WB v VM
[2024] EWHC 302 (Fam)
KH v MB
13 December 2023
[2023] EWHC 3194 (Fam)
High Court
A father took his son (L) from England to Algeria without the mother's permission. Even though the son was living in Algeria, a UK court ordered him to be returned to England because the court was worried about the son's well-being, particularly his lack of contact with his mother and the difficulty of getting legal help in Algeria.
Key Facts
- •L (a boy born November 23, 2019) was wrongfully taken from England to Algeria by his father (MB) in March 2022 without the mother's (KH) consent.
- •Both parents have dual nationality (British and Algerian for the father, Moroccan and potentially British for the mother, and dual for L).
- •Algeria is not a signatory to the 1996 Hague Convention or the 1980 Hague Convention.
- •The mother applied for L's summary return to England and her sole care.
- •The case involved determining jurisdiction (habitual residence and parens patriae), considering allegations of domestic abuse, and assessing L's best interests.
- •L lived in various locations: England, Morocco, and Algeria.
- •The court heard evidence from both parents, expert testimony on Algerian law, and reviewed various documents.
Legal Principles
Jurisdiction in international child abduction cases is determined by the child's habitual residence at the commencement of proceedings and at the time of the final hearing.
Re London Borough of Hackney v P and Others [2023] EWCA Civ 1213
Article 7(1) of the 1996 Hague Convention addresses wrongful removal or retention. The interpretation of whether it applies to non-contracting states was debated.
Various cases cited, including MZ v RZ [2021] EWHC 2490 (Fam), H v R [2022] EWHC 1073 (Fam), AA v BB [2020] EWHC 2509 (Fam)
Habitual residence is a factual question focused on the child's integration into a social and family environment, considering parental intentions but not solely determined by them.
Re B (A Child: Custody Rights Habitual Residence) [2016] EWHC 2174
Parens patriae jurisdiction allows the court to intervene for a child's protection, but the circumstances must be sufficiently compelling and necessary, exceeding a mere 'best interests' test.
Re M [2020] EWCA Civ 922
Outcomes
The court found that L's habitual residence was in Algeria at the time of the final hearing.
Based on the analysis of L's life in various locations, considering factors such as duration, integration, and parental intentions.
The court exercised parens patriae jurisdiction to order L's return to England.
The court found compelling circumstances justifying the exercise of the inherent jurisdiction, emphasizing the harm to L from prolonged separation from his mother and the practical impossibility of effective legal action in Algeria.