M v B
| Court | Family Division |
| Judge | Mr Jonathan |
| Neutral Citation | [2024] EWHC 3266 (Fam) |
| Date | 16 December 2024 |
| Year | 2024 |
| Counsel | Mr Richard Little,Mr Giles Bain |
Approved Judgment M– v- B
[2024] EWHC 3266 (Fam)
Case no: FD24P00473
Neutral Citation Number: [2024] EWHC 3266 (Fam)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
FAMILY DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Date: 16 December 2024
Before:
Mr Jonathan Glasson KC sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court
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Between:
M Applicant
- and -
B
Respondent
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Mr Richard Little (instructed by Switalskis Solicitors) for the Applicant
Mr Giles Bain (instructed by Fosters Legal Solutions Ltd) for the Respondent
Hearing dates: 28 and 29 November 2024
Draft judgment circulated to the parties 12 December 2024
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Approved Judgment
This judgment was delivered in private. The judge has given leave for this
version of the judgment to be published on condition that (irrespective of what is
contained in the judgment) in any published version of the judgment the
anonymity of the children and members of their family must be strictly
preserved. All persons, including representatives of the media and legal
bloggers, must ensure that this condition is strictly complied with. Failure to do
so may be a contempt of court.
Page 1 of 41
Approved Judgment M– v- B
[2024] EWHC 3266 (Fam)
Mr Jonathan Glasson KC sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court:
Introduction
Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction: the “1980 Hague
Convention”). The application seeks the summary return to the Czech Republic of
two children: [B] (born 14 April 2013, and so aged 11) and [N] (born 21 January
2019, and so aged 5). The Applicant is the children’s mother (“the Mother”), the
Respondent is their father (“the Father”).
2. In advance of the hearing, I was provided with an agreed bundle as well as a small
bundle of authorities. Both parties also submitted helpful skeleton arguments.
3. The parties attended the final hearing in person. The Mother was screened throughout.
4. At the hearing Ms Callaghan, the Cafcass officer who had reported on the children’s
wishes, attended and gave oral evidence. Both parents gave oral evidence confined to
the defence of consent that had been raised by the Father. At the conclusion of the
evidence, both parties made oral submissions expanding on their skeleton arguments.
I am very grateful to both counsel for their assistance as well as to Ms Callaghan
whose written and oral evidence I have found particularly helpful. The hearing itself
took the full two days that had been allocated and at the end of the hearing I indicated
to the parties that I would reserve judgment.
5. The judgment is structured as follows:
a) The issues to be determined
b) Factual overview and procedural history
c) Preliminary issue and application for oral evidence
d) The evidence from Cafcass
e) The evidence in relation to consent
f) The parties’ submissions
g) The legal framework
h) Discussion and conclusions
The issues to be determined
6. Both children were born in England. They moved to the Czech Republic in 2020. The
Mother has rights of custody under the Czech Law Act no 89/2012 Coll Civil code
sections 865 – 870. It is common ground that the children were habitually resident
Page 2 of 41
Approved Judgment M– v- B
[2024] EWHC 3266 (Fam)
there prior to their travelling to England on 9 June 2024 and have been wrongfully
retained here.
7. The Father defends these proceedings on the basis he says that:
(a) The Mother consented to the relocation of the children from the Czech
Republic to England (Article 13(a) of the 1980 Hague Convention).
(b) The children are at grave risk of harm or will be otherwise placed in an
intolerable situation were they to be returned to the Czech Republic (Article
13(b) of the 1980 Hague Convention).
(c) The children’s objections to a return to the Czech Republic (Article 13 of the
1980 Hague Convention).
Factual overview and procedural history
8. The Mother (aged 43) is of Czech nationality and the Father (aged 44) is British. The
parties met in the UK and married on 19 July 2014. Both children were born in the
UK but lived in the Czech Republic from 2020 until travelling to the UK in June
2024.
proceedings were issued by the Father after the Mother allegedly assaulted him. The
parties resumed their relationship however in December 2017. The parties agreed to
relocate to the Czech Republic permanently and made the move in the summer of
2020. At first, they lived with the children’s maternal grandfather and then moved to
their own new home in mid-August 2020.
10. Between 2020 and 2024 the Father travelled back and forth to the UK for his work
and the Mother was the primary carer of the children.
11. By December 2023, the marriage seems to have broken down and the parties agreed
to divorce. The Mother claims that the Father was a “controlling bully and took
advantage of her”. Initially, the parties agreed that the children would remain with
the Mother in the Czech Republic and the Father would continue his visits to see
them. What happened thereafter is the subject of sharp dispute, the detail of which I
analyse below when determining the consent issue. By way of summary, the Father
states that the Mother repeatedly said that the children wanted to move to live with
their Father in the UK. The Father says that he continuously checked with the Mother
that this was what the Mother wanted during April and May 2024. The Father says
that she reiterated that that is what she wanted. The Mother says that she only
referred to the children moving to the UK in heated arguments.
12. The Father travelled to the UK with the two children on 9 June 2024 and they have
subsequently remained in the UK. Contact between the Mother and the children was
only resumed after these proceedings were issued.
Procedural history
Page 3 of 41
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