Law digests: 18 November 2022

Abduction

Re X (a child) (child abduction: habitual residence) [2022] EWCA Civ 1423, [2022] All ER (D) 10 (Nov)

The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, ruled on the appeal against an order in proceedings brought by a father under the Hague Child Abduction Convention 1980 for the summary return to Germany of his minor son, X. X’s father and mother had a short relationship. X had lived in Uganda with his mother and the father had lived in Germany. In January 2020, the mother brought X to the UK and in July 2020, she had claimed asylum. Thereafter, the father had filed an application with the Family Division for the summary return of X to Germany. The judge had granted the father’s application on the ground that X was habitually resident in Germany. The mother argued that the judge was wrong to find that X’s habitual residence was Germany. The court held, among other things, that the court found as a fact that the date of retention was July 2021. It was necessary