My wife has not returned home from a short holiday to Israel, the country of her birth, with our children. I have begged her to come back with them. She in turn begged me for a little longer with her family – I agreed for a week’s extension and said if they were not home then I would file for proceedings for their return. She laughed, saying that she would claim I ‘consented’. Can she do so if she knows I object ?
By: דיאנה שאלתיאל•Published on: 30 May, 2022No, not successfully. In a Hague Convention case for the return of two minors to the United States brought by their father at The Tel Aviv Family Court it was held that an alleged abductor cannot claim consent on the part of the other parent when he/she knows that the latter is not willing to give in to the change in the status quo. What counts is the subjective opinion of the alleged abductor – not the ‘objective’ interpretation of the situation by a reasonable outsider, it held. To claim otherwise would counter the principle of integrity or good faith, it added.