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We handle very many U.S.
- Swedish international child custody and international child abduction cases,
working with Swedish counsel and Swedish consular officers.
Sweden publishes global custody battle
manual
Published: 09 May 2014
The Swedish government
has published a manual for parents who fear their child will be taken abroad
against their will - "Sweden cannot meddle in another country's
laws."
"The number
of children who are taken without permission and who are kept in another
country... has increased in recent years," the Swedish government said on
Friday.
Global custody battles
can be notoriously fraught, with a parent at times forced to abandon their life
in Sweden to fight for the child in the other country. But that can also pose
problems at home in Sweden, as one Helsingborg woman found out.
Earlier this year she
won a case in Sweden against the local government, which had withdrawn benefits
that helped pay for her flat. The home had been empty because the woman has
spent more than a year in Lebanon fighting to regain custody. The municipality
was ordered in February to revise the case.
"God I'm so
happy," the woman told local newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblad in February.
"The fact that the municipality withdrew (the money) meant that I, my
sister, and my mother have had to go into debt to keep the apartment."
While the new government
guide went into some detail about the financial aspects of fighting to have a
child returned, it mainly focused on domestic and international laws. Swedish
parents who were married when the child was born automatically have shared
custody, the pamphlet noted. Shared custody means that both parents have to
give consent before the child travels abroad.
If a parent has been
granted full custody by a Swedish court, however, that parent has the right to
take the child abroad without consulting the other parent.
The guide underscored
that the Swedish foreign ministry would not act as a parent's legal representative,
but that it could offer guidance if a child was taken abroad.
Ninety countries have
signed the Hague Convention that dictates if a person can take and keep a child
abroad, the Swedish government noted. For a parent to claim the legal right to
have the child returned to Sweden, he or she must have had full or shared
custody of the child, who should be younger than 16.
"In the cases where
the Hague Convention applies there is a relatively big chance to have the child
returned," the guide noted. "On average, 85 percent of cases are
resolved."
A parent should contact
the foreign ministry, which will provide the parent with a form to fill
out.
In countries that
haven't signed the convention, however, a parent would be forced to abide by
national legislation governing custody and to enlist a local lawyer.
"Sweden cannot
meddle in other countries' laws and legal processes, just like other countries
cannot meddle in such a way in Sweden," the guide noted, before offering
concrete tips to parents who feared their child or children would be taken away
- such as photographing the child often, to have a photo at hand, but also to
keep note of the former partner's passport details.
Prevention could be the
best way forward, the guide said.
"In a situation where
you fear that your child will be taken out of the country imminently, we
recommend that you contact the border police at the airport in question,"
the guide stated. "Inform them of the situation."
READ THE GUIDE IN FULL: Barn som olovligen förs bort eller
kvarhålls i ett annat land
