Domestic When parents separate, they can agree on visitation and custody terms on their own. If an agreement cannot be made, the family court will intervene to decide. Child custody often involves the child visiting the non-custodial parent on weekends and school holidays. Parental abduction is illegal in France and is punishable under the Penal Code. The French law states that “parental abduction occurs when a parent keeps his or her minor child(ren) with him or her when they should have been in the custody of the other parent.” The following situations are considered parental abduction, as known as child non-representation offense:

• the refusal to return the child to his usual residence after visiting rights,
• the refusal of the custodial parent to leave the child with the non-custodial parent, and
• the refusal to leave the child with the parent who must accommodate the child in the context of an alternating residence.

Parental abduction also includes:

• moving with the child without the consent of the other parent (if he has visitation rights) and without providing new contact details,
• kidnapping in the strict sense, when a parent takes their child with him/her without having the right to do so, while the latter is at school, in the care of the other parent or other adults, such as relatives.

– International France signed the Hague Convention in 1993 and ratified and implemented it in 1998. A look at the 2015 return and access applications received by France through the Hague Convention reveals that: 46% of applications received by France in 2015 ended in the voluntary return of the child or judicial order for return, 5% of return applications ended in access being agreed or ordered, 49% of return applications went to court and half those ended in a return compared, and 27% of court orders were appealed. Overall, applications received by France were resolved in an average of 177 days. Alongside the Hague Convention, several other bilateral or multilateral agreements designed to combat the unlawful removal of children from their place of habitual residence and to protect their personal relations with one of their parents have been ratified by France: the European Regulation No. 2201/2003 known as Brussels II bis, the Luxembourg Convention of 20 May 1980, and bilateral conventions. If the state in which the child was abducted has not signed a convention, the French Central Authority has no conventional basis for intervening. In this case, it is recommended to contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.