Enforcement of French contact order

In re G (for children) (foreign contact order: enforcement) CA TLR 19 November

The Italian mother and father married in Rome in 1984. They moved to Paris, where they lived with their two children until 1998 when the marriage broke down and the father returned to Italy. They divorced in Paris, when orders were made for the children’s contact with their father in Italy. On 11 December 2002, the mother obtained permission from the French court to remove the children permanently from its jurisdiction to London, which she did on 1 January 2003. The order provided for Christmas and Easter contact in Italy which was frustrated, and, accordingly, the father issued an originating summons under s16 of the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985 to register and enforce the French order in England.