Kids gone on holiday to Italian dad in Italy,he's refusing to return them to UK

[Northernsoulie]

Hi, my sister separated 2 years ago, from her Italian ex husband, who remains in Italy. She has legal custody of kids (through Italian court) & has 2 boys ,10 & 9. She moved back to UK, 2 years ago,since separating & part of the separation deal was that she is supposed to bring them over to Italy to see their father each term end holiday !! My sister is a care assistant on a low wage ( her ex husband earns a good salary,despite giving her only 300euros/month for her boys- its clear now that he pays her this not for boys' welfare , but for air fare) She cannot afford to do this & so he came,reluctantly,himself to UK, in July ,to collect boys for their summer visit. He claimed he had return tickets for the boys & was supposed to send them back,with a chaperone for flight, so theyd be back in time for school. He is now refusing to send them back & my sister is now having to go back (at great expense to our family) & collect them, herself. To me this sounds like child abduction - he refuses to send them back & she is tomorrow seeking advice at Women's aid ( not sure if Legal aid is that generous any more,as she does work). Has anyone had similar circumstances before & what did they do ? My sis is in NI & I live in mainland UK, I don't know what I can do to help her. We are all so worried about my nephews - one of which has ADHD & probably panicking now...Its a big mess.

She definitely needs legal advice.

Surely if Italian courts are in her favour the police over there can help?

I have a horrible feeling that if he has PR he hasn't committed a criminal offence!?!

Agree she needs legal advice. If she has legal documentation that the children have residency with her and he's breached that in the country that created that documentation I'd hope it turns out to be relatively straight forward for her, as Italy is definitely signed up to the agreement of returning children taken like this. It may even be that it's simple enough she could self represent once she's taken advice, although this must be very distressing for her.

Have you thought of copying this over to the legal board too?

As far as I'm aware Grace, if there's court documentation about residency and where the children should be and when, then if a parent refuses to return the children that court documentation is enforced. It's only where no court agreements have been made that a parent with PR can take a child. (And in that case the other parent can go to court and request a hearing to then make a court agreement.)

So he's not refusing to let her have them back, just refusing to put them on a plane and wants her to collect them? If the court agreement is for her to take/collect them then I don't see that there is much she can do. In the longer term this does seem an unfair arrangement, although it could be argued it was her choice to return to live in the UK, and perhaps she should apply to the court to change it so he is jointly responsible for the cost of flights?

Horrible situation.

But am I right in thinking that the court order that is in place states that she has to arrange the travel? In which case unless she can get that changed sadly it doesn't sound like he has done much wrong in legal terms?

I agree that the wording of the court order is the relevant point here.

I'd also be worried about a child with ADHD travelling with a chaperone rather than a familiar carer.

If the financial contribution isn't reasonable then she needs to fight this. Can't remember the name of it but there is a certain procedure for maintenance orders for NRP outside of the Uk but inside the EU. So she may want to get into that quick!

Yes, I think that it states in the separation document that she is supposed to bring the kids over, but that she has full custody & that they are supposed to start school on Friday. She has discussed the situation with school, though & they are understanding.
I do know that he phoned up the benefits service in UK & asked them to send the child benefits over to him (!!)as he was now caring for them !!! - my sister only found this out after benefits service called her up & informed her of his 'request'...He is your classic pantomime villan type - just a manipulative, controlling .

Thanks, I didn't realise there was a legal part on Mumsnet- where can I find that ?

Could she call the British Embassy in Rome?

I will suggest that to her, thanks.

It's here Northern

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_matters