Jurisdiction to make orders relating to children can be a surprising complex area. The main piece of domestic legislation governing jurisdiction in proceedings relation to children is the Family Law Act 1986 and the international instruments which are of significance are the Brussels II revised regulation and the 1996 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children. In relation to incapacitated adults, the main jurisdictional provisions lie in Schedule 3 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
The international team frequently advise on jurisdictional/forum disputes concerning children and vulnerable adults and are extremely experienced at identifying such issues in proceedings and providing highly expert advocacy in such matters. We have appeared in the many leading High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court cases in this area such as Re B [2016] AC 60 (Supreme Court) and A v A and another (Children: Habitual Residence) (Reunite International Child Abduction Centre and others intervening) [2014] 1 AC 1 (Supreme Court).
We regularly argue cases where habitual residence is a contested issue and are also able to provide specialist advice in variety of other contexts including in relation to conflicting jurisdictions, forum conveniens, applications for a stay of proceedings, and parens patriae.
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