Re H (minors) (chambers proceedings: McKenzie friend)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 1997 |
| Date | 1997 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
MILLETT AND WARD, L JJ
Practice – child case – hearing in chambers – whether party could be assisted by McKenzie friend.
The parties had one child, a girl now aged 3. The parents separated. There were problems over contact. An application was made to a county court and came before a recorder. The father appeared in person and asked for a friend to come into court with him and assist him as a McKenzie friend. The recorder refused to allow the McKenzie friend to remain in court as the hearing was in chambers.
The father sought leave to appeal against the exclusion of the McKenzie friend.
Held – The recorder was wrong to exclude the McKenzie friend even if the matter proceeded in chambers as a matter affecting a child. Provided the McKenzie friend did no more than sit and advise and quietly offer help there was no objection to that.
However, leave to appeal would be refused as there had been a subsequent hearing when the issue of contact was before the court and the Judge had correctly permitted the McKenzie friend to be present.
Case referred to in judgment:McKenzie v McKenzie [1971] P 33; [1970] 3 WLR 472; [1970] 3 All ER 1034.
The father in person.
The mother did not appear and was not represented.
LORD JUSTICE WARD.This is a sad case. It relates to the child of the parties, a girl, born on 29 September 1993, so she is just 3 years old. Her parents have now parted and the mother has remarried. There are problems over contact. The father apparently has had a great deal to do with his young daughter and I would have thought her attachment to him is well cemented. Contact has proved troublesome and it led to an application to the Oxford county court on 30 August 1996 before Mr Recorder Parry. At the beginning of that hearing the father, who appeared in person, asked for a friend to come into court with him to listen and to make notes. He referred to the well-known case of McKenzie v McKenzie [1971]
P 33.
The recorder took a very different view. He concluded that in this matter, proceeding in chambers, it was inappropriate to have anybody else present. He refused to allow the friend to remain in court and, in effect, ordered him to leave. A hearing proceeded in the absence of the McKenzie friend. It resulted eventually in orders being made for contact; orders which were effectively, if not marked, to be consent orders for contact alternate weekends and for a day during the week with a built-in review on 17 February 1997, a date then some six months...
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R v Bow County Court, ex parte Pelling
...judicial discretion to exclude him. The application would therefore be dismissed; Re H (minors) (chambers proceedings: McKenzie friend) [1997] 3 FCR 618 not followed. Per curiam A judge excluding a McKenzie friend in proceedings in chambers in family proceedings is not required to give reas......
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Re O (children) (representation: McKenzie friend); Re W-R (A Child) (representation: McKenzie friend); Re W (children) (representation: McKenzie friend)
...friend: pre-trial determination), Re[2001] EWCA Civ 1444, [2002] 1 FLR 39. H (minors) (chambers proceedings: McKenzie friend), Re[1997] 3 FCR 618, [1997] 2 FLR 423, M (contact: parental responsibility: McKenzie friend), Re[1999] 1 FCR 703, [1999] 1 FLR 75, CA. McKenzie v McKenzie [1970] 3 A......
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R v Bow County Court, ex parte Pelling
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McA v McA
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