ZE23P01539 - [2025] EWHC 1403 (Fam)

AB lives with the respondent and spends time with the applicants, for 3 nights each fortnight: Tuesday night one week, and Friday and Saturday night the next.

He goes to nursery from 9 to 4 two days a week, on Tuesday and Wednesday. From January 2026 (per Ms Callaghan) this can be increased to 4 days a week, but the respondent says that will not be till (at the earliest) January 2027.

He interacts well with the applicants and the respondent. He can speak some Arabic and some Spanish as well as some English. I am told by Ms Callaghan that he receives good parenting and there is the potential for him to have a happy childhood if his parents can work together. She does point out however that there are indicators that he is at risk of experiencing harmful conflict.

Some handovers take place via the nursery. Some are face-to-face. The second applicant no longer plays a part in face-to-face handovers given tension between him and the respondent. The respondent does not speak to the first applicant at handovers, save for a few words at the most recent handover (following some mediation). This, I am told, will have an impact on AB.

I was taken to one particularly difficult occasion between all the parties in the park in November 2023. This meeting was meant to enable the parties to discuss the issues between them, but it is clear that there was not only bad temper, but also some pushing and pulling. The respondent was clearly frightened by the bad temper, in particular, on the part of the second applicant.

Ms Callaghan has suggested that this litigation is making the relationship between the parties worse. I very much fear that this hearing, and the cross examination in particular, might exacerbate the difficulties in the relationship.