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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions >> Walker v Jeffries & S (A Child) [2006] EWCA Civ 479 (15 March 2006) URL: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2006/479.html Cite as: [2006] EWCA Civ 479, [2006] 2 FLR 950 |
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IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT
FAMILY DIVISION
(MRS JUSTICE HOGG & MR JUSTICE BENNETT)
Strand London, WC2 |
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B e f o r e :
LORD JUSTICE LAWS
LADY JUSTICE HALLETT
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WALKER | CLAIMANT/APPLICANT | |
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JEFFRIES & S (A CHILD) | DEFENDANT/RESPONDENT |
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Smith Bernal Wordwave Limited
190 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2AG
Tel No: 020 7404 1400 Fax No: 020 7831 8838
Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
MR J POSNANSKY QC (instructed by Messrs Levison Meltzer Pigott of LONDON EC4M 7JU) appeared on behalf of the Respondent
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Crown Copyright ©
"Question: Would it be fair to say that you would have no difficulty in finding [£2 million in all as a package] with that sort of security?
"Answer: Yes, so long as my employment is stable I think that is right."
"In my judgment it would be fair and just for the father to provide a maximum sum of £800,000 to cover (a) survey fees; (b) purchase price; (c) Stamp Duty; and (d) conveyancing and trust fees. In my judgment the mother's claim for accommodation in the range of £1.6 million to £2 million is grossly excessive."
It was subsequently established that the comprehensive figure of £800,000 would enable the mother to offer a contract at £760,000, the remaining £40,000 being required to cover survey, stamp duty, conveyancing and trust fees.
"55. I believe that the judgments of the Court of Appeal in Re P are important, not only for the principles which are reaffirmed, and in some respects developed, but also for the very broad guidance given as to the level of financial relief appropriate in such a case. This is not to say that the Court of Appeal applied or was in any way suggesting the ceiling of financial provision beyond which it was not appropriate to go. However, I do not see why I should not have regard in the instant case to what orders the Court of Appeal made in Re P in which a dominant feature was the exceptional wealth of the father. I suspect that on a scale of one to ten, the father in Re P would have clocked in, conservatively speaking, at 9.5, and more probably at 9.75. In other words, he was almost at the top end of the range of wealthy fathers that it is likely the courts may have in front of them.
"57. Mr Tager made a further submission. The father accepted in cross-examination he could, in fact, meet all the mother's demands as to housing in London, the country, and periodical payments, and he would still be able to live comfortably. Thus it mattered not how rich a father was in a case such as this if he was at the top end of the spectrum of wealth, as was the father in Re P. What mattered, it was submitted, was that there had to be a proper balancing of the environments in which the mother should live with Tatiana and in which the father lived and into which Tatiana went when with the father. I do not accept the entirety of that submission, particularly if, as I believe, it is an invitation in the instant case to go beyond, indeed well beyond, that which the Court of Appeal decided was fair and just in Re P. The scale of the father's wealth and his chosen way of life in Re P was, in my judgment, in a different league to that of the father in the instant case. The dominant feature in Re P was the scale of the father's wealth. Given that the award in Re P was proportionate to the father's wealth, it must follow that the award to the mother in relation to Tatiana must be proportionate to the father's wealth.
"59. So the father's case was based on three properties in the Parson Green/Fulham area, which he said were suitable, at a cost of £500,000 to £550,000. He proposed a ceiling of expenditure at £550,000 to include the purchase price, Stamp Duty, survey costs and fees for conveyancing and setting up of the trust. He saw no need for Tatania to continue living in Knightsbridge. Although some of her school friends live in central London, Tatania is likely to move on to Godolphin & Latimer or St Paul's Girls School, both of which are situated in Hammersmith and draw their pupils from not just central but west and perhaps other parts of London. Further, comparing Re P to this case, the award was of £1 million for the housing of L in central London in respect of a father in a different league of riches from Tatania's father. £1 million was less than 10 per cent of the value of L's father's home."
"I do not accept the entirety of that submission, particularly if, as I believe, it is an invitation in the instant case to go beyond, indeed well beyond, that which the Court of Appeal decided was fair and just in Re P. … Given that the award in Re P was proportionate to the father's wealth, it must follow that the award to the mother in relation to her daughter must be proportionate to the father's wealth."
"Further, comparing Re P to this case, the award was of £1 million for housing of L in central London in respect of a father in a different league of riches from [this child's] father. £1 million was less than 10 per cent of the value of L's father's home."
Those passages in combination have persuaded me that the judge had regarded the quantum of the trust fund in Re P as being a benchmark: given that undoubtedly the father before him did not enjoy the same magnitude of wealth as the father in Re P, it behoved him to award something less for the investment fund here. He took the £1 million figure awarded in Re P and scaled down proportionately to reflect the disparity in wealth between the two men. That, in my judgment, was an erroneous approach and one which seems to have made a significant contribution to the ultimate discretionary decision.
"In my judgment the mother has again shown herself to be malicious towards the father by refusing on two separate occasions to accept the very generous offer from Cadogen Estates in relation to Clabon Mews. In my judgment the emphasis placed by the mother on her perceived social standing and thus her need to live in Knightsbridge is another example of her egocentricity. What motivates her to want to live in Knightsbridge or Chelsea is her own selfish need. She dresses that up as being in [the child's] best interests. … I see no reason why mother and [daughter] could not live in Parsons Green or Fulham, but I would not confine it to the specific area or areas in which the father identified his three properties."
Now for me, the difficulty in that passage is that the judge has not focussed on the needs of the child as separate and distinct from the needs of the mother, which he was perfectly entitled to hold were selfish and a further example of her egocentricity. The mother may well have forfeited the sympathy of the judge, as she had forfeited the sympathy of other judges before, by her manipulative and egocentric presentation, but the real focus of the judge's appraisal had to be upon the daughter's needs and interests. They were distinct from the mother's and they were not tainted simply because the mother's presentation was tainted. The judge surely had to ask himself, what would be the consequence for the daughter were she to lose the security of the familiar; the home in Knightsbridge, the school in Knightsbridge, the friends in Knightsbridge? Perhaps, given the extent of the father's fortune, the judge needed to ask the question: was it necessary for the daughter to move from the familiar, as well as asking, would a move from the familiar risk harm to the daughter's welfare?
Order: Appeal allowed.