Slovenian divorce

Ramadani v Ramadani [2015] EWCA Civ 1138, [2015] All ER (D) 115 (Nov) NLJ 27 November

The Court of Appeal dismissed a husband’s appeal against a judgment that allowed his ex-wife’s application for spousal maintenance to proceed in circumstances where the husband asserted that the matter had already been determined by the courts in Slovenia during the divorce proceedings. The court held that, in circumstances where the wife had withdrawn her application for maintenance in Slovenia, there had been no “decision by a court” or “court settlement” for the purposes of art 2(1) of Council Regulation (EC) 4/2009 and, therefore, the court in England had jurisdiction to hear her application since she was habitually resident in the jurisdiction.