International Children

Examples of our experience

• Acting for a mother seeking to relocate to Germany with her two teenage children. The case was finely balanced given the age of the children, but following the instruction of an independent social worker who supported the mother’s plans, her application was allowed.
• Acting for a father opposing the mother’s application for permission to relocate the parties’ two year old son to Hong Kong (her home country where her family resided).  Advising the father in relation to both the complex financial issues and the international relocation dispute, providing him with continuity of representation. The Judge refused the mother’s permission to relocate and ordered an increase in contact with our client, so that the father would effectively share the child’s care with the mother.  This was a life-changing result for our client and his son.
• Acting for a mother seeking to relocate to France with her two children whilst simultaneously opposing the father’s application to relocate to Qatar. The case was unusual as both parents were seeking to relocate with the children from England but to different countries. With the assistance of recommendations from an independent social worker the mother was allowed to relocate with the children.
• Acting for a mother seeking to relocate to the USA with her young son. This case was not straightforward given the young age of the child and therefore the ability to maintain a relationship with his father who would remain in England. The application was ultimately allowed and the mother permitted to relocate.
• Representing the birth mother in an important international parentage case heard by the Court of Appeal. The case primarily concerned whether her former same-sex civil partner was a legal parent of the five children living in the UAE, and the jurisdiction for the applicant to bring proceedings in England in circumstances where her legal status as a same-sex parent was not recognised in the UAE. This case had unique facts and was significant as it addressed the position for same-sex female parents where one is having children via assisted reproductive methods, and showed how the English court can still make decisions regarding children who are no longer habitually resident in this country.
• A jurisdiction dispute concerning whether the arrangements for children should be determined in Scotland or in England.
• Dispute about choice of schooling for a child between the USA and UK involving complex legal argument about habitual residence.
• Cross-border child arrangements cases involving Australia, New Zealand, USA, France, Romania and UAE.