Objections of the Child to a Return – Art. 13(2)
The court accepted existing Australian case law that ordinarily the relevant objection for the purposes of the Convention was to a return to the State of habitual residence and not to life with a particular parent. However, the court held that the instant case was one of those exceptional situations where the two matters were so linked in the mind of the child that they could not be separated. On this basis the court found that the boy, who was 13 at the time of the trial, did have a valid objection. Having had the benefit of expert evidence, the court further held that the boy had sufficient age and maturity to make such an objection.
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