For a judgment to be sufficient, it does not have to be long. Recently, a father appealed against a residence order in which the child’s mother was granted custody of the child, whom she wished to take to Australia.
After they had appeared in the family court on 12 occasions, the final appearance led to a judgment which ran only to four pages and which gave custody to the mother and made a contact order in favour of the father.
The father appealed, the main ground of the appeal being that the judgment was too brief. The Court of Appeal considered that the judgment contained all of the judge’s essential reasoning and his findings.
Judgment upheld.