FS v RS
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Sir James Munby |
| Judgment Date | 11 November 2020 |
| Neutral Citation | [2020] EWFC 70 |
| Court | Family Court |
| Docket Number | Case No: ZC20P04055 |
| Date | 11 November 2020 |
[2020] EWFC 70
IN THE FAMILY COURT
At the Royal Courts of Justice
(In Private)
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Sir James Munby
Case No: ZC20P04055
The applicant in person
Matter dealt with on paper
Judgment Approved by the court for handing down
This is a footnote to a judgment I handed down on 30 September 2020: FS v RS and JS [2020] EWFC 63.
One of many matters I dealt with related to a potential TOLATA claim flagged up by the applicant in relation to which he had lodged a Restriction on 20 June 2020 (see paras 10, 141, 164–171, 176). Paragraph 7 of my order provided that the applicant was by 4pm on 11 November 2020 (time to be of the essence) to notify both the court and the respondents' solicitors whether or not he intended to pursue the claim and that in the event that he failed within that time to comply with that direction then (unless the court had on application made by the applicant before the expiry of the relevant time extended time) (i) the applicant should be debarred from pursuing any such claim and (ii) the Restriction should be removed.
It is to be noted that on this as on all other points I refused the applicant permission to appeal (para 173) and refused to extend his time for renewing the application (para 174). It is also to be noted that, although I was asked (and refused) to grant a stay of execution pending appeal in relation to my costs order (para 175), there was no application for a stay of execution in relation to the TOLATA order, merely an application (which I refused) to alter the form of order I had indicated I was going to make, and in the event did make (para 176).
It will be appreciated that the date specified in paragraph 7 of the order was such that there was more than adequate time to enable the applicant, if so advised, to apply to the Court of Appeal for a stay.
On the afternoon of 10 November 2020, the applicant, who by then was acting in person, applied to me informally as follows (I make no complaint in the circumstances about the informality and confirmed to the applicant that I did not require him to make a formal application on Form N244):
“I write with respect to paragraph 7 of your Order to let you know that I do not presently intend to bring a ToLATA claim since I am financially unable to do so. That situation might change if my Appeal to the Court of Appeal is successful and I am able to bring the ToLATA claim alongside my other financial relief claims.
Can I please therefore ask that your Order be varied to read that I should have to signal my intentions about the ToLATA claim some 3 weeks after the Appeal is decided and pursue the claim at that point if need be? That is the only thing that makes any sense right now and it is obviously right to tie the ToLATA claim up as a package with my other financial relief claims, particularly if the Court of Appeal agree with my interpretation of whether jurisdiction should be allowed for the claims.”
I asked the applicant to send me his appellant's notice and grounds of appeal and to tell me whether the Court of Appeal had yet considered his application for permission to appeal. He promptly supplied me with the two documents and told me that his section 10 applications were presently being dealt with by...
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