EN | FR | ES

Case Law Search

New search

CASE

No full text available

Case Name

Re R. (Abduction: Hague and European Conventions) [1997] 1 FLR 663

INCADAT reference

HC/E/UKe 156

Court

Country

UNITED KINGDOM - ENGLAND AND WALES

Name

High Court (Family Division)

Level

First Instance

Judge(s)
Hale J

States involved

Requesting State

SWITZERLAND

Requested State

UNITED KINGDOM - ENGLAND AND WALES

Decision

Date

29 July 1996

Status

-

Grounds

-

Order

-

HC article(s) Considered

-

HC article(s) Relied Upon

-

Other provisions

-

Authorities | Cases referred to

-

Published in

-

SUMMARY

Summary available in EN | FR

Facts

The child, a girl, was 10 at the date of the alleged wrongful removal. She had lived in Switzerland all of her life. The parents were divorced. The mother had rights of custody and the father had rights of access. In early 1995 the authorities were alerted as to concerns over the child's well being. On 21 November 1995 the Tutelary Court assumed the mother's right of custody and delegated the actual care of the child to the paternal grandparents. In December 1995 contact between the mother and child was suspended. In mid-March 1996 fortnightly weekend contact with the mother was restored. At the end of March, during the second such visit, the mother took the child to England. The Swiss Central Authority made a declaration for the purposes of Article 15 that the removal of the child was wrongful within the meaning of Article 3.

Ruling

Return refused; the removal was wrongful, but on the strength of the child's objection to a return to Switzerland, the court exercised its discretion under Article 13(2) not to order a return.

Faits

Les enfants, une fille et un garçon, étaient respectivement âgés de 8 ans et de 11 mois à la date du déplacement dont le caractère illicite était allégué. Ils avaient passé toute leur vie aux Etats-Unis. Les parents étaient mariés et avaient un droit de garde conjoint. Le 4 février 1991, la mère emmena les enfants en Angleterre, son Etat d'origine. La demande de retour du père fut accueillie par un tribunal américain. Le 19 juillet 1991, le père forma une demande de retour en application de la Convention.

Dispositif

Retour ordonné, des engagements étant proposés ; un juge n'a pas à surseoir à statuer pour permettre d'établir l'opinion d'un enfant.