Newsletter August 2023
Careful child relocation
How to serve the best interest of the child during relocation and divorce.
A website like no other
Reliable information
about child relocation and child abduction
& the names of the experts.
On this site experts share their knowledge with each other and with parents, teachers, social workers, journalists, HR staff, etc.: anyone who wants to know about child relocation or child abduction.
In this newsletter we list all the latest articles, social media posts and other news about child relocation and child abduction from August 2023.
Our blogs in August:
Habitual residence despite many relocations
By Carolina Marin Pedreño from Dawson Cornwell in the UK Carolina discusses her recent child abduction case.
Child relocation cases in the UK
By Colin Rogerson from Mills & Reece in the UK.
The meaning of an Article 15 declaration
By Martine Wernsen from Family Lawyer The Hague in the Netherlands.
Judicial interviews of children in U.S. Hague Convention Abduction cases
By Melissa Kucinski, consultant in the US.
Highlights from our website:
Which child abduction case will you never forget?
Family lawyer Jack Schoenmakers from the Netherlands answers:
I have now been handling cases involving international child abduction for almost 25 years. The case that always stays with me is the first case I handled in 1999. At that time, in proceedings, the trailing parent was represented by the Ministry of Justice. I was then the lawyer of the Dutch mother who had come to the Netherlands from the United States with three young children. The father believed that there was child abduction. The court ruled that the three young children had to return to New York.
At that time, filing an appeal had no suspensive effect. I then appealed on the woman’s behalf and the woman then went into hiding with the children. The woman was helped in the background by family, friends as well as a well-known journalist and television program. The case also received a lot of publicity in the media. I then won the case on appeal. The main reason was that I could prove through witnesses that the American father had agreed to the permanent residence of the children in the Netherlands. Because my client was in hiding during the appeal, communication was very difficult and the client was wanted by the police and judicial authorities.
Ultimately, this case led to my interest in international child abduction cases. To this day, I handle such cases on a daily basis and each case is yet another challenge. What I learned from my first abduction case is that every case offers possibilities and opportunities. Of course, consultation and mediation should be the initial starting point. In many cases, this does not lead to agreement and litigation must take place. In short, in every case thorough investigation of all facts and circumstances should follow. In particular, communication between parties through WhatsApp, Facebook and email can provide a lot of information to, for example, certain defenses. I have been able to conclude many cases positively with that.
How about the interests of siblings in child relocation cases?
Family lawyer Yordanka Bekirska from Bulgaria answers:
At the moment I deal with an abduction case where the father wrongfully retained his children in Bulgaria after the summer vacation. The children refused to return in Belgium, saying they were systematically neglected by their mother.The daughter is close to 16 years old and she will not be returned in Belgium because she is mature already. However, the young boy is 10 years old and he has good emotional connection with the mother. My defense strategy is to convince the judge that in case of separating the siblings it will put both children at risk, because of their very strong psycho-emotional connection. I believe that once the parents are separated the only strength can be kept by the sibling and they should not be separated.
What would you like to say to judges dealing with child relocation cases?
Family Lawyer Andreas Hanke from Germany answers:
Make sure you are fair to both parents and to understand that the world and the reality has changed. Evaluate the case according to the best interest of the child/children and not on the factor if you understand the move or not. Expedite the proceeding as the children suffer under long proceedings and several interviews.
We provide the contact information of the Central Authorities in the contracting states.
Visit our website to see the list of States and click on the State of your choice to find the contact information.
Will you get a return order?
Using this questionnaire, you can quickly see if there are opportunities to obtain a return order and what defenses can be made in a situation of child abduction.
This questionnaire can help to structure the conversation with your client. READ MORE
Understanding the child's needs
How to discuss and understand a child's needs regarding it's main residence.
Different ties
Your child may have ties to both countries. Some ties are sentimental and based on shared history or shared culture. Some ties can give a child wonderful opportunities in the future. Some ties are essential for their wellbeing, some ties can be replaced easily or at least after some time.
It may be worthwhile to explore why your child feels a strong connection to a particular activity, location, sport, school, or person.
Ties to the location, a person or the activity?
