The case involved a 13 yr old girl, J, whose mother, AB, was applying for her return under the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985 and the Hague Convention 1980. The father, CD, opposed this return.
The mother is American and the father is British. They married in 2010 and moved to England shortly after. Their daughter, J, was born in England in 2011. They separated in 2015 and with an agreed consent order the mother and J moved to the USA. Contact between J and her father continued with extended school summer holiday periods in England.
In June 2024, J came to stay with her father in England and did not return to the USA on the arranged date of 22nd August. The father’s case was that she did not wish to return.
The Judge exercised his discretion not to return the child despite the Father accepting the child had been unlawfully retained in England, due to the child objecting to a return to the USA and to the care of the Mother.
Darren Howe KC was instructed on a direct access basis.
The full judgment is available here.
