DO ISRAELI COURTS ALLOW RELOCATION AFTER ABDUCTION?
Yes. The situation being considered here is of a child who was originally living in Israel with parents who had been married but now divorced, the mother then unlawfully abducts the child to her country of origin, the Israeli father applies for an immediate return under the Hague Convention, the foreign court makes an order for the immediate return of the child under the Hague Convention, the mother returns the child to Israel, then the mother applies in the Israeli Family Court for a relocation order to allow her to lawfully move the child back to her home country.
In this case, the Israeli court will deal with the mother’s application according to the ordinary principles relating to applications about children which come before the courts. The case will be treated as a relocation application, to which the usual legal principles for relocation cases apply, and the decision will be based on the welfare of the child.
The difference is that the court might be more suspicious of the mother’s good faith, for example is honoring any orders for access for the father, and may demand suitable financial guarantees. However, in a case of a younger child, where the welfare reports point to the welfare of the child being cared for by its mother, the Israeli court will grant custody and permission to relocate, if that is the right decision on the merits of the case according to the child’s best interests.
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