Lump sum orders

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The court has jurisdiction to order a party to pay a lump sum (or such sums as may be specified) pursuant to sections 23(1)(c)–23(1)(d) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) and Schedule 5, Part 1 to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA 2004). A lump sum order may be made in favour of the other party, or more rarely for the benefit of a child of the family.

General principles

The court is guided by the MCA 1973, s 25(2)/CPA 2004, Sch 5, Pt 5 factors in considering the appropriate order to make. The first question is whether the payer has resources, within the wide definition given in MCA 1973, s 25(2)(a)/CPA 2004, Sch 5, Pt 5, para 21(2)(a), from which to meet any order. The court must then conduct the statutory exercise to determine whether to exercise its discretion, see Practice Note: Factors considered by the court on financial provision—The

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Latest Family News

Assessment of the welfare of a competent child versus their wishes and feelings (S (through his litigation friend, James Alexander Netto) v F)

Family analysis: A 14-year-old child of Ghanaian-British parents was born in London and had always lived in England. In March 2024, the parents took the child to Ghana and enrolled him (without his knowledge) in a school there because they were concerned about his involvement with gangs and knives; the parents later left Ghana and returned to England. The child applied, through his solicitor, to make himself a ward of the High Court and for an order that he be returned to the jurisdiction of England and Wales. The court concluded that despite the child’s strongly expressed wish to return to England, his interests were best served by remaining in Ghana with a member of his wider family, away from the malign influences he had surrounded himself with, and remaining in contact with his father and English family by both video and visiting contact. Olivia Magennis, barrister at 1|GC Family Law, considers the issues.

Family weekly highlights—6 March 2025

This week's edition of Family weekly highlights includes the first Family Procedure Rules 2010 Practice Direction update of 2025, new guidance from the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, on the citation of authorities in relation to judgments of circuit judges and district judges and details of updated court fees in family proceedings. Analysis of recent judgments on the sharing of documents in financial remedy proceedings with non-attending reporters and on the assessment of the welfare of a competent child versus their wishes and feelings are also included, together with four new flowcharts on appeals.

Family Procedure Rules 2010 Practice Direction Update No 1 of 2025

The first Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010) Practice Direction (PD) update of 2025 has been issued, making amendments to five existing PDs and inserting one new pilot PD. A new FPR 2010, PD 36ZH (Pilot scheme: express financial remedy procedure) has been introduced for financial remedy cases where the parties’ total combined net assets are estimated to be under £250,000 (excluding pensions) and the application is made to a pilot court. The intention is to launch the pilot on 7 April 2025. The PD update makes provision for a permission application following an order under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) to be made on a Form C100, or online equivalent (rather than requiring a Form C2 and a draft Form C100). The pathfinder pilot is amended to provide for the pathfinder model to operate in courts in West Yorkshire from 3 June 2025. FPR 2010, PD 36G, underpinning HM Courts and Tribunal Service’s online system to generate a Form C100 application, the mediation voucher scheme and the online private law proceedings pilots have all been extended to 31 March 2026.

Updated court fees in family proceedings from April 2025

The Ministry of Justice has announced, subject to parliamentary approval, a change to certain court and tribunal fees effective from April 2025. A significant number of court fees payable in family proceedings will be increasing. It is anticipated that the changes will take effect from 1 April 2025.

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