Child Relocation & International Family Law

Where parents separate, the parent with care of the children may want to return to his or her home country. This can involve a wish therefore to relocate a child from England & Wales to a different foreign country or elsewhere within the United Kingdom.

Where a residence order is in force a child may not be taken out of the country for more than one month without the consent of all people who have parental responsibility or the permission of the court.

Even if there is no residence order in force, the consent of any person with parental responsibility must be obtained before a child is taken out of the country and relocated as otherwise the removal could amount to child abduction.

There have been a number of historic and recent cases about the international relocation of children. Specialist advice should therefore be obtained. It is important to consider, for example:

• what is in the best interests of the child
• what are the wishes also of the parent seeking to relocate and why
• what are the practical issues, for example:

 o where will the child actually live
 o what will the schooling arrangements be
 o are there going to be an language issues
 o how will the relocating parent support themselves and the child financially
 o what contact will the child have to the left behind parent

In the past a lot of weight was attached to the wishes of the parent wishing to relocate but this has been challenged recently. We have experience in assisting parents wishing to relocate and also for other parents opposing such relocation applications.

Where a child is, however, to relocate to a foreign jurisdiction, whether by the parents’ agreement or court order, it is very important to consider what the actual international contact arrangements will be and how frequent this is to occur and that this child contact is both safe and secure.