A British parent may hold a perfectly valid family-court order and still find that contact with a child in France has stopped, that a scheduled handover is refused, or that the child has been kept in France after an agreed visit. A \u201cchild arrangements order\u201d is the expression used mainly in England and Wales for an order deciding where a child lives and when the child spends time with another person. Scottish and Northern Irish orders use different terminology and may require a separate analysis. What matters is the order\u2019s scope, enforceability, the child\u2019s habitual residence and whether the problem is non-compliance or international removal.<\/p>\n
Brexit removed the convenience of treating every UK family order as an intra-EU decision. It did not create a legal vacuum. The Hague Convention of 19 October 1996 can provide a route for recognition and enforcement of parental-responsibility measures. The Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 may provide a separate and urgent return procedure when a child under 16 has been wrongfully removed or retained. French domestic law then supplies practical remedies, including arrangements for handover, a coercive payment and, in appropriate cases, an exit prohibition or civil fine.<\/p>\n
This article separates those routes. It explains how to prepare a recognition or exequatur application, when a return application should take priority, how recent French case law frames habitual residence and serious risk, and which documents make an application usable by a French court. It focuses on England and Wales because \u201cchild arrangements order\u201d is their statutory expression, while identifying the points that must be checked for Scotland or Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
Begin with the order itself. In England and Wales, a child arrangements order may state that a child lives with one person, spends time with another person, or does both according to a defined timetable. Older orders may use the former language of residence and contact. A prohibited steps order, a specific issue order, a wardship order, a consent order or an order made during divorce proceedings can have a different function. The French court must be able to see the operative paragraphs, the schedules, the date on which the order took effect, and any later variation or suspension. Sending only the first page or an informal solicitor\u2019s summary can make it impossible to identify the obligation said to have been breached.<\/p>\n
The jurisdiction within the United Kingdom matters as well. An order made in England and Wales is not automatically interchangeable with an order made in Scotland or Northern Ireland. The applicant should obtain the sealed order from the issuing court and confirm whether it remains in force, whether an appeal or later order changes it, and whether the order was conditional on a child-arrangements programme, supervised contact or another step. If the order is a consent order, include the agreement that explains the practical arrangement. If it is an interim order, identify the next hearing and do not present it as a final determination of residence.<\/p>\n
The principal post-Brexit treaty for recognition and enforcement of a parental-responsibility measure is the Convention of 19 October 1996 concerning jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition, enforcement and co-operation in respect of parental responsibility and measures for the protection of children. France published the Convention through Decree no. 2011-1572 of 18 November 2011 on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. The Convention expressly covers parental responsibility, the right to decide a child\u2019s residence and the right of contact. It applies from birth until the child reaches 18. The United Kingdom\u2019s official treaty page records, in the wording that should be checked for the particular case, In practical terms, the Convention is relevant when the British order is a measure concerning the child\u2019s care, residence or contact and the requested French step is recognition, registration or enforcement. Article 1 identifies recognition and enforcement as a purpose of the Convention. Article 3 includes the right of custody, including the right to decide the child\u2019s place of residence, and the right of contact. Article 5 generally connects jurisdiction with the child\u2019s habitual residence, meaning the centre of the child\u2019s settled life assessed from the facts rather than nationality or the address printed on a passport.<\/p>\n Article 7 is important where the child has been wrongfully moved or not returned. It preserves, subject to its conditions, the competence of the authorities of the state where the child was habitually resident immediately before the wrongful movement. Article 11 also allows the authorities of the state where the child or the child\u2019s property is present to take necessary protective measures in an emergency. These provisions explain why the same family may need both a UK strategy and a French urgent application. They do not mean that every French court can decide the entire residence dispute merely because the child is physically in France.<\/p>\n For recognition, Article 23 provides a starting presumption: measures taken by an authority of a contracting state are recognised by operation of law in other contracting states, subject to limited grounds of refusal. Article 24 permits an interested person to ask the competent authority to decide recognition or non-recognition. For actual enforcement, Article 26 requires a declaration of enforceability or registration where execution is needed and calls for a simple and rapid procedure. Article 27 prevents a merits review of the foreign measure beyond what is necessary for the Convention\u2019s recognition rules. Article 28 then applies the measure in the requested state as if it had been taken by that state\u2019s authorities, within the limits of French law and the child\u2019s best interests.