Family Law

Timothy Hanson, Associate Member of No 5 Chambers, Birmingham and Advocate of the Royal Court of Jersey, Hanson Renouf, Jersey. Various articles have recently featured in the Family Law Journal discussing the approach of the courts to applications under the Children Act 1989 for leave to remove a child permanently from the jurisdiction, see: G Brasse, 'The Payne Threshold: leaving the jurisdiction' [2005] Fam Law 780; W Longrigg, 'The Leave to Remove Debate' [2005] Fam Law 911; and The Poel Group International Relocation, letter at [2005] Fam Law 923. In the article, such applications will be described as relocation applications, a phrase utilised by Thorpe LJ in Payne v Payne [2001] EWCA Civ 166, [2001] 1 FLR 1052. The article examines the current approach of the courts in the separate bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey and the developing case-law in this area. As we shall see in the article, because Jersey and Guernsey both refer to English law for guidance when faced with such an application, the decisions of their courts can also provide useful, if not interesting, examples for those practising outside the Islands. See May [2006] Fam Law 370 for the full article.

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