England v Scotland: the Supreme Court decides

Villiers v Villiers [2020] UKSC 30 is a highly unusual but important family law case about the respective powers of the Scottish and English courts.

The facts

Mr and Mrs Villiers married in 1994. They spent almost the entirety of their married life in Scotland and raised their daughter there. After separation in 2012 Mrs Villiers and the daughter moved to England. Mrs Villiers started divorce proceedings in England in 2013 relying on her 12 months’ habitual residence in the jurisdiction.

Mr Villiers contested the jurisdiction of the English courts and began Scottish divorce proceedings in 2014. In early 2015 the parties agreed that Mrs Villiers’ English petition should be dismissed because Scotland was the proper jurisdiction for the divorce being the jurisdiction where the parties last lived together (see para 8 of Sch 1 to the Domicile and Matrimonial Proceedings Act 1973). The divorce – absent any claim for financial relief – was set to proceed in Scotland.

Around the same time Mrs Villiers applied for maintenance in England using section 27 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. Notwithstanding the dismissal of...

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