A child, P, had been living with his mother in Poland in the same household as the maternal grandmother and, intermittently, the maternal aunt. Prior to her death the mother signed a document declaring that the grandmother had the mother’s authority to exercise rights of custody over P and prepared a will or testament stating that she granted custody of P to the grandmother. After the mother’s death, P was collected by his father and they returned to live in England whereupon contact with the maternal family ceased. Separately the grandmother and the aunt applied for disclosure orders as to the whereabouts of the father in this country and for rights of access pursuant to article 21 of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980 (“the Convention”). The court, acknowledging the grandmother’s standing to bring a claim, expressed some doubt over whether the aunt could avail herself of article 21 of the Convention in circumstances where, as a non-parent, she had not been granted any substantive right by a court or person with parental rights. The applications were listed together for case management and to address the issue of the aunt’s standing.
On the case management issues—
Held, the applications were consolidated. The definition of rights of access found in article 5(b) of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980 was almost identically worded to that found in Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003. Recent authority of the Court of Justice of the European Union confirmed that “rights of access” as defined in article 2(10) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 were to be understood as not only the rights of access of parents to their child but also to the rights of access of other persons with whom it was important for the child to maintain a personal relationship. Accordingly, both the grandmother and the aunt, as people to whom it was important that P maintained a personal relationship, fell within the scope of article 21 of the Convention. Given that such applications benefited from non-merit and non-means funding, and in the light of the fact that there was no apparent conflict between the interests of the grandmother and the aunt, the applications were consolidated (paras 19, 26, 27, 29).
Michael Hosford-Tanner (instructed by A & N Care Solicitors, Sheffield) for the maternal grandmother.
Jacqueline Renton (instructed by JI Solicitors) for the maternal aunt.
The father appeared in person.