Child Care Solicitors

The Moscow City Court has ruled in favour of a British woman whose estranged husband took his sons to his native Russia for a holiday and did not return them to their mother.

US citizen Rachael Neustadt says her children’s father Ilya Neustadt took their two eldest sons to Russia and kept them there in defiance of a UK Court Order.

In a landmark judgment on Wednesday (20/11/13), Moscow City Court ruled that seven-year-old Daniel and five-year-old Jonathan should be returned to the UK and their mother, who was granted custody of them and their younger brother.

London-based Mrs Neustadt is a teacher and the father of her three sons is a former lecturer at London Metropolitan University.

When Mr Neustadt ignored repeated requests by judges in England for him to return his sons to London, Interpol issued missing persons notices for them.

The court in Moscow had ordered Mr Neustadt to return the children to the UK, after he had taken them there last December. He appealed against the ruling and in court in Moscow yesterday he lost the appeal. Mr Neustadt has said he may appeal against the ruling, however. The boys are expected to return to the UK within the next week.

The case is the first to successfully use in Russia the 1996 Hague Convention on child abduction. The UK signed the convention in 2012, but Russia only agreed to it in April 2013.

The Hague Convention 1996 sets out parental responsibility and child protection law, as well as co-operation between countries which sign up to the convention – currently 39 countries have signed up. The jurisdiction of the country in which a child is normally resident is used for the purposes of the convention, which offers protection to children abducted by a parent and taken abroad to live.

Incidences of child abduction by a parent are thought to be increasing – and most child abductions are carried out by mothers rather than fathers.

In the UK, more international marriages are taking place where one or even both parents may not be a British citizen, but may have leave to remain or the right to work in the UK.

In December 2012, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) released figures showing an 88% increase over 10 years in the number of children being taken abroad to live by a parent who did not have the consent of the other parent. The FCO figures also show that nearly one-quarter (24%) of people in Britain do not realise this is classed as a criminal act.

Between 2001 and 2011, the number of cases involving children taken to a country not signed up to the Hague Convention increased by 206%.

Help with Family and Childcare Law

Duncan Lewis is a specialist firm of family solicitors and our child abduction solicitors can advise on any aspect of a child or children taken abroad to live by a parent who did not have the authority to do this.

Coping with child abduction is a distressing and emotional experience for a parent trying to get their child back home – Duncan Lewis child abduction solicitors have a successful track record in international child abduction cases.

Duncan Lewis is also one of the leading Legal Aid solicitors in England and Wales.

Contact Duncan Lewis child abduction solicitors on 020 7923 4020.