The family law and inheritance planning team at BGP Litigation have successfully resolved a complex cross-border family dispute involving international abduction of three minor children by a parent from Canada to Russia.
The dispute was resolved in favour of the client—the parent left behind in Canada (the mother)—despite several factors complicating her case: Canada being listed by Russia as an “unfriendly country”, the absence of international agreements on legal assistance between Russia and Canada, including the 1980 Hague Convention governing the legal aspects of international child abduction, and a negative trend in Russian judicial practice, often refusing to return children abroad even to countries party to the Convention.
The client, a dual citizen of Russia and Canada, lived in Canada with her three children and husband. All three children are Canadian and Russian citizens; two are minors and one was born in Canada. The children speak both English and Russian. Each summer, the children visited relatives in Irkutsk and returned to Canada in the autumn. The family had never discussed relocating from Canada to Russia. Yet, during the client’s absence, her husband unilaterally decided to return to Russia and secretly took the children with him, imposing a ban on their departure from Russia upon arrival.
BGP Litigation lawyers provided legal support to the client in both the Canadian and Russian jurisdictions. Since the 1980 Hague Convention does not apply between Canada and Russia and no alternative international agreements exist, legal proceedings were initiated in Canada, the children’s habitual place of residence. Within two months, the Canadian court issued an interim order recognising Canada as the children’s habitual place of residence and granting custody to the mother.
This decision also formed the basis for placing the children and their father on Interpol’s international search list and initiating criminal proceedings against the father. Even so, for strategic reasons, BGP Litigation lawyers counselled against pursuing criminal charges, focusing instead on resolving the case in Russian courts, using the Canadian court's decision as evidence in civil proceedings.
Despite the prevailing trend to refuse to return of Russian children abroad, BGP Litigation lawyers succeeded in securing a ruling designating the mother in Canada as the custodial parent of the younger children, while the elder child, on the basis of their express wishes, was to reside with the father in Russia. This outcome also neutralised politically motivated arguments from the opposing side and achieved a favourable result for the client.
“In today’s environment, a positive decision in such an international case is particularly significant and plays an important role in shaping judicial practice on a daily basis. We are pleased that the Russian court prioritised the best interests of the children, which we were able to demonstrate in part through our work in the foreign jurisdiction, involving local social workers—the equivalent of guardianship authorities in Russia. I hope that the decision to return the children to an 'unfriendly' country like Canada, where the 1980 Hague Convention on return of children does not apply and no alternative agreements exist, will positively influence the handling this category of cases and encourage issue of apolitical decisions that serve the best interests of children”, commented Gayane Shtoyan, BGP Litigation Associate and Counsel, who represented the case in court.
