“Habitual residence 43. There is no dispute that, for these purposes, you can only have one habitual residence. Habitual residence is defined as the place where the person has established, on a fixed basis, his or her permanent or habitual centre of interests. All relevant facts will be taken into account in determining that. There is no specific timeframe for having established habitual residence. In some cases, it can be done very quickly. In others, it will take longer. If there is a planned, purposeful and permanent relocation to another country, habitual residence can be acquired contemporaneously (or virtually contemporaneously) with the loss of a previous habitual residence. For example, in Z v Z[2009] EWHC 2626 (Fam) ;[2010] 1 FLR 694 , Ryder J found that a wife had established habitual residence in England “at or shortly after” the family moved to London. 44. There was some debate as to whether a person could ever be without a habitual residence. It seems that you can be for a brief period but only whilst you establish your new centre of interests. The example given by Munby J in Marinos is that of a wife who lost her habitual residence in Greece as the aircraft on which she and the children were travelling to London took off. She then acquired a new habitual residence in this country as the aircraft touched down at Heathrow. 45. The test is qualitative not quantative. In other words, it is not simply a head-count of days and nights, although time spent in a particular location will be a relevant factor in most cases. Residence 46. I accept entirely that there is a difference between residence and habitual residence. Unlike with habitual residence, a person can be resident in two countries at the same time (see Marinos at Paragraph [48] and V v V at Paragraphs [50] and [51]). The obvious example would be the wife in Marinos who had homes in Greece (where her husband and children lived) and in England (where she worked and lived with her parents). In that case, she divided her time roughly equally between the two, but I accept Mr Howard’s submission that it does not have to be equal. He postulated the case of a barrister who lives and works in London from Monday to Friday and goes home to his/her family in Dorset (per Mr Howard) or France every weekend. 47. Mr Marks is, however, correct that residence has to be something more than just a place where you or your spouse own a property. It has to be somewhere where you reside as opposed to where you visit. The most obvious example would be a holiday home which would not amount to residence, but another example might be the super-rich who own numerous homes all around the world. They visit these homes. They do not reside in each and every one of them.”
“I have relocated…The timing of my relocation in January had to do with my health appointments and the finances running back and forth”
“Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect as to the cases in which matrimonial proceedings in England and Wales (whether the proceedings are in respect of the marriage of a man and a woman or the marriage of a same sex couple) are to be, or may be, stayed by the court where there are concurrent proceedings elsewhere in respect of the same marriage”. (ii) Schedule 1, paragraph 9, reads:- “(1) Where before the beginning of the trial or first trial in any matrimonial proceedings, other than proceedings governed by the Council Regulation, which are continuing in the court it appears to the court – (a) that any proceedings in respect of the marriage in question, or capable of affecting its validity or subsistence, are continuing in another jurisdiction; and (b) that the balance of fairness (including convenience) as between the parties to the marriage is such that it is appropriate for the proceedings in that jurisdiction to be disposed of before further steps are taken in proceedings in the court or in those proceedings so far as they consist of a particular kind of matrimonial proceedings, the court may then, if it thinks fit, order that the proceedings be stayed or, as the case may be, that those proceedings shall be stayed so far as they consist of proceedings of that kind. (2) In considering the balance of fairness and convenience for the purposes of subparagraph (1)(b) above, the court shall have regard to all the factors appearing to be relevant, including the convenience of witnesses and any delay or expense which may result from the proceedings being stayed, or not being stayed…”