Contact - The court making tough decisions for the sake of stability for the child

Non-Molestation Orders as a means of preventing child contact

The case of Father v Mother & Anor considered the issue of contact between a ten-year-old girl and her mother. The Final Hearing took place on 11th March 2025. The parties were the child’s mother and father. The parties met in 2010 and had both been married previously. The Mother told the Father that she was a successful lawyer who was about to be appointed as a High Court Judge, and this was stated as her occupation on the marriage certificate.

Following unsuccessful IVF, the parties arranged for surrogacy in the USA using an egg donor. The child was then placed with the parties at birth, and they moved back to the UK when the child was around two to three months old. The parties held legal parentage in the USA and instructed solicitors in the UK to apply for a parental order; however, it appears this was never issued. The Father relied on the Mother’s status as a Judge to have this resolved. Parties had a second child in the same way in 2018, however, due to this child being born with health issues, they remained with their birth mother who adopted them in the USA.

In April 2018, the Father became aware that the Mother was being investigated for fraud, and she was given a two-year suspended sentence in February 2021 for claiming housing benefit for a property she did not reside in over five years. Through these proceedings, the Father found out that that the Mother was not a Judge at all.

In June 2019, the Mother started being violent towards the Father and this became more serious in 2022. In 2023, she attacked him in front of the child and the relationship ended. The Mother went to stay in a family holiday home and the child remained with the Father. In February 2023, the Mother applied to the registry office to have her occupation on the marriage certificate changed to “homemaker” on the basis that she had been subjected to coercive and controlling behaviour by the Father. At this point, cross applications were made by both parties for child arrangements orders in relation to the child.

The Mother stopped engaging with the proceedings in November 2023 and had no contact with the child save for on one occasion in April 2024 when she attended the home without warning. She had been having daily video calls and messages; however, this was ordered to stop in August 2024.

In March 2024, a Child Arrangements Order was made for the child to live with the Father and for a Non-Molestation Order to be granted to the Father which would stop any contact between the Mother and the child in order for the child to be able to receive therapy over a six-month period.

At the Final Hearing in March 2025, the Father stated that he would support contact in the future but not until the child had been having therapy for longer as this had only started in recent months. He felt this was important so that the child was equipped to deal with any disappointment. He sought an order for no contact, for permission to change the child’s school and for permission to apply for a USA passport for the child. The child wrote to the Judge asking if she could be allowed to write to her mother even if her mother was not allowed to write back. The Judge felt there was a serious risk of rejection which would risk instability for the child. It was therefore directed that the Non-Molestation Order would remain in place, preventing contact for a further two years, and that following the expiry of this, contact would be a matter for the Father to exercise his parental responsibility.