning that, in a case such as that in the main proceedings, the courts of the Member State which made a decision that has become final concerning parental responsibility and maintenance obligations with regard to a minor child no longer have jurisdiction to decide on an application for variation of the provisions ordered in that decision, inasmuch as the habitual residence of the child is in another Member State. It is the courts of the Member State of habitual residence that have jurisdiction to decide on that application.

http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d2dc30d5d2151ef70249448d87e4bf9f4636339c.e34KaxiLc3qMb40Rch0SaxyKchn0?text=&docid=187865&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=209917