Family Court judgments 2023
Warwickshire County Council v A Mother and A Father and X and Z [2023] EWHC 399 (Fam)
Judge: Nathalie Lieven
Expert: Trish Barry-Relph
Julie Doughty, Transparency Project blog: ‘Somewhere in the history of this case we have lost our humanity’
This appeal follows on from:
Warwickshire County Council v the Mother & ors [2022] EWHC 2146 (Fam)
(and on Bailii with citations)
Judge: Nathalie Lieven
Expert: Trish Barry-Relph
Julie Doughty, Transparency Project blog:
‘Choosing the course which is less stressful to the child’
8 March 2023
Judge: Richard Pates
Experts: Rasha Ravenscroft and Christopher Fear
Clinical psychologist Rasha Ravenscroft found that the girl had made false allegations of sexual abuse against her father, encouraged by her mother. She was removed into foster care.
28 March 2023
Judge: Stephen Cobb
Father’s appeal against indirect contact order refused, and his claim that mother had turned his daughter against him were not entertained.
Court of Appeal judges: Eleanor King, Sarah Asplin, Jonathan Baker
Father in UK charged with rape made party to child’s care proceedings: Court of appeal overrules decision to exclude man who allegedly conceived the boy with his niece through rape, Hannah Summers, Guardian, 25 June 2023
Note: Sarah Asplin succeeded Sir Andrew McFarlane as Chair of the Clergy Discipline Commission on 7 January 2019.
Re GB (Part 25 Application: Parental Alienation) [2023] EWFC 150
Charlotte Proudman successfully argued that a parental alienation expert should not have been instructed.
Judge Middleton-Roy anonymised the lower judge. Journalist Louise Tickle tweeted: “This is really irritating me. I am now going to have to make an an application to the judge who allowed this appeal to allow the name of the lower court judge to be published.”
UK mother accused of alienating children from father wins appeal over psychological assessment, Hannah Summers, The Observer, 9 September 2023
Parental Alienation in Re GB, Michelle Uppal, Family Law Week, 11 October 2023
GB (Parental Alienation: Factual Findings) [2024] EWFC 75 (B)
28 March 2024
Judge: His Honour Judge Middleton Roy
The mother was represented by Charlotte Proudman. The father was represented by Mr Hankinson through Dads Unlimited, a registered charity.
Man who raped his wife tried to convince court he was victim of domestic abuse, Hannah Summers, The Oberver, 27 April 2024
Abusive father’s attempts to manipulate family courts, Hannah Summers, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 27 April 2024
3 May 2023
Judge: Nassera Patel
Transfer of residence of daughter from father to mother on the grounds of “alienating behaviours” by the father. “Expert” criticised but not named.
This was preceded by [2022] EWFC 204.
KRD v PTL [2023] EWHC 1952 (Fam)
16 June 2023
Mrs Justice Lieven
In January 2023 District Judge Saunders had ordered no direct contact between the father and his three children. The father applied “to relax the provisions of section 12 Administration of Justice Act 1960 (“AJA”) to permit him to disclose information from the proceedings to the world at large” as he claimed he was a victim of parental alienation. His application was denied.
Re V and W (Children: Finding of Fact) [2023] EWFC 233
23 June 2023
Recorder Michael Veal ruled that the mother had coercively controlled the father
Re V & Anor (Children: Welfare) [2024] EWFC 69 (B)
On the advice of “an expert psychologist called Dr F” and “Ms G” who produced a child impact report on behalf of Cafcass, the judge ordered a transfer of residence of the children from the mother to the father.
26 June 2023
Judge: John Jordan
The judge rejected the father’s claim that the mother was alienating the oldest child against him and found that the teenager had her own valid reasons, in particular that she was upset about his new marriage.
Judge: Philip Moor
Judge found problematic behaviour from both parents but rejected father’s accusation of parental alienation against the mother.
Judge: Sarah Morgan on appeal from Carlisle.
Judge: Clive Baker. Reported by Hannah Summers in the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Guardian.
6 March 2020
Judge: Joanna Vincent
Expert: Professor Perkin
Mother took her own life and died on 6 February 2019, because of the stress of the proceedings in [2019] B87. Father was coercively controlling and accused the mother of parental alienation. He asked the court to appoint the Family Separation Clinic, but got Professor Perkins again, who understood exactly what he was.
[2023] EWFC 192 Re A and B (No 3)(domestic abuse – no direct contact – s91(14))
Judge: Joanna Vincent
Expert: Professor Perkin
The father was denied direct contact with his children and was given a barring order until the children’s sixteenth birthdays. There was also an order to change the children’s surname from the father’s name to the mother’s name.
Family courts: Children forced into contact with fathers accused of abuse, Ed Thomas, BBC News, 4 September 2023 (Sarah’s story).
[2023] EWHC 345 (Fam) Re C (‘Parental Alienation’; Instruction of Expert)
21 February 2023
Judge: Sir Andrew McFarlane
Expert: Melanie Gill
The President of the Family Division ordered that the parental alienation expert, Melanie Gill, an unregulated psychologist, was fit to work in family court and “deprecated” the conduct of the intervenor, the Association of Clinical Psychologists.
[2023] EWHC 2078 (Fam) The Mother v The Father
14 August 2023
Judge: Sir Andrew McFarlane
Expert: Melanie Gill
McFarlane ordered the mother to pay £26,000 towards the father’s costs plus £20,000 towards Melanie Gill’s costs. He ordered the intervenor, the Association of Clinical Psychologists, to pay £10,000 towards the father’s costs plus £10,000 towards Melanie Gill’s costs.
Intervenor hit with £20,000 costs for acting unreasonably, John Hyde, Law Gazette, 7 November 2023
Psychology body says costs ruling ‘unfair’ in appeal on use of unregulated experts in England and Wales, Hannah Summers, Guardian, 12 November 2023
Alienation and Domestic Abuse- What on Earth is Going On? Darren Howe KC, Fran Wiley KC, Clare Ciborowska, Kirsten Japp, Barristers at 1 Crown Office Row discuss parental alienation and domestic abuse. Family Law Week, 8 March 2024
The London Victims’ Commissioner, Claire Waxman, tweeted:
“Psychology body @UK_ACP ordered to pay costs for challenging the use of unregulated experts in the family courts. I agree this may have a “chilling effect” and silence victims who may want to appeal decisions that have been informed by unregulated experts.”
29 September 2023
District Judge Lindsey Moan
The father accused the mother of alienating his child, but District Judge Moan found that he was obsessed with denigrating the mother and made a barring order until the child was 16.
Father v Mother [2023] EWFC 265
District Judge Steven Buckley
Fact finding hearing. The father accused the mother of alienating behaviour, but the judge found that he had been domestically abusive.
31 October 2023
Judge: Liza Gordon-Saker
The judge rejected the father’s claim that the mother was alienating the children against him, and ordered indirect contact plus a three year barring order.
20 December 2023
Judge: Frances Judd
Expert: Melanie Gill
The judge rejected the father’s claim that the mother was alienating the children against him and gave short shrift to Melanie Gill’s evidence.
Reported by Hannah Summers, Law Society Gazette, 19 April 2024