The parties to the divorce proceedings were American. They married in 1996.
The husband started working in England in May 1996, and the wife joined him several months later. They had four children who were all born in England, obtaining British citizenship and having dual UK and US nationality from birth.
The relationship between the parties suffered a breakdown in 2007.
In July 2008, the mother and the children moved to New York.
A divorce petition was filed by the wife in England on 20th May 2009.
Two weeks later - on 5th June 2009 - the husband issued a summons for divorce proceedings in New York, requesting a stay of the English legal proceedings.
The wife objected to a stay by relying on Owusu. The English court granted the husband’s request by distinguishing Owusu. The English court held that the New York was clearly or distinctly more appropriate than the English forum.
That said, it should be noted that it was an expensive jurisdictional battle which was outlined by the judge:
“7 It is a matter of some regret that the combined legal costs in this case have reached a staggering £900,000, even at this preliminary stage (this is the husband's estimate and includes the stay application, the freezing order application and the application for maintenance pending suit). This is not a big money case; the assets are about £7m (less tax) and the husband's net income in the region of £1m (including bonus). I would sincerely hope that, despite the interest in the legal issue I have outlined, once this jurisdiction issue has been determined serious attempts will be made to agree the financial aspects before there is any further damaging erosion of the relatively limited available assets through increased legal costs, which are already so alarmingly high.” [7]