ZE23P01539 - [2025] EWHC 1403 (Fam)

There is no disagreement on the law I should apply. AB’s welfare shall be my paramount consideration, and there are circumstances detailed in s. 1(3) of the Children Act 1989 to which I should have regard. I will not lengthen this judgment by repeating them here. I have them in mind.

There were rehearsed before me details of the interaction of parental responsibility and child arrangements orders. I do not consider that given the conclusion that I have reached and will set out below on the issue of parental responsibility they need to be repeated here.

I have been referred to some particular authorities to guide me in relation to the issues I need to decide. I shall deal with those I rely on under the relevant sections below.

I have been told that my decision must be holistic. It is. I set out my decisions sequentially because I must, but I have in the process of judgment considered the cross relationship of one decision on another, and I have held in mind the evidence as a whole, as is all but inevitable given that I compose this judgment having heard all the evidence.