FD25P00187 - [2025] EWHC 2629 (Fam)

Having listened carefully to the evidence of the Children’s Guardian, and the helpful and comprehensive submissions of leading and junior counsel, I am satisfied that the mother’s application must be allowed and a return order should be made pursuant to Art 12 of the 1980 Hague Convention requiring the return of Y and Z to the jurisdiction of Brazil. I am further satisfied that orders should be made under the jurisdiction conferred on the court by Art 11 of the 1996 Hague Convention to ensure that the children remain in the care of their mother pending the implementation of the return order. My reasons for so deciding are as follows.

Whilst by virtue of the conduct of the paternal family the background to this matter is somewhat complex, the questions this court is required to answer are straightforward. In light of the matters relevant to the operation of the 1980 Hague Convention that are not in dispute between the parties, as summarised at the outset of this judgment, the court must decide whether Y objects to returning to the jurisdiction of Brazil and, if so, whether the court should exercise its discretion to give effect to that objection, and whether a return order would expose Y and Z to a grave risk of physical or psychological harm or otherwise placement them in an intolerable situation.