My wife and I agreed to leave for a year and to try our luck in England, the country of her birth, after I lost my job due to the recession. I was not lucky finding work, although my wife landed a good job. Our marriage went through a very strained period and I returned to Israel . I have asked her to come back with our two children – but she refused, saying that we had agreed on a year. Can my wife be made to return our children to Israel early if I agreed that the family should have a trial year abroad ?
By: דיאנה שאלתיאל•Published on: 02 June, 2022Under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction a child that has been wrongfully retained in another convention country should be returned to the country of his/her habitual residence. The key question is whether it is legally possible for ‘wrongful retention’ to exist when both parents agree on a trial period abroad for a year – and one of them demands the minors’ return early, and the other refuses.