PIL instrument(s)

Case number and/or case name

RD (Child Abduction) (Brussels II Revised: Articles 11(7) and 19), Re [2008] Fam. Law 1078

Details of the court

England and Wales, First Instance

Articles referred to by the court

Date of the judgement

15 August 2008

Appeal history

CJEU's case law cited by the court

Summary

The proceedings were in respect of a child, R. The child was born in England. The parties had lived in England together. The parties had separated. There had been parental responsibility proceedings in England. The English court had made contact orders for the father. Several years later, the mother and the child, R, went both to Portugal, and did not come back in England. In Portugal, the mother commenced parental responsibility proceedings. The Portuguese court assumed jurisdiction. The father’s application for a summary return of the child to England was late. A non-return order was made by the Portuguese court. In England, the father made an application for return under Article 11(7) of Brussels IIa. The English court refused to exercise jurisdiction under Article 11(7), holding that it could only do so, if the foreign court had made its non-return order on the ground of Article 13 rather than on the basis of Article 12 of the Hague Convention. Further, since the Portuguese court was first seised with the parental responsibility proceedings, the English court had to stay its proceedings under the Children Act 1989.