Moving abroad

Following the breakdown of your relationship, you may decide that you wish to return or move to another country and for the children to come with you.

In such a situation, you are obliged by law to either obtain the written permission of anyone else with parental responsibility or to make the appropriate application to the Court. If you do not do this and simply move abroad with your children, then you may be guilty of the criminal offence of child abduction.

Applications to move abroad (also known as removal from the jurisdiction) are now made much more frequently. The Court carefully considers all of the circumstances of the case and makes a decision that it considers to be in the child's best interests.

What factors are taken into account?

• The wishes and feelings of the child, dependent upon the child's age.
• The motivation for moving abroad
• What are the plans? Has the issue of the children's schooling been considered? Will there be a language barrier?
• Contact – what are the proposals for contact? A variety of ways of keeping in contact will be considered including Skype, email and text messaging.

An application to move a child abroad can be an important and vital step for a parent who is caring for the children and at the same time devastating for the parent who remains in this country, particularly if that parent has enjoyed regular and flexible contact. The Court will vigorously consider whether such a move is in the child's best interests.