Mother Loses Legal Bid to have Children Returned to Australia

An Australian woman has failed in her legal bid to have her two children returned from the UK, where they currently live with their father.

The case was a complex one and involved an Australian woman and British man, who lived in England together after their marriage and had two children who both hold dual nationality.

After the marriage broke down, the mother travelled with the children to Sydney for what the father believed was only a holiday, however the children did not return to England and were enrolled in school in Australia.

While in Australia, the mother underwent treatment for addiction problems. The father agreed to let the family stay in Australia while she tackled this and paid for the mother’s medical expenses.

Unfortunately, over the next six years the mother’s addiction problems worsened, as did her relationship with the father, who found it increasingly difficult to have contact with his children and grew concerned for their welfare. When the mother suffered organ failure and was admitted to hospital her family arranged for the children to travel to England to stay with their father and the mother signed a statutory declaration allowing this for a 12 month period.

The father began legal proceedings in the English courts to have the children stay with him permanently, but when the mother recovered she made an application under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction to have them returned to her.

A judge in the English High Court has now ruled that the children were settled with their father and were now habitually resident in England and therefore there had been no breach of the Hague Convention. He therefore dismissed the mother’s application.

This case is a good example of the complications that can arise in child custody arrangements, particularly where there is an international element to the dispute. Expert legal advice is essential.

Contact our Child Custody Lawyers Sydney, NSW 

Szabo & Associates, Solicitors can offer expert advice on a wide range of family law matters, including divorce, parenting matters and child relocation. Please contact us today, Family Law Associate on (02) 9281-5088 or fill in the contact form to the right of this page.

Sources:

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2016/633