Edward has significant experience in cases of international children cases at first instance and appellate level.
Notable International Family Law cases
M v A (No 2: Application to Set Aside Return Order) [2025] EWHC 1344 (Fam)Application by Mother to set aside order for return of children to Poland, on basis of significant decline in her mental health & her subsequent decision not to return.
S (A Child) : Refusal of Summary Return to UAE, Re [2025] EWHC 892 (Fam)Application by Father for return of his son to the United Arab Emirates. Return refused, in part so that Mother’s allegations of serious domestic abuse could be determined by courts here.
A v B [2025] EWHC 764 (Fam)Father’s application for summary return of child from Dubai, and mother’s application for permission to remove child to Dubai.
K (Children) (Application for return orders: Concurrent asylum claims) [2025] EWHC 450 (Fam)Case concerning two children who had come across the channel in a small boat without their parents.
M v A [2024] EWHC 3230 (Fam) Application by father for summary return of children to Poland.
AJ v FJ (Appeal Against Registration) [2024] EWFC 356The first successful appeal under The Hague Child Support Convention 2007.
DL v BJ [2024] EWHC 2160 (Fam)Application by father under inherent jurisdiction for summary return of child to Dubai.
M v F [2024] EWHC 1689 (Fam)Application by mother for summary return of child to Ukraine. Father’s defences of habitual residence, acquiescence and harm not made out, and return ordered.
Smolik, Elena (A Child) (Re Senior Courts Act 1981) [2024] EWHC 920 (Fam)Edward represented the successful Applicant mother. Return of child from Slovakia ordered.
R v M & Ors (Hague Convention; Withdrawal of Application and Art. 16 (Parental Responsibility) [2024] EWHC 720 (Fam)Application by step-father for return of children to New Zealand. Leave given to withdraw application.
Re AB (a child) [2024] EWHC 586 (Fam) Proceedings exploring the interplay between adoption and surrogacy law. Case concerning a child born as a result of a surrogacy arrangement in the USA. Judgment considering whether adoption order made in the USA prevents the making of a parental order.
Natalie Dawn Kennedy v Philip Thomas [2024] EWHC 303 (Fam)International Child Abduction/Committal Proceedings.
K v E [2023] EWHC 2890 (Fam)International Child Abduction/consent and grave risk of harm defences.
Z (A Child) (1980 Hague Convention), Re [2023] EWHC 2696 (Fam)International Child Abduction/child’s objections
D (A Child), Re (Abduction: Child's Objections: Representation of Child Party) [2023] EWCA Civ 1047International Child Abduction/role of ‘solicitor-guardians’ in 1980 Hague Convention proceedings.
TMS v AVS [2023] EWHC 1620 (Fam)International Child Abduction/Russian Federation.
Reported in Care Appointments.
N & A (1996 Hague Convention: Article 13) [2023] EWCA Civ 623International Child Abduction/Ukraine/Lis Pendens.
Re B (children) (abduction: consent: oral evidence) (Article 13(b)) [2022] EWCA Civ 1171Oral evidence in child abduction cases.
S (A Child : Costs), Re [2022] EWHC 2604 (Fam) Costs/International Child Abduction.
Re S (A Child: Jurisdiction) [2022] EWHC 1720 (Fam); [2023] 1 FLR 290; [2022] 3 FCR 501Antigua and Barbuda/International Child Abduction.
Re S (A Child) (1980 Hague Convention Stranding) [2022] 2 FLR 792International child abduction/transnational spousal abandonment.
CC v ME [2021] EWHC 3506 (Fam)International child abduction/calculation time period to engage the 1980 Hague Convention settlement ‘defence’.
WX v YZ and Another [2021] 1 FLR 118International child abduction.
Re BS (A Child) (Child Abduction) [2021] EWHC 2643 (Fam)International child abduction.
Z v D (Art 13 Refusal of Return Order) [2021] 1 FLR 210 International child abduction.
Re S [2020] EWHC 2940 (Fam) International child abduction/recognition and enforcement.
Re PT (Abduction: Coronavirus: Grave Risk of Harm) [2020] EWHC 834 (Fam); [2020] Fam Law 822Child abduction during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Re S (Abduction: Dismissal of Application) [2019] 1 FLR 354International child abduction.
AH v AMH (Summary Return of Child to Sudan) [2018] EWHC 2981 (Fam)Child abduction/first reported occasion a child returned to Sudan.
Re GP (A Child) (Abduction: Consideration of Evidence) [2018] 4 WLR 16International child abduction.
Re H (A Child) (International Abduction: Asylum & Welfare) [2017] 2 FLR 527International child abduction.