AFFAIRE

Télécharger le texte complet EN

Nom de l'affaire

Re B. (Abduction: Acquiescence) [1999] 2 FLR 818

Référence INCADAT

HC/E/UKe 264

Juridiction

Pays

Royaume-Uni - Angleterre et Pays de Galles

Nom

High Court (Angleterre)

Degré

Première instance

États concernés

État requérant

États-Unis d'Amérique

État requis

Royaume-Uni - Angleterre et Pays de Galles

Décision

Date

27 April 1999

Statut

Définitif

Motifs

Acquiescement - art. 13(1)(a)

Décision

Retour refusé

Article(s) de la Convention visé(s)

13(1)(a)

Article(s) de la Convention visé(s) par le dispositif

13(1)(a)

Autres dispositions

-

Jurisprudence | Affaires invoquées

-

INCADAT commentaire

Exceptions au retour

Problèmes généraux
Nature discrétionnaire de l'article 13
Acquiescement
Acquiescement

RÉSUMÉ

Résumé disponible en EN | FR | ES

Facts

The child, a girl, was 5 at the date of the alleged wrongful removal. She had lived in both England and the United States. Her parents were married and had joint rights of custody. On 4/5 October 1997 the mother went to England, her State of origin, with the child.

On 11 February 1998 the father came to England. On 27 February he issued an application for contact. Interim orders for contact were made on 20 March and 9 July.

On 18 July the father visited the United States embassy in London. While there he was informed of the Hague Convention. In late August / early September 1998 the father issued proceedings for the return of his daughter. In December 1998 the father returned to the United States.

Ruling

Removal wrongful but return refused; the standard required under Article 13(1)(a) had been met to show acquiescence on the part of the father.

Grounds

Acquiescence - Art. 13(1)(a)

In the aftermath of the removal the father wrote several letters to the mother. In that of 11 January 1998 he stated that he would agree in writing to the mother being the child's primary carer and to her having the freedom to reside in which ever country she might choose. In light of this correspondence and the fact the father had issued contact proceedings in England, during the course of which he stated that it was his long term intention to settle in England, the court found that he had acquiesced in the removal. It also drew attention to the fact that the father had issued no proceedings in Idaho. The father's assertion that in ignorance of the Convention he had gone along with what he saw as the inevitable and formulated his plans accordingly, was rejected as over simplistic. Rather, the court found that since the contact arrangements in England were running into difficulty and he had been specifically alerted to the Convention, the father decided to alter course. The trial judge exercised his discretion to refuse to order the return of the child. In particular he placed weight on the fact the child was now settled in her new environment after 19 months residence. He also took into account the fact the mother would be unhappy at having to return and that this would in turn have an adverse impact on the child's welfare.

INCADAT comment

For an example of a South African judgment where a similar result was reached on similar facts see: Smith v. Smith 2001 (3) SA 845 [INCADAT Reference: HC/E/ZA 499].

Discretionary Nature of Article 13

The drafting of Article 13 makes clear that where one of the constituent exceptions is established to the standard required by the Convention, the making of a non-return order is not inevitable, rather the court seised of the return petition has a discretion whether or not to make a non-return order.

The most extensive recent overview of the exercise of the discretion to return in child abduction cases has come in the decision of the supreme United Kingdom jurisdiction, the House of Lords, in Re M. (Children) (Abduction: Rights of Custody) [2007] UKHL 55, [2008] 1 AC 1288 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/UKe 937].

In that case Baroness Hale affirmed that it would be wrong to import any test of exceptionality into the exercise of discretion under the Hague Convention. The circumstances in which a return might be refused were themselves exceptions to the general rule. It was neither necessary nor desirable to import an additional gloss into the Convention.

The manner in which the discretion would be exercised would differ depending on the facts of the case; general policy considerations, including not only the swift return of abducted children, but also comity between Contracting States, mutual respect for judicial processes and deterrence of abductions, had to be weighed against the interests of the child in the individual case. A court would be entitled to take into account the various aspects of the Convention policy, alongside the circumstances which gave the court a discretion in the first place and the wider considerations of the child's rights and welfare. Sometimes Convention objectives would be given more weight than the other considerations and sometimes they would not.