The strong connection to school may be based on the fact that he can play a lot of sports at his current school. The bond with piano playing may be based on the fact that it involves a shared interest with his favourite family member. The bond with a certain person may be based on the fact that this person helps him play his favorite sport. The bond with a sport may be based on the fact that he always gets to go to practice on his own, which gives him a strong sense of independence.
If you know whether the bond is strongest with the person or with the activity, you can better assess or discuss whether, after a move, the particular bond can be maintained or perhaps replaced by new activities and relationships.
What we read on LinkedIn
The War in Ukraine and 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention:
to return or not to return?
You can watch the recordings of this event on Youtube.
4PB, UK
This case shows the Court’s approach where applicants cannot afford to house children on return following a “systematic, premediated, carefully orchestrated and protracted deception” and the application of the HCCH Good Practice Guide to Art 13(b) defences.
Dawson Cornwell, UK
The case involved an application for the return of the parties’ children to Canada in circumstances where the mother had travelled to this jurisdiction with the children so that she could undergo urgent medical treatment.
New lawyers
Onyója Momoh
Barrister at 5 Pump Court Chambers,
London, United Kingdom
Felicia Munde
Stewarts
London, United Kingdom
Mani Singh Basi
Barrister at 4PB
London, United Kingdom
Recommended by LinkedIn
Oleksandr Gubin
AGA Partners
Kyiv, Ukraine
Max Blitt
Spier Harben
Calgary, Canada
New Country Reporters
These experts have volunteered to be Country Reporters. They wrote these Country Pages and they will keep them up to date.
Juan Francisco Zarricueta,
Family lawyer in Santiago
Onyója Momoh
Barrister in London, UK
Aleksandar Pavleski,
Family lawyer in Belgrade
Follow us on LinkedIn
More than 1700 lawyers, mediators, relocation consultants and other professionals are following us on LinkedIn. 996 of them have registered to receive our monthly newsletter on LinkedIn.
Visit LinkedIn and register for our monthly newsletter.
Courses, conferences :
November 23 & 24 2023
In October 2023 the Hague Conference on Private International law (HCCH) will hold the Eight Meeting of the Special Commission on the Practical Operation of the 1980 Child Abduction Convention and the 1996 Child Abduction Convention.
ASIME organizes a conference in November to discuss a.o. the outcome of this Meeting and the future of the 1980 Child Abduction Convention.
Among many others: a speaker from the Central Authority in Ukraine and Nuria González Martín (IIJ-UNAM, Mexico).
Registrations have discount until 30/09. You can book a hotel with discount. In the same week, the tennis Davis Cup is in Malage, so don't wait too long to book. See you there!
September 14 2023
A Zoom Webinar from the American Bar Association.Join private international law experts from the U.S. and Italy as they discuss the various child custody lawsuits filed on the periphery of the Hague Abduction Convention cases in Monasky v. Taglieri and Golan v. Saada.
Books & articles :
Isla's song by Darren Mort
Darren Mort is an experienced family lawyer from Australia. Previously he produced a short film and a children's book.
This time he wrote a novel. It's a family drama about a child who is abducted by her depressed mother from her home in Melbourne, Australia and relocated overseas while her anguished father spends years trying to find her.
Concurrent Convention and Non-Convention Cases,
by James Netto of the International Family Law Group and Professor Rob George of Harcourt Family Law.
The courts of England and Wales permit applicants in 1980 Hague Convention child abduction proceedings also to bring concurrent applications for the return of the child to their state of habitual residence based on a summary welfare assessment, which can be issued and heard alongside the Hague application.
Given the different nature of these two applications, having them heard concurrently raises a number of challenges for the parties in terms of the evidence required and for the court in terms of the analytical process being undertaken.
This article explores the nature of the two applications, the reasons why they might be brought concurrently, and the challenges that can arise in such cases. You can download this article for free on the website of MDPI.
International Child Abduction
Mayela Celis Attorney at law, LL.M. (NYU), PhD (UNED), Researcher at Maastricht University, former Principal Legal Officer at Hague Conference (HCCH) wrote this book, in Spanish, about child abduction in Spain.
Share your expertise on child relocation and abduction
Get your own profile page on our website:
or:
- write a guest blog for our website
- send us intesting articles, case law etcetera.
Would you like to receive this newsletter in your inbox?
Contact:
Jacob van den Eyndestraat 73, unit 1.02
2274 XA Voorburg
The Netherlands