The Court of Appeal has ordered a father to pay the mother’s costs of two unsuccessful appeals arising from family law proceedings, while excluding costs for specific grounds concerning a further appeal that was not legally maintainable.
The costs judgment, delivered by Ms Justice Máire Whelan on 20 March 2023, followed three judgments issued in December 2022. The father had failed on all grounds in appeals against High Court decisions concerning orders he sought to have recognised and enforced under the 1996 Hague Convention. He had sought the return of two younger children to Pakistan and challenged the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court and Irish courts over divorce proceedings and related orders concerning the children.
The mother sought her costs. Her submissions said the father had repeatedly litigated the children’s residence, causing hardship while she relied on civil legal aid. The father’s written submissions largely revisited arguments already rejected in the appeals. The Court of Appeal said disagreement with those decisions did not, by itself, provide a basis to decide the costs issue.
In considering costs, the court said family proceedings require attention to the effect of a costs award on both parties. It nevertheless found substantial reasons to order costs against the father, including the history of litigation and the fact that the Pakistani orders he relied on had been obtained without evidence that the mother had been served or given an opportunity to be heard. The court also noted that the appeals had delayed the mother’s divorce proceedings, which included claims for ancillary relief.
The judgment said the children had opposed being removed from their mother’s care and returned to Pakistan; two had reached the age of majority by the time of the costs judgment. It also recorded that the children had been born and educated in Ireland and had lived there for most of their lives. The court said the father did not deny that he paid no maintenance for his wife and children.
The court awarded the mother her costs in appeals 2022/35 and 2022/37, when ascertained. It made no costs order for the specific aspects that gave rise to a third judgment about an asserted further right of appeal against Circuit Court orders, because the father had spent little time pursuing those grounds and the balance of justice favoured no order. The court said there was no basis to interfere with costs orders previously made in the High Court. It did not decide the pending divorce or ancillary claims.