Extradition and family proceedings: where does the balance lie?

Mark Smith 5 St Andrew’s Hill

A novel set of issues arise where a potential carer in family proceedings is also requested on an extradition warrant. The family court is determining where and with whom a child should live but the extradition court is deciding whether that person should remain in the country. Some extradition requests are for minor and dated offences and the court has discretion to refuse extradition if it would be a disproportionate interference with a person’s Art 8 right to a private and family life. So how are these interdependent decisions to be balanced?

This article looks at the extradition process including particularly how the extradition courts balance the public interest in extradition with a requested person’s Art 8 rights. It comments on which proceedings should take priority in light of the overlap in decision-making and the relative timescales of each set of proceedings the voice of the child and how best to approach information-sharing by way of disclosure judicial liaison or joinder of interested parties. The article considers how these different options can be weighed and where the balance lies...

Read the full article here.