<\/p>\n Those articles do not turn a UK order into a French order without a procedural step. Recognition may be enough for an authority, school or service to understand the order, but forced handover, a French enforcement officer or a coercive measure usually requires a decision that can operate in France. The applicant should therefore distinguish three requests: recognition of the order, a declaration that it is enforceable, and a practical French measure for the future. They may belong in the same overall strategy, but they are not identical prayers for relief.<\/p>\n The Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 is the separate instrument for an international child abduction problem. It is not a general mechanism for enforcing every missed weekend. The official French publication is Decree no. 83-1021 of 29 November 1983 publishing the 1980 Hague Convention<\/a>. GOV.UK describes its scope in precise terms: Do not assume that the EU Brussels IIb Regulation is the correct route for a new UK-to-France application simply because the parents once lived in the European Union or the order was made before Brexit. The date of the proceedings, the issuing jurisdiction, transitional rules and the type of order must be checked. For a new dispute between the United Kingdom and France, the two Hague Conventions and French procedural law are the safer starting framework. The existence of an international treaty does not remove the need to identify the issuing court, the child\u2019s habitual residence and the exact relief sought.<\/p>\n In French practice, reconnaissance<\/em> means acceptance of the foreign decision\u2019s legal effect. Force ex\u00e9cutoire<\/em> means the ability to use the decision to obtain enforcement. Exequatur<\/em> is the French procedure or order that makes a foreign decision enforceable when the applicable instrument requires it. A tribunal judiciaire<\/em> is the French civil court of first instance. A requ\u00eate<\/em> is a formal written application to the court. These translations matter because a British parent may otherwise ask for \u201cregistration\u201d without asking whether the French order can actually be used to compel performance.<\/p>\n The general French rule is found in Article 509 of the Code of Civil Procedure on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>: foreign judgments and foreign official instruments are enforceable in France in the manner and cases provided by law. The applicable Hague instrument supplies an important part of that law. The French public-service guidance on enforcement of a foreign civil judgment<\/a> explains that the court and documents depend on the country, the instrument and the date on which the foreign court was seised. Its family examples identify the president of the tribunal judiciaire as the judge who may be asked to address enforcement of a foreign decision concerning custody or contact, but a UK applicant should have the treaty route confirmed before filing.<\/p>\n That last qualification is essential. The Service Public form for an Article 39 certificate concerns decisions from another European Union Member State. A UK child arrangements order is not converted into an EU certificate merely because it concerns a child who now lives in France. A British parent should not send a French court a standard EU certificate as the only proof of enforceability. Instead, ask the English or Welsh court for the sealed order, an official certificate or statement of enforceability, and the information needed to show how the court obtained jurisdiction and how the other parent was heard or served.<\/p>\n The recognition file should be built so that a French judge can answer five questions without reconstructing the family history from scattered messages:<\/p>\n Include the complete sealed order and every schedule, annex and later variation. Obtain a certificate stating that the order is enforceable if the issuing court can provide one. Add the application or consent document when it explains the relief, the judgment or reasons where available, the hearing notice, proof of service, and any order dealing with appeal or stay. If the UK order refers to another document, include that document rather than asking the French court to infer its contents.<\/p>\n Prepare a certified French translation of the order and the documents on which the application depends. \u201cCertified\u201d must be understood in the French procedural context: the translator should be acceptable for use before the relevant court, and the translation should preserve defined terms, dates, names, times and the distinction between a child living with a person and a child spending time with a person. Translate the schedule in full. A partial translation that omits the holiday provisions can produce an enforcement decision that is impossible to apply during school breaks.<\/p>\n The 1996 Convention also contains a useful document rule. Article 43 of the published text provides that documents transmitted or delivered under the Convention are dispensed with legalisation or an analogous formality. That does not remove the need to prove authenticity, obtain a complete court copy or follow a French court\u2019s translation requirements. It also does not mean that every document in a parallel domestic application is automatically exempt. Ask the court or French counsel which documents are being transmitted under the Convention and which are being filed under domestic procedure.