Costs order in child abduction

EC-L v DM (child abduction: costs) FD TLR 10 May

In an application under the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985 the mother had been unreasonable in the conduct of the case through her persistent pursuit of uncorroborated false allegations of abduction and serious dishonesty involving the forgery of documents. At the conclusion of the hearing the father, a man of limited means who was bringing up the parties’ child on his own without any financial support from the mother and who had been wholly successful in the outcome of the proceedings, had asked for his costs against the mother. The mother, who was publicly funded, contended that there should be no order for costs in view of article 26 of the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980 and that as a matter of public policy, so as not to deter genuine abduction applicants or the acceptance of instructions by solicitors from the Child Abduction Unit of the Official Solicitor’s Office.