Claire Sanders analyses wasted costs orders
The decision of Mr Justice Cobb in Re C (a child) (Wasted Costs) [2015] EWHC 3259 (Fam), is yet another reminder to family practitioners that court orders must be obeyed, and complied with to the letter and on time, and that a failure to do so may, as in that case, result in the legal representatives of the non-complying party being penalised with a costs penalty.
Background
In Re C there had been lengthy proceedings concerning a nine-year old child C. C was born in England, where he had lived for the first seven years of his life. In 2013, his mother married an American and C moved to live in the United States of America. The father continued to live in England. For about a year, legal proceedings concerning C continued on both sides of the Atlantic. There was an existing order defining and regulating the arrangements for contact between C and his father made in the United States District Court Southern District of Florida (Miami). On 3 June
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