Kirstie Gibson considers the approach taken by the court to determine the habitual residence of a child
The determination of the habitual residence of a child has recently come under scrutiny in the Supreme Court decision of Re LC (Children) [2014] UKSC 1, [2014] 1 All ER 1181. This case sees a shift towards increased consideration of the child’s state of mind and the possibility that a child may have a different habitual residence from a parent with whom they lived.
Re LC (Children) concerned the alleged wrongful retention of four children: T aged 13, L aged 10, A aged 8 and N aged 4 who were all born in England and lived here until summer 2012. Their father is British and lives in England. Their mother is Spanish and now lives in Spain. The parent’s relationship ended in early 2012. In July 2012 the mother took the children from England to Spain to start a new life, without the father’s consent. The mother and the children lived in Spain at the maternal grandmother’s house for six months. The children came back to England
