In the first of a regular series of updates, Clare Renton provides an overview of the most influential international & EU cases of 2010
The growth in number of international families and the consequent family law problems are not the preserve of the rich or famous. The clients whose cases were reported in 2010 could have presented in the office of any family lawyer. Often their problems require urgent action, but in the knowledge that an error of judgment or action taken with insufficient focus on discretion, as opposed to valour, could cause mayhem.
M v V [2010] EWHC 1453 (Fam), [2010] All ER (D) 216 (Jun)
Brussels 1 Council Regulation 44/2001/EC, Art 23; Children Act 1989, Sch 1
The parties Algerian father and French mother agreed that that they would not seek maintenance in England. They agreed maintenance and all matters in France and embodied their agreement in a French court order. They included by agreement an exclusive jurisdiction clause in the agreement under the Brussels 1 Council Regulation 44/2001/EC, Art 23. The mother relocated the child to England. She later sought
