Jurisdiction

Gap #575

The assumption

Where you divorce is just an administrative detail — what really matters is where you married.

The reality

The country where your divorce is processed is one of the most financially consequential decisions in the entire process — not a neutral administrative detail. What matters far more than where you married is where you are habitually resident now. If England and Wales is your genuine home, you can usually divorce here regardless of where you married. England applies section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, which considers needs, resources, and contributions (including non-financial ones like raising children). Many European jurisdictions take a narrower approach, treating pre-marital or inherited assets as separate property. Post-Brexit, jurisdiction and enforcement across EU countries is less predictable than it was. Getting this wrong can cost tens of thousands of pounds — and by the time proceedings are underway, it is often too late to change direction.

Gap #326

The assumption

(Wardship / Child's Own Application) If the court is protecting a child from their parents, it can simply order the local authority to accommodate them.

The reality

The family court cannot use its wardship or inherent jurisdiction powers to require a local authority to accommodate or provide housing for a child. That decision rests with the local authority's own process, even where the court has decided the child should not return to a parent's care.

Gap #307

The assumption

The court can order a Children's Guardian to personally facilitate or support contact between a parent and child, backed by a penal notice if they don't.

The reality

There is no jurisdiction under the Children Act 1989 for the court to compel a Children's Guardian to act as a contact facilitator. A Guardian can offer to help with contact voluntarily as part of their own professional judgment, but they cannot be ordered to do it, and a penal notice attached to such an order will not survive an appeal.

Gap #292

The assumption

If I'm worried the other parent might take our child abroad, especially if they're a foreign national with ties elsewhere, that justifies a travel ban.

The reality

Courts look at whether the fear reflects a genuine flight risk or is really about a loss of control following abuse findings against the parent raising it. Where the family's actual life, home, and roots are in England, an international travel restriction can be seen as an unhelpful and unjustified point of ongoing dispute rather than real protection. Holidays abroad are generally treated as being in the child's best interests, and courts encourage parents to facilitate them rather than resist them.