Suppose you are the parent who wants to move abroad with the child. In that case, you may need permission from the courts if the other parent has parental responsibility and does not agree, or you could face a return order under the Hague Convention or domestic law. You could even commit a criminal offence.

Rather than wait until a child has been abducted abroad and then try to get a court order for the child’s return, the better option is to prevent an abduction from taking place at all.

As in so many other areas of family law, here the rule applies that contacting a solicitor early and getting good advice will save massive amounts of potential litigation, stress, and huge costs later. Money you spend on expert advice early on can save you the same amount several times over in legal fees that you would have spent on litigation later.

Our 24/7 Information phone line will be available soon for public awareness & to provide information to support parents who fear their child may be at risk of abduction.

We also help parents to find and arrange truly specialist mediation services. Parental child abduction was always believed to be too contentious an issue to benefit from mediation. However, parents can step outside of the court process to resolve their issues and come to amicable agreements that best meet the needs of their family.