Petition of HL for Orders under the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985 against LL
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judge | Lady Wise,Lord Clark,Lady Carmichael |
| Judgment Date | 19 December 2025 |
| Neutral Citation | [2025] CSIH 32 |
| Docket Number | P825/25 |
| Published date | 19 December 2025 |
| Court | Court of Session |
| Date | 19 December 2025 |
EXTRA DIVISION, INNER HOUSE, COURT OF SESSION
[2025] CSIH 32
P825/25
Lady Wise
Lord Clark
Lady Carmichael
OPINION OF THE COURT
delivered by LADY WISE
in the Petition of
HL
Petitioner and Respondent
For Orders under the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
against
LL
Respondent and Reclaimer
Petitioner and Respondent: J Laing; Family Law Matters
Respondent and Reclaimer: Cartwright; Lindsays LLP
19 December 2025
Introduction and background
[1] This reclaiming motion (appeal) concerns a father (HL) who seeks the return of his
son, T, aged 3 years and 9 months, to Switzerland. The child’s mother, LL, opposes that
return. She contends that the Lord Ordinary (first instance judge), who decided that the
child was to be returned, erred in finding that the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil
Aspects of International Child Abduction was engaged in the circumstances relied on by the
father. The mother argues also that, even if article 3 was engaged, the Lord Ordinary was
2
wrong to reject her defence under article 13(b) of the 1980 Hague Convention as there was a
grave risk that returning T to Switzerland would expose him to physical or psychological
harm or otherwise place him in an intolerable situation.
[2] T was born in Switzerland in March 2022 and resided there with both parents until
April 2024 when the parties separated (though they remain married). Thereafter T lived
with his mother LL. Court proceedings relating to T’s care and upbringing were initiated in
Switzerland during 2024, long prior to the events with which this petition is concerned. In
terms of orders made by that court, T continued to live with LL and HL exercised contact
(visitation) with him, initially on a supervised basis but from June 2025 for an additional
6 hours of unsupervised contact on alternate Thursdays. HL then gave written consent to
LL to take T from Switzerland to France for a long weekend – 26-29 June 2025 inclusive. T
was not returned to Switzerland by 30 June 2025 and he remained in France until 5 July 2025
when he was brought from France to Scotland by his maternal grandfather.
[3] While in France at the end of June 2025 LL suffered a serious adverse mental health
episode. Her father flew out to assist. LL provided him with her written consent to remove
T from France and bring him to Scotland while she recuperated. She left France and
returned to Switzerland where she remained in hospital until about 15 July 2025, when she
came to Scotland to join T. She has recently been in better health. She flew to Switzerland in
September 2025 for a hearing in the proceedings in Sion.
[4] HL raised these proceedings for return of T to Switzerland on 15 August 2025. On
30 October 2025 the Lord Ordinary issued an Opinion (judgment) explaining his decision
that T was to be returned to Switzerland and on 11 November an order was made giving
effect to the court’s decision and fixing a date of 5 December 2025 as the date by which the
child would be returned. The mother appeals against that decision.
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