JM v RM

Subject Matter

CHILDREN — Custody rights — Breach — Mother taking children habitually resident in Australia to England for fixed period with father’s consent — Mother unable to return children at end of agreed period due to Covid-19 restrictions — No alternative date for children’s return agreed — Father subsequently applying for summary return of children — Whether wrongful retention of children requiring clearly agreed due date of return — Whether father “acquiescing in” retention — Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985 (c 60), Sch 1, arts 12, 13

[2021] EWHC 315 (Fam); [2021] Fam 261; [2021] 2 WLR 1032; [2022] 1 FLR 243; [2021] WLR(D) 122, Fam D