Hague Convention Case: Children Returned to Ecuador
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Serena Sandhu
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In the matter of LGL v MC [2025] EWHC 2502 (Fam)
The High Court has ordered the father to return his three children to Ecuador, following their wrongful removal from Ecuador in April 2024. The ruling underscores the critical role of the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, protecting the rights of left-behind parents and ensuring that children’s habitual residence is respected in cross-border custody disputes.
Background
The case involved a father who, without the mother’s knowledge or consent, removed their three children from Ecuador and brought them to London. The children, aged 6, 8, and 9 at the time of the removal, were all born in Ecuador and had been living there with both parents.
The father, originally from Ecuador, had moved to Spain in 1998, later relocating to England in 2008 with his wife and their two children. In 2013, he returned to Ecuador to open a restaurant, where he met the mother of his three children. They lived together in Ecuador for around four years and had two children, with the third born in 2018. However, since June 2018, the father had been primarily living in England, making frequent trips back to Ecuador.
In April 2024, the father brought the children to London without the mother’s consent. Upon discovering the removal, the mother immediately contacted the police but was told they could not intervene. Desperate to get her children back, the mother sought a return order under the Hague Convention in March 2025.
Proceedings
Initially, the father accepted that the mother had been exercising her rights of custody when he removed the children from Ecuador and that she had not expressly consented to him removing the children. However, he later changed his story, claiming the mother had in fact consented and/or acquiesced to their removal. The father’s defence was that the mother had, at some point, agreed to allow the children to live in London.
However, the court rejected the father’s claim for several reasons:
- Inconsistent evidence: the father’s evidence was found to be unreliable and contradictory. His changing account of events and the fact that he could not substantiate his claims weakened his credibility.
- A notarized power of attorney signed by the parents in 2022 was presented by the father as evidence of the mother’s consent. However, the court found that the document did not include any provision allowing the father to relocate the children permanently to the UK. Had such an agreement existed, it would have been clearly recorded.
- Previous attempts to remove the children: the court also took into account that the mother had previously called the police in response to the father’s earlier attempts to remove the children. This evidence strongly supported the mother’s position that she had never agreed to the children being taken to the UK.
- Acquiescence: the mother denied that she had acquiesced to the children’s continued presence in London. The court noted that the father had blocked her contact with the children after she refused his repeated requests to agree to the children obtaining Spanish citizenship. Additionally, the mother had expressed a desire to revoke the 2022 document, but her financial situation had prevented her from doing so. Her fear of retaliation from the father further substantiated her claim that she had not acquiesced to the children’s removal.
- Article 13(b) – grave risk of harm: the court also rejected the father’s argument under Article 13(b) of the Hague Convention, which claims that the return of the children would place them at risk of harm or an intolerable situation. Instead, the judge found that the children were thriving in Ecuador, where they had a “good and happy life” and missed their mother. The father’s attempt to argue that the children’s return would harm them was deemed unsubstantiated.
Judgment
The court found the removal on 3 April 2024 to have been wrongful because the children were habitually resident in Ecuador and that the mother was exercising custody rights at the time of the removal. The father’s defences of consent, acquiescence and Article 13b were dismissed.
The summary return of the children was ordered. The judge added that even if the father’s defence of consent or acquiescence had been successful, the judge would still have exercised her discretion and made a return order in any event.
What does this mean?
This ruling is a crucial reminder for parents concerned about the potential for an abduction or wrongful removal of their children across international borders.
The court carefully considered the mother’s vulnerability and subjective state of mind when evaluating whether she had consented to or acquiesced in the relocation of the children.
For parents who fear the unlawful removal of their children, this case emphasises that they can seek swift redress through the Hague Convention to secure the return of their children to their habitual residence.
How we can help
If you are involved in a potential child abduction case or are facing accusations of child abduction, our specialist child abduction lawyers can assist you. Please contact us by:
- Filling in our online enquiry form; or
- Calling us on 020 7485 8811
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