David Hodson on International Family Law: From Russia with a forged divorce: Part II

In last week's comment I referred to the remarks by LJ Thorpe in the Court of Appeal in Golubovich [2010] EWCA 180 a jurisdiction dispute involving a wealthy Russian family. I commented that the first past the post criteria found in the Brussels Regulation was neither the simple nor fair answer to these forum cases.

The judge adversely commented on the public resources devoted to such an international case when there were many national cases warranting attention.

However if a case has jurisdiction an English connectedness then the English family justice system should deal with it. The question of allocation and amount of resources in the family justice system is bigger and more fundamental than a few international forum cases. Yet the Golubovich debate perhaps shows some ways forward:

- It is often said that English family law is becoming inquisitorial less accusatorial. However...

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