Return hearing following Collection order with arrest of father. The Court heard and reinforced severe criticism of the standard wording used in the Order, particularly in view of its failure to comply with the requirements of the Rules as regards penal notices.
Held: ‘ this is not a situation where I can waive the procedural defect. All applications to commit require proper adherence to the requirements of any enactment and rule of court. In the present case there is a serious defect in the order upon which the application to commit is based. I simply cannot commit Mr C to prison for any breach of the order, however egregious. In my view that has the consequence that I must indeed strike out the application as a threshold decision, and Mr C must not be required to give any evidence or to defend himself on the substance of this application.’
Holman J
[2015] EWHC 2655 (Fam)
Bailii
Family Procedure Rules 2010
England and Wales
Contempt of Court
Updated: 13 December 2021; Ref: scu.552781