The Applicant father and the Respondent mother had a daughter together, born on 22 February 2014. They lived together with the child and an older daughter of the mother in France. In June 2018 the mother travelled to Germany and gave birth to another child, whose biological father is the Applicant. The mother returned to France and directly after the parties separated and the mother moved to Germany with her older daughter and the newborn. The child stayed with the Applicant in France. Whilst proceedings were pending on the establishment of the exercising of joint custody rights in France, the mother travelled to France in December 2015 and took the child with her to Germany. During the proceedings, it was established that the parents had joint custody, and the child’s habitual residence was determined as being with her father. In December 2016, the father applied to have the child returned to France. In May 2017, a court ordered that the child be returned. It was against this court order that the mother submitted a complaint appeal.