<\/p>\n Add evidence of the child\u2019s habitual residence immediately before the dispute and current location: school or nursery records, medical registration, home address, travel history, care arrangements and the chronology of overnight stays. Add the child\u2019s birth certificate and proof of the relationship between the child and each parent. If the issue is contact rather than residence, attach the prior calendar, tickets, messages confirming handover, evidence of attendance at the collection point, and every clear refusal. The French court needs a dated sequence, not a general statement that the other parent is \u201cdifficult\u201d.<\/p>\n Translate the practical parts of the order into a proposed French timetable. State the collection address, travel responsibility, notice period, school dates, telephone or video contact, arrangements for illness, and the method for resolving a missed handover. This is not an invitation to rewrite the UK order. It shows why the requested enforcement is workable and highlights any provision that needs a French supplementary order. Where the original order is too vague to enforce, the better request may be recognition combined with a new French family order based on the child\u2019s present circumstances.<\/p>\n Do not overlook the refusal grounds in Article 23 of the 1996 Convention. Recognition may be challenged for an international-jurisdiction problem, a serious procedural failure concerning the child or a person with parental responsibility, a manifest conflict with French public policy taking the child\u2019s best interests into account, incompatibility with a later measure or failure to respect a required consent or consultation procedure. The court is not meant to conduct a fresh trial about which parent is nicer or more financially secure. It will nevertheless need a response to a concrete procedural objection.<\/p>\n A recognition application should also explain what has changed since the UK order. A child may have moved schools, developed health needs, become older, or been exposed to allegations of violence. Recognition of an existing order and a request for a new French protective measure are different decisions. A parent who asks only for an old timetable to be enforced may leave the court without a safe solution for the present. A parent who asks France to decide the entire custody dispute without addressing the UK order may create a jurisdictional objection.<\/p>\n The existing guide to recognition of a UK divorce in France after Brexit<\/a> covers the broader exequatur concept in a family context. A child-arrangements dispute requires the additional treaty analysis described here: parental responsibility, habitual residence, contact, wrongful retention, the child\u2019s age and the urgency of the requested remedy.<\/p>\n The dividing line is the event that occurred, not the label used in an email. If the child was habitually resident in England or Wales and the other parent took the child to France without the consent required by the applicable law, the issue may be wrongful removal. If the child came to France for an agreed holiday but was not returned on the agreed date, it may be wrongful retention. If the child has lived in France for a long period and the dispute concerns future weekends or holiday contact, the central issue may instead be recognition and enforcement of contact or a new French family order.<\/p>\n The Hague 1980 route asks whether the removal or retention breached a custody right that was being exercised or would have been exercised. Under the Convention, custody is wider than a label saying \u201cresidence\u201d. It can include the right to decide where the child lives. A parent with contact only on the face of a UK order is not automatically excluded: the wording of the order, the underlying law and any parental-responsibility rights must be examined. The French Supreme Court decision of 10 July 2007, no. 07-10.190<\/a>, treated a unilateral change of a child\u2019s habitual residence as unlawful where parental responsibility was joint and the father had not consented.<\/p>\n The same point appears in the French Supreme Court decision of 24 June 2015, no. 14-14.909<\/a>. The mother held provisional care and the father had contact, but the court held that the father\u2019s continuing rights under the foreign law included participation in fixing the child\u2019s residence. A French court must therefore read the UK order and the relevant English or Welsh law rather than reject a return application merely because one parent had day-to-day care.<\/p>\n The French Supreme Court decision of 4 May 2017, no. 17-11.031<\/a>, restated the working rules: the movement is unlawful when it violates a custody right effectively exercised under the law of the child\u2019s former habitual residence, and that right can result from a judicial decision, a legal attribution or an agreement. The decision also describes the narrow Article 13(b) exception for a grave physical or psychological danger or an intolerable situation. Evidence must be tied to the child and to the consequences of the proposed return; broad allegations about the adult relationship are not enough on their own.<\/p>\n Timing is critical. The 1980 Convention gives particular importance to an application made within one year of the wrongful removal or retention. After one year, integration into the new environment becomes a specific issue, although the passage of time does not automatically make the retention lawful. A parent should record the date of the last lawful return, the date consent ended, the date the child was due back, the date the child\u2019s location became known and the date each authority was contacted. Do not wait for a recognition application to mature if a return application may be available.