Family Law

Stephen Jarmain, One Garden Court, Temple. Where clients disagree about the correct forum for divorce proceedings and the other country concerned is not a signatory to the Brussels II legislation the forum non conveniens approach may no longer be valid, following a recent decision of the European Court of Justice. This article reviews the rules relating to jurisdiction as they relate to staying proceedings between Brussels signatory countries and in favour of non-Brussels signatory countries. It then goes on to look at the case of Owusu v Jackson [2005] QB 801, which, on reference to the European Court of Justice from the Court of Appeal, suggests that the Brussels II rules should be applied uniformly, whether or not the competing jurisdiction is a signatory, and that the doctrine of forum non conveniens has not survived Brussels II. For the full article see May [2007] Fam Law.