“An alternative reality”: seeking contact with twins who don’t exist? (AA v ZZ [2024] EWHC 2008 (Fam))

Family lawyers often become well-accustomed to the strange circumstances that may arise in legal proceedings – everything from sordid affairs, absurdly lavish expenses, and family drama that wouldn’t be out of place in an episode of Succession. But what about parties who can’t even agree on the existence of a child, or in this case, twins?

In a recent case, a man sought contact with his twin sons. He claimed that his wife had been pregnant when they separated and subsequently gave birth to twin boys in secret. In the judgment titled ‘A perplexing case – do any children exist?’, Mrs Justice Arbuthnot DBE grappled with a complex web of contradictory evidence, including ultrasound scans of dubious authenticity and a forged hospital letter.

The General Register Office found no trace of any newborn child registered with the family name of either party. Furthermore, the hospital where the ex-wife allegedly gave birth said that the only baby born on the supposed date of birth was born to a different mother. There was also no indication of the ex-wife being pregnant in her medical records, despite her seeing her GP regularly throughout the alleged pregnancy and her attendance at A&E twice during that period.

The ex-wife’s case was that she had lied to her ex-husband and told him that she was pregnant and had a termination to help her leave the relationship, which had been abusive. She later said that she had told him that she had given birth to twins. However, she submitted that her ex-husband knew that the children hadn’t been born and was pursuing the claim to continue his controlling and coercive behaviour against her, or ‘as an act of revenge for her reporting his father to the authorities as a possible child molester’. It was agreed by the parties that she had provided her ex-husband with the following details:

• Two ultrasound scans of twin foetuses, taken three months apart from two different hospitals
• Photographs of her stretch marks
• The boys’ names and their weight at birth

The ex-wife’s claim that she had lied about the children’s existence was challenged by a substantial amount of evidence brought by the ex-husband. He provided multiple recordings of conversations he had with her and various witnesses. These conversations indicated that twin boys had indeed been born.

Most compelling perhaps was evidence from a witness who said she had seen the ex-wife whilst she was pregnant, and then again with a child who referred to her as “Mummy”.

However, whilst some of the ex-husband’s evidence was compelling, the judge determined that he had likely forged several WhatsApp messages from the witnesses and may have also forged a hospital letter describing a previous miscarriage suffered by the ex-wife. There was insufficient evidence to determine the authenticity of the ultrasound scans, which the ex-wife claimed she had forged.

All in all, the case was plagued by strange turns of events. As the judge put it, there was a sense of “having stumbled into an alternative reality”. For example, a person claiming to be the ex-wife’s midwife rang the private hospital where the twins were alleged to have been born and asked questions about the case. The hospital confirmed that they did not know of a midwife of the name provided, nor had someone with that name ever worked there.

The judge held that there was strong evidence to suggest that there had been a pregnancy and some evidence that one child had been born. The judge also emphasised the difficulties caused by the parties’ lack of legal representation. The court’s inability to act as an investigator, attempting to separate fact from fiction, was also highlighted. A further hearing will be scheduled in due course for the court to consider further directions.

Read the full judgment here.