The Government's 'Providing A Cross-Border Civil Judicial Cooperation Framework – A Future Partnership' Paper – The UK's Departure From The EU And The Impact On Family Law In The UK

The government has recently published its "Providing a cross-border civil judicial cooperation framework - a future partnership" paper.

The focus is on the UK leaving the EU and it sets out, in part, what it hopes to achieve.

The report states that:

"As the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, the Government will seek a deep and special partnership with the EU. Within this partnership, cross-border commerce, trade and family relationships will continue. Building on years of cooperation across borders, it is vital for UK and EU consumers, citizens, families and businesses, that there are coherent common rules to govern interactions between legal systems. To this end, the UK as a non-member state outside the direct jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), will seek to agree new close and comprehensive arrangements for civil judicial cooperation within the EU. We have a shared interest with the EU in ensuring these new arrangements are thorough and effective. In particular, citizens and businesses need to have continuing confidence as they interact across borders about which country's courts would deal with any dispute, which laws would apply, and know that judgments and orders obtained will be recognised and enforced in neighbouring countries, as is the case now...". The Government has confirmed that, of course, when we withdraw from the EU we will no longer be part of the current judicial cooperation system between EU Member States. As part of this, the UK currently participates in several scheme rules, such as those covering child and other family maintenance (which determine which country's Court has jurisdiction to deal with the matter, as well as recognition of maintenance decisions and enforcement). It also covers the same in relation to matrimonial and parental responsibility matters. Other rules which the UK (as a current an EU Member State) is signed up to, cover those such as serving documents in other EU countries and the granting of legal aid in disputes involving more than one EU country, amongst others.

This has always been important and it has, arguably, become more so overtime as we are becoming a more global society. As the Government itself sets out in its report, "the world is more interconnected than ever and families increasingly come from or reside in more than one country - there are approximately one million British citizens living in EU Member States and some three million EU citizens...