<\/p>\n The return application is not a final trial about residence. Its purpose is generally to restore the position before the alleged wrongful movement so that the courts of the child\u2019s habitual residence can decide parental responsibility. The French Supreme Court decision of 7 June 1995, no. 94-15.860<\/a>, states that the requested French jurisdiction is not the judge of the regularity or merits of the decision made in the state of the children\u2019s habitual residence and may refuse return only on the Convention\u2019s recognised grounds. That principle prevents the return hearing from becoming a disguised custody appeal.<\/p>\n French procedure gives this route urgency. Article 1210-6 of the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a> provides that a request for the return of a child under the 1980 Convention is made, investigated and decided under the proc\u00e9dure acc\u00e9l\u00e9r\u00e9e au fond<\/em>, meaning an accelerated procedure that still decides the substance of the return request. The parent should not confuse that with a simple administrative request to a prefecture, school or police station. The papers must reach the competent French family court through the correct channel, often with help from the relevant Central Authority and French counsel.<\/p>\n The British parent can use the Central Authority route. GOV.UK directs parents in England and Wales to assistance when they want to have a child returned, arrange contact abroad or Use the 1996 Convention alongside, not instead of, the 1980 Convention when the facts require both. Article 50 of the official French text says that the 1996 Convention does not affect the 1980 Convention between states that are parties to both and allows provisions of the 1996 Convention to be invoked for return or contact. The published text also allows co-operation, location assistance and urgent protection. The treaty wording does not eliminate the distinct purpose of the 1980 return mechanism.<\/p>\n The distinction was tested in the French Supreme Court decision of 10 July 2024, no. 23-22.272<\/a>. The Court accepted that the 1996 Convention can assist with jurisdiction, co-operation, recognition and enforcement when the 1980 Convention does not apply, but it held that the 1996 Convention cannot by itself be used as an autonomous basis for a return application. The practical message is direct: plead the 1980 Convention when its conditions are met; use the 1996 Convention for the functions it actually performs; do not name the 1996 Convention as a substitute for a missing 1980 return claim.<\/p>\n Age can change the route. The 1980 Convention\u2019s return mechanism is aimed at children under 16, while the 1996 Convention covers children until 18. The 2024 decision illustrates why the distinction matters: the French Supreme Court examined the interaction between the two Conventions and rejected an attempt to use the 1996 Convention to take over the 1980 Convention\u2019s return function after the child\u2019s age made the 1980 route unavailable. For an older teenager, the case may require recognition, a French parental-responsibility measure, urgent protection or a fresh decision rather than a Hague 1980 return order.<\/p>\n Serious-risk evidence must be concrete. In the French Supreme Court decision of 21 November 1995, no. 93-20.140<\/a>, the Court recognised that the danger or intolerable situation considered under Article 13(b) may arise from a new change in the child\u2019s present conditions or from new or restored conditions in the state of habitual residence. More recently, the French Supreme Court decision of 4 March 2026, no. 25-17.582<\/a>, concerned a claimed grave danger in a return to Belgium and emphasised that the Article 13(b) standard must be applied to the child\u2019s interests and the evidence in the particular case. A return application should identify the risk, its source, its proof and the protective arrangements that could address it.<\/p>\n Conversely, the other parent should not assume that a school place, a new relationship or a comfortable home in France automatically defeats return. Those circumstances may be relevant to the child\u2019s welfare, but they do not necessarily establish one of the Convention\u2019s limited exceptions. The court must first determine whether there was a wrongful removal or retention and whether the applicant\u2019s custody right was engaged.<\/p>\n Whether the case is a recognition application, a return application or an urgent French family proceeding, start with a one-page chronology. Put the child\u2019s habitual residence at the top. Then list the UK order, each agreed journey, the last contact that occurred, the first missed handover, the date consent was withdrawn, the date the child was found in France, every written demand for return or contact, and every response. Add the date on which a court or Central Authority was contacted. A chronology exposes gaps that are difficult to see in a folder of messages.<\/p>\n Ask the French court for relief that matches the identified problem. If the child is in France after a wrongful retention, the primary request may be return under the 1980 Convention, with urgent protective measures if needed. If the child is settled in France and the problem is refusal to honour contact, request recognition and enforceability of the UK order and, where appropriate, a French timetable for handover or contact. If the child faces an immediate safety issue, ask for a protective measure in France while the court with substantive jurisdiction is identified. A vague request that simply says \u201cenforce my order\u201d leaves the court to choose between incompatible legal routes.