David Hodson on International Family Law: Relocation! Relocation! Relocation!

Child abduction is one of the worst events which can occur in the life of a child. It is a criminal offence. It is treated exceptionally seriously with combined worldwide action. The consensual flip side is child relocation. A parent wishes to move abroad permanently with a child seeks the permission of the other parent or of the court. However whereas child abduction has at least two major international conventions supported by governments of over 70 countries with relatively harmonised law and approach child relocation has no uniformity of approach of law and of international convention. Until now.
A conference in Washington USA in March 2010 held under the auspices of the Hague Conference brought together over 50 lawyers and experts from many countries and produced an agreed resolution the Washington Declaration (see  International Family Law 2 2010 at p 211). It identifies relevant factors for international relocation decisions. This is a major step forward. It is desperately needed to produce harmonisation of outcomes...

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