Central Authority v. H. 2008 (1) SA 49 (SCA)
The application related to a boy born in May 2002 to a Dutch father and a South African mother. The parents were married and shared equal custody rights in respect of the child. In September 2003 the mother took the child to South Africa with the consent of the father. The parents subsequently presented different […]
Re H. (A Child: Child Abduction) [2006] EWCA Civ 1247
The application related to a girl, aged 15. The parents were divorced and since 2002 the girl had lived in South Africa with her mother. She spent alternative vacations with her father, who since 2000 had resided in England. During Easter 2006 the girl travelled to England but she refused to return at the end […]
Family Advocate, Cape Town v. Chirume
The application related to a child born in London in 2002 to Zimbabwean parents. The parents had married in September 2001. The following month the father moved to the United Kingdom to take up employment. The mother moved there in January 2002, though subsequently returned to Zimbabwe for a short period to complete exams. Following […]
Walley v. Walley [2005] EWCA Civ 910, [2005] 3 FCR 35
Undertakings The Court noted that the return order had been properly made, subject to a series of stringent conditions but the conditions had not been complied with. Moreover there was no reasonable time limit within which there was the least possibility of compliance, therefore the order for return should be set aside. Objections of the […]
Pennello v. Pennello [2003] ZASCA 147, [2004] 1 All SA 32, 2004 (3) SA 117 (SCA)
The child, a girl was 1 _ at the date of the alleged wrongful removal. She had until then lived her entire life in the United States. The parents were married and had joint rights of custody. By 2002, the parents’ were experiencing marital problems and on 25 September 2002, the mother secretly took her […]
Secretary for Justice v. A., ex parte B.
The children, a boy and a girl, were aged 11 _ and 10 at the date of the alleged wrongful retention. They had lived in South Africa all of their lives. The parents entered into an Islamic marriage in South Africa. Under South African law such marriages are not afforded recognition, consequently any children born […]
Sonderup v. Tondelli 2001 (1) SA 1171 (CC)
Rights of Custody – Art. 3 The mother sought to argue that the father did not possess any rights of custody. She relied on the decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Croll v. Croll that a non-removal clause does not found a right of custody. The Constitutional Court noted […]
Re J. (Abduction: Declaration of Wrongful Removal) [1999] 2 FLR 653
The child, a boy, was 1 1/2 at the date of the alleged wrongful removal. He had lived in England since his birth in the same household with both his parents. His parents were not married. Some time around February 1999 the father invited the mother to make a parental responsibility agreement with him but […]
Re M. (Abduction: Leave to Appeal) [1999] 2 FLR 550
The child was 2 at the date of the alleged wrongful removal. He was taken from South Africa by his English mother. His father, a South African Zulu, then commenced return proceedings under the Convention. The trial judge found that there had been a wrongful removal but having heard oral evidence he refused to order […]