<\/p>\n French family law provides useful domestic tools. The French Civil Code, Article 373-2-6<\/a>, requires the family judge to protect the interests of minor children and permits measures that guarantee continuity and effectiveness of the child\u2019s relationship with each parent. It expressly allows, in suitable circumstances, a prohibition on taking the child out of France without both parents\u2019 authorisation. It also allows an astreinte<\/em>, meaning a coercive payment linked to failure to comply with a judicial order, and a civil fine of up to \u20ac10,000 when a parent deliberately and seriously or repeatedly obstructs execution of a qualifying title.<\/p>\n Article 373-2-6 is not a shortcut around recognition of a foreign order. It is particularly useful when the French judge is making or supplementing a measure that can operate in France, or when a recognised title must be made effective through a French direction. The application should identify the exact conduct to be stopped: refusal to release the child, cancellation of video calls, withholding of the child\u2019s address, failure to provide travel documents, or repeated changes to the collection time. Ask for an order that can be understood by the parent, the school and the commissaire de justice<\/em>, the French enforcement officer who may serve or enforce the decision.<\/p>\n The French Civil Code, Article 373-2-9<\/a>, allows the child\u2019s residence to be fixed with one parent or alternately, and it permits the judge to organise the handover where direct delivery would present a danger. The judge can designate a meeting point, a supervised contact space or a trusted third party. A British parent seeking enforcement should therefore propose a safe handover plan rather than rely only on a demand that the other parent be punished. A workable plan can protect the child while preserving the substance of the UK order.<\/p>\n The court\u2019s welfare assessment is structured by Article 373-2-11 of the French Civil Code<\/a>. It directs attention to the parents\u2019 previous practice or agreements, the child\u2019s views under Article 388-1, each parent\u2019s ability to perform duties and respect the other parent\u2019s rights, expert evidence, social investigations and physical or psychological pressure or violence. The applicant should connect each factor to a document. A neutral school record, a dated travel booking, a medical report or a message confirming an agreed return is generally more useful than a long description of the other parent\u2019s character.<\/p>\n Where there are allegations of violence or coercive control, say so clearly and ask for safe arrangements. The mediation provision in Article 373-2-10 of the French Civil Code<\/a> allows the judge to propose or order information about family mediation, but it contains exceptions when violence is alleged or there is manifest control by one parent over the other. Mediation must not be presented as a compulsory first step that postpones a child-protection application. Safety, location and the risk of further removal come first.<\/p>\n Prepare a document bundle in this order:<\/p>\n Keep originals and metadata. Preserve the complete message thread rather than a cropped screenshot. Export emails with dates, retain the booking confirmation and identify the time zone. If a message is in French, provide an English working translation for the British solicitor and a French court translation when required. If a message is in English, translate the part relied on in the French proceedings. The court needs to know whether \u201cI will bring her back next week\u201d was a promise, a conditional proposal or a reference to a different journey.<\/p>\n Do not add criminal allegations as a substitute for the civil application. Article 227-5 of the French Criminal Code<\/a> penalises unjustified refusal to present a minor child to the person entitled to claim the child, with a maximum stated penalty of one year\u2019s imprisonment and a \u20ac15,000 fine. Article 227-7<\/a> concerns an ascendant taking a minor child from those exercising parental responsibility or from the child\u2019s habitual residence. Article 227-9<\/a> increases the stated penalties where the child is kept beyond five days without the entitled persons knowing where the child is, or is wrongfully kept outside France. The criminal classification depends on the facts, the applicable jurisdiction and the evidence; a complaint does not itself return the child.<\/p>\n A criminal complaint can also affect the civil strategy, the child\u2019s safety and the other parent\u2019s willingness to co-operate. Discuss the order of the steps with counsel. If the child\u2019s location is unknown or there is an immediate threat of departure, contact the police and the relevant Central Authority without delay, while preserving the court application. If the child is located and safe but contact is blocked, the recognition or French family route may be more directly connected to the relief required.<\/p>\n Paris and \u00cele-de-France can require a particularly careful filing plan when the child, the other parent or the proposed contact venue is in that area. The competent court may depend on the child\u2019s habitual residence, the place where contact should occur and the international instrument being invoked. A parent should not choose a Paris court solely because the firm, the embassy or the UK solicitor is located there. Confirm the territorial basis, the correct family division and whether the application is a return case, a recognition request or an urgent domestic measure. If the child lives in Paris or another \u00cele-de-France d\u00e9partement, include the exact address or the best evidence of location in the sealed application rather than relying on a general regional description.