Advice Centre

Arranging Child Contact when One Parent Moves Abroad

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Posted in: Family and children
Date published: 08/10/2021

We understand that maintaining contact and spending valuable time with your child is important to you and is one of the most difficult aspects of divorce. When one parent makes the decision to move abroad, it is essential that arrangements are in place for contact with the remaining parent. There are of course many practical and financial considerations for both parties when making child contact arrangements, as well as taking into account what might be best for your child.

 In this article we look at how child contact arrangements are made in the UK and the process of negotiating child contact when one parent wants to move abroad.

How are childcare arrangements made when one parent moves abroad?

Where parents divorce or separate, arrangements for the care of their children will normally be made by agreement between the parties. There is no standard or typical arrangement or rules prescribing how childcare should be apportioned – it is up to the parties to come to their own agreement.

Of course, arrangements become more complicated where parents live in different countries and cost and inconvenience may be a significant factor. Reaching an agreement can be challenging for many reasons and you may wish to consult a solicitor even where discussions are at an informal stage.

What if we cannot reach an agreement about child contact arrangements?

If you cannot agree between yourselves arrangements for child contact, you may wish to get assistance from a mediator. A mediator is an independent third party who will guide discussions towards a mutually agreeable solution. If you cannot come to an agreement with the assistance of a mediator, it may be necessary to apply to the court for a Child Arrangements Order.

Child Arrangements Orders

The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced the concept of a Child Arrangements Order and also the presumption of parental involvement, where the court should presume that involvement of a parent in the life of the child concerned will further the child’s welfare. Involvement means any kind of direct or indirect contact with the child.

If you are a parent of the child, you can apply to the court for a Child Arrangements Order which will set out arrangements for contact with your child. Every child arrangements order is different, we can provide advice on your specific circumstances.

As a parent, how much time am I entitled to with my child?

It is important to remember that contact is the right of the child not the parent. How much time you will get to spend with your child will be dependent on many factors – but there is no entitlement to a certain amount of contact time in UK family law. However, the court may award you contact as part of a Child Arrangements Order which will be enforceable in the EU, and in many other countries.

Every Child Arrangements Order is different, we can provide advice on your specific circumstances. Factors which may affect contact arrangements include:

  • What is in the best interests of the child
  • How old your child is
  • How far way the other parent lives (for example, travel to Ireland is much more straightforward and cheaper than travel to Australia)
  • Which parent has had responsibility for child care until now
  • The wishes of the child (depending on their age)

Can I be guaranteed regular indirect contact with my child?

As part of negotiations with your former partner, you may seek to agree regular indirect contact with your child. Indirect contact can be particularly valuable if your former partner moves abroad with your child and you don’t get to spend time with them as often as you would like. You can agree regular telephone or video calls. Skype, Facetime and Zoom can be an effective way to engage even younger children as they will be able to see your face. We can help you to secure the best forms of indirect contact with children living abroad.

It is always desirable for parents to come to an agreement in respect of the arrangements for their children, such as, where the children should live, who they should spend time with, holiday contact, and taking a child abroad whether temporarily or permanently. Our expert UK solicitors can advise you on the best possible solutions for you and your family.

Contact our UK International Children and Contact Disputes Lawyers in Manchester, London and Birmingham

Our experienced international children and contact dispute lawyers are ready to help you make legal arrangements for your children. Speak to a member of our specialist family law team today on 0330 107 0107 or request a call back.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please note that the law may have changed since this article was published.

Published by:

Iwona Durlak Senior Partner

Family Law – IMD Solicitors LLP


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Example of cases we have dealt with:

F v F - Acted for a German husband in a complex financial remedy matter. He decided to instruct IMD Solicitors after he had lost trust in his previously instructed solicitors and feared that he would not achieve a favourable outcome from the proceedings. The relevant assets were spread across the globe with some located in the UK (including a multi-million pound business), Gibraltar, Spain, Dubai, and Poland. The overall value of assets exceeded £24 million. The husband had been cut off from the matrimonial assets and excluded from control of the business that had been established by his family. The case involved the instruction of numerous experts, for business valuations, Capital Gains Tax reports, and opinions on the enforcement of orders in foreign jurisdictions, and dealing with several applications, including applications for orders to freeze assets, prevent the disposition of assets, for the joinder of parties, and to litigate conduct issues. The final result exceeded the client’s expectations.
L v L - We were instructed by a mother in a complex international children matter. She was required by orders of the UK courts to return the child to the UK from Poland. She had travelled with the child to Poland but, following unsuccessful application to extend her stay there in August 2017, she decided not to return to the UK because the child disclosed sexual abuse by a member of the paternal family and the father. In September 2018, the Polish court dismissed the father’s Hague Convention application for the child's return on the basis of Article 13(b), a decision which the father appealed. In March 2019, the father applied to the UK High Court for an order for the child’s return pursuant to the procedure set out in Article 11(6) – (8) of the Brussels IIA Regulation. Despite the father's unsuccessful Hague Convention application in Poland, the UK court ordered the return of the child. Article 11 does not allow the court of the returning country much discretion. After all of this, the mother instructed IMD Solicitors to apply to discharge the orders of the UK Court for the return of the child. Even in the face of the fact that most applications to discharge such return orders fail, we succeeded. We are currently awaiting a decision in the UK courts on a further application for the transfer of jurisdiction to the Polish courts where the mother resides with the child.
G v P - We represent a Spanish mother in respect of an urgent application for a Child Arrangements Order and Specific Issue Order in the UK seeking the relocation of the child to Spain. This was after the return of the child to the UK under Hague Convection proceedings which this mother lost in Spain. She was asking for an order for the relocation of the child back to Spain and an urgent interim Child Arrangements Order to allow her to see the child pending the final outcome of the UK proceedings. IMD successfully argued that, regardless of the return of the child to the UK under the Hague Convention, the mother should be allowed unsupervised overnight contact with the child. We were delighted to be able to secure her contact with the child for Christmas and she said that it was the best Christmas gift she could have wished for. The outcome of the application for the relocation is pending.
S v V - We currently represent the father in Child Arrangements Order proceedings issued by the mother in relation to variation of a UK order made in the face of numerous other international proceedings. He is an Italian National who has been living in France for the last 20 years and the mother is a Lithuanian national. The child is now 11 years old and proceedings concerning the child have been ongoing in various jurisdictions for the majority of the child`s life. Contested divorce proceedings including child arrangements took place in Monaco. The French Court and authorities were also involved, and various proceedings had been ongoing between parties since 2013 in France and Monaco. The parties’ divorce was pronounced in Monaco. Thereafter, in December 2020, the mother submitted an application to relocate to England with the child, and the relocation took place in June 2021. Upon relocation, the she lodged a child arrangement order application, seeking to register a judgment made in Monaco and to vary the same in respect of the contact arrangements between the father and the child. The father seeks for the child’s return to Monaco. Due to the parties’ mutual allegations and the associated international elements, various authorities and courts that have been involved in the case, the local authority has become involved with the family and a guardian has been instructed to represent the child in the UK proceedings. At present, these proceedings in England are ongoing and the outcome of the professional reports regarding the family are awaited.  
P v P - We have acted for the Respondent Husband in relation to the financial remedy proceedings in the UK. The parties had various assets in the UK and Romania consisting mainly of the portfolio of properties but conduct issues were raised by the Wife due to a business of the Husband over which she had lost control and her allegations of dissipation of assets. The value of assets excluding the business were in a region of £3 million. 
K v K - We act in financial remedy proceedings for a wife who is a Polish national. The matter's complexity mainly comes from a dispute between the parties around land in Poland. Its value was initially in dispute but was then assessed by a joint expert to be in the region of half a million pounds. The total assets in this case are estimated to be worth over £1 million. The land in Poland is a subject to contract with a third party and is being leased as a photovoltaic (solar) farm. The division of the land to achieve an equal share of the assets is complicated due to the contract in place and plans for the future use of the land. Currently the parties are awaiting a final hearing but efforts are being made to reach a settlement with the aid of alternative dispute resolution and in order to save the parties money and avoid further delays.
R v O - We acted pro bono and worked together with a law firm in Poland to ensure that the Costa Rican Mother regains access to her child. The Mother's only child was abducted from the UK in 2014. The Mother was successful with the abduction case and the UK family courts ordered the return of the child. The orders were recognised in Poland but unfortunately due to various issues with the Mother's immigration status and court's delays in Poland, the orders were never enforced. The Mother was facing removal from the UK and prospects of never seeing her child again. We have corresponded with various courts in Poland dealing with international abduction matters and we decided that an application for contact should be issued rather than any proceedings for further enforcement of the orders, as the Mother had not seen the child for around 7 years. At the same we secured the Mother's stay in the UK making successful outside of immigration rules application to extend her stay. We now receive regular photos from the Mother with her daughter, as face to face contact is taking place. We helped to secure an order of the Polish courts for the Mother to see the child regularly in person, whilst when she instructed us she was facing a prospect of never seeing her child again and being deported to Costa Rica.

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