Skype
Just use Skype: Judge’s order to UK father after he lets ex move their kids to Australia
A MOTHER has been allowed to bring her children to Australia to live after a British judge told her former partner he could keep in touch with his children via Skype.
The man’s plea to keep the two youngsters in England was rejected by UK Family Division court president Sir Nicholas Wall.
He said the decision was in the “best interests of the children” – although the father’s objections “came from the heart”.
Sir Nicholas sympathised with the difficulties of keeping in touch with the youngsters on the other side of the world but said the man could use instant communications such as Skype.
The judge said he “did not minimise the father’s objections” but added modern ways of keeping in touch meant the children’s move would not destroy their relationship.
It is not known if the man, who lives in Devon in the south of England, has access to the technology. The hearing at the Appeal Court in London followed a ruling last year which had banned the mother from moving to Australia.
At the time the father successfully argued the pre-teen children’s departure would destroy his “embryonic relationship” with them.
At that earlier hearing, Judge David Tyzack QC had agreed the children were at a critical stage in their links with their father.
He said the bond between the youngsters and the paternal side of their family would be severely damaged if they emigrated. Any departure would be a “grave loss”.
But that decision was overturned, with Sir Nicholas saying it was “plainly wrong”.
Sitting with Lord Justice Lloyd and Lord Justice Elias, he said he was confident neither the English nor the Australian courts would “sit idly by and allow the relationship to wither”.
Lord Justice Lloyd said the mother planned for the children to return to the UK for one month each year to stay with their father.
In the meantime, “contact by Skype, post and otherwise would be arranged,” he said.
The court had heard the parents, who cannot be named for legal reasons, never married and had “grown a long way apart” since splitting up.
“I have reached the clear conclusion that the best interests of the children require the mother’s application to relocate with them to Australia to succeed,” Sir Nicholas said.
He said the decision was in the “best interests of the children” – although the father’s objections “came from the heart”.
Sir Nicholas sympathised with the difficulties of keeping in touch with the youngsters on the other side of the world but said the man could use instant communications such as Skype.
The judge said he “did not minimise the father’s objections” but added modern ways of keeping in touch meant the children’s move would not destroy their relationship.
It is not known if the man, who lives in Devon in the south of England, has access to the technology. The hearing at the Appeal Court in London followed a ruling last year which had banned the mother from moving to Australia.
