KM v LN (Appeal: Occupation Order and Interim Child Arrangements)

Facts

The appellant father (F), born in Australia of Indian heritage and aged 56, and the respondent mother (M), born in Ethiopia, a UK citizen aged 47, married in 2014 and have two children: A, a girl aged 12, and B, a boy aged 6. The marriage broke down acrimoniously in 2024 but the whole family continued to live in the four-bedroom London family home, which is unmortgaged and worth about £5m, alongside other substantial matrimonial assets. F issued an application for a child arrangements order on 1 March 2025; M issued applications for occupation and non-molestation orders on 30 May 2025, and the applications were consolidated at a First Hearing and Dispute Resolution Appointment in June 2025. Each parent accused the other of manipulating the children and of coercion and control; no charges followed police involvement, and no findings of fact were made. On 11 September 2025 DDJ Mornington imposed an interim partial nesting arrangement under which the children remained at home and the parents alternated periods away in a hotel funded by F. On 3 July 2026, with final financial remedy and children hearings imminent, HHJ Middleton-Roy made an occupation order under section 33 of the Family Law Act 1996 excluding F for six months and revised the interim child arrangements. F appealed.