Matthew James Pringle v Olivia Margaret Nervo

Court

In the Court of Appeal (Civil Division)

Practice Areas

Private Children Law

Joy Brereton KC, leading Amber Sheridan (1 Hare Court) and Gervase de Wilde (5RB), and instructed by Victoria Toy (AFP Bloom), appeared on behalf of the appellant father in MP v ON [2026] EWCA Civ 266, a significant appeal concerning the approach to costs orders in private law Children Act proceedings.

The appeal arose from private law proceedings concerning the parties’ daughter, in which the Family Court had ordered the father to pay 75% of the mother’s legal costs, approximately £385,000. The order was made following litigation concerning child arrangements and parental responsibility, after the father sought to withdraw his applications late in the proceedings.

In a judgment handed down on 13 March 2026, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and overturned the costs order. The Court reaffirmed the “general practice of not awarding costs against a party, including a local authority, in the absence of reprehensible behaviour or an unreasonable stance” and concluded that the circumstances of the case did not reach that threshold. It further noted that the matters relied upon amounted to “low level procedural conduct… all too often part and parcel of such emotive proceedings.”

The Court also highlighted that the judge had not balanced or factored in the mother’s litigation conduct, noting “In my judgment the judge fell into error in considering only the conduct of the father and not that of the mother.” It went on to explain that, “…once the mother’s own conduct was added to the equation, there should have been no derogation from the general rule that there should be no order for costs in children cases.”

To read the full judgment click here.