Child Abduction

Child abduction occurs when a child is removed, or wrongfully retained, from a person who has the legal right to custody of the child without that person’s authority or consent. As with other crisis situations involving children the adduction causes great emotional distress to all parties involved and requires swift responses on your part if you are the person whose rights have been denied and by us, your legal advisors.

Application to the Court & The Child Abduction and Enforcement of Custody Orders Act 1991

Applications under the Hague/Luxembourg Conventions are heard in the High Court.

The guiding principle is that the courts of the jurisdiction in which the child is habitually resident is the proper forum for the vindication of the rights of the child and for the determination of the best interests of the child.

Accordingly the central aim of the international and domestic legislative framework is to ensure the return of the child to the jurisdiction of their habitual residence as quickly as possible and if there are any disputes for example regarding custody or access these should be litigated before and determined by the courts of the jurisdiction of the child’s habitual residence and not by the courts of the jurisdiction into which the child has been abducted.

Are Pre-Emptive Applications possible?

If your situation is however that there is, at the current stage, only a threat of abduction of a child an application can be made to the District Court, Circuit Court or High Court for various orders such as sole custody, injunctions restraining removal out of the jurisdiction, orders regarding passports etc.