Judgment has been handed down by Mr Justice MacDonald in Potanina v Potanin (No.3) (Video Evidence from Abroad) [2026] EWHC 1738 (Fam).
The judgment provides important guidance on the taking of evidence by video link from abroad in family proceedings, addressing the circumstances in which a witness or party who volunteers to give evidence remotely may do so without the need for a Letter of Request under the 1970 Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters. The court concluded that, in family proceedings, the Convention is not mandatory where a witness voluntarily gives evidence by video link, whilst identifying the principles that will govern the court’s approach in such cases.
Rebecca Carew Pole KC, Rebecca Bailey-Harris and Ben Wooldridge, instructed by Payne Hicks Beach, appeared on behalf of the respondent, Mr Vladimir Potanin.
