Court refuses to return child to France after she becomes settled in England

The High Court in London has refused a father’s application for the summary return of his daughter to France, after finding that she had become settled in England.

The child was born in France in 2022. Her father is French, and her mother has dual French and British nationality. The parents’ relationship broke down in February 2023, when the mother and child left the family home.

The mother married her current husband in November 2023 and moved to England in September 2024, bringing the child with her. The father was not consulted about the move, but he was informed of the mother’s address in England.

Meanwhile, there were court proceedings in France concerning arrangements for the child. The French court was aware that the child had been brought to England, but did not order her return to France, despite the father making an application preventing the mother from “leaving the territory”.

However, at a hearing in November 2025 the French court ordered that the child live with the father. The mother did not attend the hearing, and was not represented, claiming that the French court lacked jurisdiction.

The mother then began proceedings in England, and applied for an order that the French proceedings be transferred to England.

Then, in March 2026, the father made an application under the 1980 Hague Convention for the summary return of the child to France. The mother opposed the application arguing, amongst other things, that it should be refused because the child was now settled in England.

Under the Hague Convention, where a child has been wrongfully removed from their ‘home’ country then, if the return application is made within one year of the removal, the court must order the return of the child, unless the ‘abducting’ parent has proved one of the limited defences, such as that a return would expose the child to a grave risk of harm.

However, if the return application is not made within one year, then the court has a discretion to refuse a return, where it is demonstrated that the child is now settled in their new environment.

Here, the removal of the child from France, made without the father’s agreement or the permission of the French court, was clearly wrongful.

However, the application was made more than one year after the removal, and therefore the court could refuse a return if it found that the child had become settled here.

And that is what the court did find. The child had lived with her new ‘family unit’ (now including a new half-sister) for two and a half years. It was the only family unit with which she was familiar. She also had close relationships with wider family members, and friends at school.

It was true that not ordering a return would adversely affect her relationship with her father, but that relationship was limited in any event.

In all of the circumstances, the judge concluded that the child was indeed settled in England, and that her welfare would be best served by her not being uprooted again by being summarily returned to France.

Accordingly, the judge declined to exercise his discretion to return the child to France, and dismissed the father’s application.

You can read the full judgment in the case here.

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