<\/p>\n The parent should also ask whether the French court can issue interim safeguards while the recognition or return track is pending. A prohibition on leaving France, a supervised handover, a temporary video-contact schedule or an order preserving the child\u2019s school and medical information may prevent the dispute from becoming irreversible. The request must be proportionate and supported by evidence. A court will need to understand why ordinary notice is insufficient, what harm is threatened, why the measure is time-limited or reviewable, and how it interacts with the UK order.<\/p>\n Finally, set a deadline diary. Record the child\u2019s age, the one-year point from any alleged wrongful removal or retention, the date of the next UK hearing, the French service date, the deadline for an appeal or challenge, and the date by which a return or contact arrangement must occur. A Central Authority enquiry is not necessarily a court filing and does not necessarily stop every procedural deadline. Ask for written confirmation of what has been opened, where it has been sent and which authority is responsible for the next step.<\/p>\n Enforcing a UK child arrangements order in France after Brexit requires the parent to classify the dispute before choosing the procedure. A refusal to honour an established contact timetable may call for recognition and enforceability of the UK order, a French family measure and a precise handover plan. A child taken from the United Kingdom or kept in France after an agreed return may require an urgent Hague 1980 return application, supported by evidence of habitual residence, custody rights and the date of the wrongful movement. The Hague 1996 Convention can support recognition, enforcement, co-operation and urgent protection, but the 2024 French Supreme Court decision confirms that it is not an autonomous substitute for a Hague 1980 return claim.<\/p>\n The file should contain the complete sealed order, proof that it is enforceable, the jurisdiction and service material, a reliable French translation, the child\u2019s identity and residence evidence, a dated chronology, the messages and travel documents showing the breach, and a realistic request for relief. French provisions on handover, protective measures, coercive payments and civil fines can make a recognised order effective, but they must be matched to the child\u2019s safety and the jurisdiction of the court. Acting early preserves the return route, reduces evidential uncertainty and gives the court a workable answer to the immediate problem: where the child is, what the order requires, and what must happen next.<\/p>\n We offer a telephone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer from our firm.<\/p>\n Call Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen at +33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a> or use the firm\u2019s contact page<\/a>. Please prepare the UK order, its schedules, the French translation, the last agreed handover date and the messages showing the refusal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How can a British parent enforce an England and Wales child arrangements order in France after Brexit? Recognition, Hague return proceedings and urgent remedies explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":4191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kj_source_type":"","_kj_official_id":"","_kj_official_url":"","_kj_judilibre_id":"","_kj_jur":"","_kj_lieu":"","_kj_chambre":"","_kj_rg":"","_kj_date":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[80312,80314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2107551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-british-desk","category-decryptage"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Convention entered into force for the United Kingdom on 1 November 2012.<\/q> That date appears in the GOV.UK publication of the 1996 Hague Convention<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Convention is an agreement between various countries, which can help return an abducted child who is under 16 years old to the country where they usually live.<\/q> That is why the child\u2019s age, habitual residence immediately before the event, date of removal or refusal to return, and the custody right relied on must be established at the beginning.<\/p>\n
B. What recognition or exequatur file should you prepare for the French court?<\/h3>\n
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II. What should a British parent do if the child is in France and contact or return is blocked?<\/h2>\n
A. When is the French urgent procedure a return application rather than an ordinary contact case?<\/h3>\n
get a court order for contact enforced<\/q>; the official GOV.UK family guidance<\/a> also distinguishes Scotland and Northern Ireland. The wider GOV.UK guidance on international parental child abduction<\/a> asks applicants to provide the child\u2019s identity and passport details, the other parent\u2019s details, the date and destination of the movement, the legal relationship between the adults and copies of relevant orders. France\u2019s Central Authority operates within the Ministry of Justice\u2019s international civil and commercial assistance service; its role and contact route should be confirmed from the current French Ministry guidance before documents are sent.<\/p>\n
B. What evidence, interim requests and deadlines improve the French application?<\/h3>\n
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Conclusion<\/h2>\n
Need a quick opinion on your case<\/h2>\n