FD25P00022 - [2025] EWHC 1222 (Fam)

F is a Swiss national, and M is a Britih national. Both are of Christian, not Sharia, faith. F works in tech-finance. M has not worked since the birth of their first child. The children are dual Swiss and British citizens, save for the oldest child) who is Swiss only. M was born in Hong Kong to British parents, returning to the United Kingdom when she was aged 7. In her twenties she appears to have lived between Dubai and London. The parties met in Dubai in 2015 and shortly afterwards started living together there. They had brief separations but reconciled and married in Dubai on 24 August 2018.

The three children are 6, 4 and 2 years old.

There is a dispute between the parties about the extent of their respective parental roles. It is clear that F was a fully involved, hands on father. However, the evidence, albeit untested orally, does not seem to me to establish that he was the primary carer. He was at work during the day, while M did not work. These are young children. It seems likely to me that they both had very involved roles, but M probably took the parental lead.

The family lived in Dubai until June 2020, when they relocated to London for F’s work and settled in an area in London. The oldest child, who had been born in Dubai, attended school in London from September 2023. The younger two children were born in England. The family integrated well in England. However, there were some problems in the marriage and the parents attended couples therapy.

In the summer of 2024, F wanted to relocate the family to Dubai for employment and financial reasons. M was reluctant (F accepts that she was unsettled by the idea) but agreed to the move. It was also agreed that M’s mother would accompany them. In my assessment, M’s mother became an important supportive figure for M and the children.

The family moved to Dubai in August 2024. They purchased one way plane tickets. They secured rented housing, schooling for the oldest child, and medical registration. A car was bought and other logistical arrangements were made. All their belongings were shipped to Dubai. A spousal residence visa for M was obtained. Notice of leaving was given to the oldest child’s school in London. F says that the entire process of relocation cost about £150,000. M says she did not see it as a long term move, but the documentary evidence suggests that this was intended as a full move, not a temporary or trial period.

The children lived in Dubai from August 2024 to the beginning of January 2025, a period of some 4 months. Thus, by January 2025:

The children have, since January 2025, lived in England for a further 4 months.

As Baroness Hale said in Re J, it is not necessary or helpful to consider technical questions of habitual residence, which has a very specific meaning under English and European law. Put simply, in my view, the children lived in England from June 2020 to August 2024, and in Dubai from August 2024 to the start of January 2025.

Unhappily, the parties’ relationship swiftly deteriorated in Dubai such that they attended therapy in November 2024. For both of them these months were difficult, and there must have been a tense atmosphere in the family household witnessed and sensed by the children. M believed that F was undermining and controlling her; F became convinced that M was creating a wedge between him and the children, and planning a move back to England with the children.

On 1 December 2024, F left the family home; it may be that he thought this was for an initial temporary period, but he did not in fact return on a full time basis. He visited on a number of occasions to spend time with the children, and the arguments and conflict continued.

On 7 December 2024, F says that he could not find the children’s UK passports, which he believed had been hidden by M. Subsequently, he discovered that M had withdrawn large sums of cash. At about this time he was contacted by the Dubai police who told him that M had been enquiring whether there was a travel ban on the children.

On 9 December 2024, M applied for divorce in England. The papers were served on F on 18 December 2024. Subsequently, she issued a financial remedies application 15 January 2025.

On 12 December 2024, F applied in Dubai for a joint custody order. No court order on the application has yet been made

On 24 December 2024, a significant episode of conflict occurred between the parents, witnessed by the children. It seems that the relationship between the parents, already at a low ebb, reached breaking point.

F made various further applications to the Dubai court:

It may be that M is in breach of Dubai orders as follows:

On 2 January 2025, M, the maternal grandmother and the children left Dubai and returned to England without F’s knowledge or consent, and just before the travel ban was activated. It seems that M initially told F she had left for a few days to clear her head, but it been since confirmed in correspondence that when she left, it was her intention not to return.

Since arrival in England, M and the children have been living with the maternal grandmother in her flat in another area of London. F has opposed the children entering schools here, such that M has been home schooling the older two children, with the assistance of tutoring.

F remains in Dubai. By agreement, he has visited the children in England several times, including for overnight unsupervised periods of contact, most recently for 3 days between 24 and 27 April 2025.