Family Law

(Court of Appeal; Thorpe, Thomas and Wall LJJ; 8 February 2007)

The judge's refusal of an application by the American mother for leave to relocate to the US with the child and her new English husband was upheld. The judge had erred in categorising the case as a change of lifestyle case, but it would not be principled to interfere with his conclusion; he had been entitled to conclude that the mother was restless and prone to impulsive behaviour. Further, the mother had confirmed that if her husband were not permitted to emigrate to the US because of objections by the US authorities, the mother would make the best of things and cope, and the judge was entitled to consider that the same would be true if the court frustrated the emigration plan by refusing leave to remove.

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