High Court of Justice (England and Wales), Family Division

High Court of Justice (England and Wales), Family Division

United Kingdom - England and Wales

12 June 2024

Re C

[2024] EWHC 1433 (Fam)

First instance

Article 7

Article 5(1)

Family Law Act 1986

Not provided

The case involved a dispute over the jurisdiction of the English courts to make a return order for a child who was taken to Pakistan by her mother without the father's consent. The father had initiated proceedings in the Nottingham Family Court for a Child Arrangements Order before the child's removal. After the mother left the UK with the child in April 2021, the father applied to the High Court for a return order under the inherent jurisdiction. The legal issues here were whether the English court had jurisdiction to make a return order under the 1996 Hague Convention or the Family Law Act 1986, and whether the inherent jurisdiction could be exercised to order the child's return to the UK. The court determined that C was habitually resident in England until her removal in April 2021. However, by the time the father applied for the return order in April 2023, C had been living in Pakistan for two years and had become settled there. Consequently, the court found that C was habitually resident in Pakistan by April 2023. Given that C was habitually resident in Pakistan, the court concluded that it did not have jurisdiction under Article 5 of the 1996 Hague Convention or the Family Law Act 1986 to make a return order

The High Court dismissed the father's application for a return order and the Children Act application in the Nottingham Family Court. The court ruled that Pakistan was the appropriate forum for resolving these matters. The court considered exercising its inherent jurisdiction based on the child's British nationality. However, it found no compelling circumstances to justify using this jurisdiction, especially in the absence of evidence of risk to the child in Pakistan and the futility of any order made by the UK court.