FD25P00113 - [2025] EWHC 2670 (Fam)

This is a 2 day fact-finding hearing in Wardship proceedings concerning a child, A, born on 2 May 2024, who was made a Ward of Court on 13 March 2025 by order of Lieven J.

The applicant, RT, is the mother and wife in this case. The father, and husband, who opposes the application, is the respondent: GT. I refer to them as the mother and father in this judgment.

There are five allegations to be determined according to the schedule of allegations, of which the father admits one, that he misled the Moroccan court about his income, and denies the remainder. The most important allegation is whether or not the father stranded the mother and their child in Morocco in January 2025; it is alleged that he removed their travel documents by deception and returned to England after he had initiated divorce proceedings in Morocco.

The importance of that issue is that it will assist in the determination of the mother’s immigration status. At present she cannot enter, or return to, England. She and A remain in Morocco, on her case, very much against her will.

Practice Direction 12J of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 defines the various strands of domestic abuse and provides that

“Abandonment” refers to the practice whereby a husband, in England or Wales, deliberately abandons or “strands” his foreign national wife abroad, usually without financial resources, in order to prevent her from asserting matrimonial and/or residence rights and/or rights in relation to childcare in England or Wales. It may involve children who are either abandoned with, or separated from, their mother”.

The other four allegations, in precis, are

There is a further application. The mother seeks financial relief against the father, pursuant to Schedule 1, para 7 of the Children Act 1989 for

The hearing was conducted on a hybrid basis as the mother is in Morocco, cannot come to England and thus had to give evidence remotely. The mother had an interpreter who spoke Arabic but not, it appears, the Moroccan dialect, however, I am satisfied that they were able to communicate effectively. The hearing was adjourned briefly for technical issues to allow the mother to access a laptop. I pause here to say that in cases involving international hybrid hearings, particularly those involving interpreters, it is vital to ensure, as much as possible, that the parties have access to papers in a way that does not mean they lose connections with the court because they have to look at the bundle on their phone. But I also remind myself that the mother was publicly funded in this matter and funds are thus limited.

The applicant was represented by Ms Baker and the respondent by Ms Andrews. I am grateful to both.