Lee Henderson reflects on important differences between enforcement orders & enforcement by committal
- Practitioners are reminded to think carefully about drafting orders to ensure their enforceability at a later date.
- Enforcement orders and enforcement by committal are very different beasts.
On 25 May 2018 Mr Justice Baker gave judgment in the matter of CH v CT [2018] EWHC 1310 (Fam). The appellant mother sought to set aside a suspended order for her committal to prison as a result of non-compliance with a child arrangements order (CAO). The mother succeeded on the basis of procedural defects in the committal application brought by the child’s paternal grandmother and her partner, and because the order she allegedly breached was not drafted in a way that enabled a court to commit her to prison.
In CH v CT the committal order was set aside for the following reasons.
Wording
The wording of the CAO handed down at the hearing was not capable of being enforced by committal as it was not endorsed by a penal notice compliant
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