The discretionary nature of the exceptions is seen most commonly within the context of Article 13(2) - objections of a mature child - but there are equally examples of return orders being granted notwithstanding other exceptions being established.


Consent

Australia
Kilah & Director-General, Department of Community Services [2008] FamCAFC 81 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/AU 995];

United Kingdom - England & Wales
Re D. (Abduction: Discretionary Return) [2000] 1 FLR 24 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/UKe 267].


Acquiescence

New Zealand
U. v. D. [2002] NZFLR 529 [INCADAT Cite: HC/E/NZ @472@].


Grave Risk

New Zealand
McL. v. McL., 12/04/2001, transcript, Family Court at Christchurch (New Zealand) [INCADAT Cite: HC/E/NZ @538@].

It may be noted that in the English appeal Re D. (Abduction: Rights of Custody) [2006] UKHL 51; [2007] 1 AC 619 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/ UKe @880@] Baroness Hale held that it was inconceivable that a child might be returned where a grave risk of harm was found to exist.

Acquiescence

There has been general acceptance that where the exception of acquiescence is concerned regard must be paid in the first instance to the subjective intentions of the left behind parent, see:

Australia
Commissioner, Western Australia Police v. Dormann, JP (1997) FLC 92-766 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/AU 213];

Barry Eldon Matthews (Commissioner, Western Australia Police Service) v. Ziba Sabaghian PT 1767 of 2001 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/AU 345];

Austria
5Ob17/08y, Oberster Gerichtshof, (Austrian Supreme Court) 1/4/2008 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/AT 981].

Considering the issue for the first time, Austria's supreme court held that acquiescence in a temporary state of affairs would not suffice for the purposes of Article 13(1) a), rather there had to be acquiescence in a durable change in habitual residence.

Belgium
N° de rôle: 02/7742/A, Tribunal de première instance de Bruxelles 6/3/2003, [INCADAT cite: HC/E/BE 545];

Canada
Ibrahim v. Girgis, 2008 ONCA 23, [INCADAT cite: HC/E/CA 851];

United Kingdom - England & Wales
Re H. and Others (Minors) (Abduction: Acquiescence) [1998] AC 72 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/UKe 46];

In this case the House of Lords affirmed that acquiescence was not to be found in passing remarks or letters written by a parent who has recently suffered the trauma of the removal of his children.

Ireland
K. v. K., 6 May 1998, transcript, Supreme Court of Ireland [INCADAT cite: HC/E/IE 285];

Israel
Dagan v. Dagan 53 P.D (3) 254 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/IL 807];

New Zealand
P. v. P., 13 March 2002, Family Court at Greymouth (New Zealand), [INCADAT cite: HC/E/NZ 533];

United Kingdom - Scotland
M.M. v. A.M.R. or M. 2003 SCLR 71, [INCADAT cite: HC/E/UKs 500];

South Africa
Smith v. Smith 2001 (3) SA 845 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/ZA 499];

Switzerland
5P.367/2005 /ast, Bundesgericht, II. Zivilabteilung (Tribunal Fédéral, 2ème Chambre Civile), [INCADAT cite: HC/E/CH 841].

In keeping with this approach there has also been a reluctance to find acquiescence where the applicant parent has sought initially to secure the voluntary return of the child or a reconciliation with the abducting parent, see:

United Kingdom - England & Wales
Re H. and Others (Minors) (Abduction: Acquiescence) [1998] AC 72 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/UKe 46];

P. v. P. (Abduction: Acquiescence) [1998] 2 FLR 835, [INCADAT cite:  HC/E/UKe 179];

Ireland
R.K. v. J.K. (Child Abduction: Acquiescence) [2000] 2 IR 416, [INCADAT cite: HC/E/IE 285];

United States of America
Wanninger v. Wanninger, 850 F. Supp. 78 (D. Mass. 1994), [INCADAT cite: HC/E/USf 84];

In the Australian case Townsend & Director-General, Department of Families, Youth and Community (1999) 24 Fam LR 495, [INCADAT cite: HC/E/AU 290] negotiation over the course of 12 months was taken to amount to acquiescence but, notably, in the court's exercise of its discretion it decided to make a return order.