Cour de cassation, première chambre civile

Cour de cassation, première chambre civile

France

1 June 2023

Mme [U] v M. [O]

No 21-21.169; ECLI:FR:CCASS:2023:C100374

Supreme / Highest Court

Article 7(1)

• Article 5
• Article 13

Code de procédure civile, Code de l'organisation judiciaire,

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Following the parents' divorce in France, the mother relocated with the parties' children to Ecuador. The mother argued that the Ecuadorian courts had jurisdiction because the children had become habitually resident there. The French courts nevertheless continued to exercise jurisdiction over parental responsibility proceedings. On appeal, the Cour de cassation confirmed that, pursuant to Article 7(1) of the 1996 Hague Child Protection Convention, the courts of the State of the children's habitual residence immediately prior to the alleged wrongful removal retain jurisdiction until the conditions set out in Article 7(1)(a) or (b) are satisfied. Since the father had not acquiesced in the children's relocation and had initiated return proceedings under the 1980 Hague Convention within one year of learning their whereabouts, French jurisdiction was preserved. The court therefore upheld the jurisdiction of the French courts to determine issues concerning parental responsibility and the children's residence.

The Cour de cassation dismissed the mother's appeal and held that the French courts retained jurisdiction under Article 7(1) of the 1996 Hague Child Protection Convention to determine matters of parental responsibility. Although the children had been living in Ecuador for more than one year and had acquired habitual residence there, the father had not acquiesced in their relocation and had commenced return proceedings under the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention within the one-year period prescribed by Article 7(1)(b). Accordingly, the conditions for the transfer of jurisdiction to Ecuador had not been met.

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