Parental Child Abduction (Indian man married to Polish wife)

Hi all,

I am an Indian married to a Polish wife. We have a 4 years old daughter. She is habitually resident here in Ireland. And my name is written on her birth certificate. And she was born in Poland while I was pursuing my study in Poland. We came to Ireland to seek better future as I was granted a scholarship to pursue PhD.

My wife and my daughter left for Poland to attend Easter break holiday for a month ( 19th of March until 12 of April).

Last Thursday when I called my wife she told me that she is not returning back to Ireland. I was shocked. She revealed that she planned to leave me for more than 3 months. She terminated her job, canceled the child benefits and my daughter school. She is adamant that she wants new life in Poland and wishes to divorce me. She has her own story to accuse me as a prime reason of breaking our relationship. She never talks to me seriously about this and suddenly she made her decision to leave Ireland with my daughter without my consent.

I am familiar with EU law of parental child abduction. I want to know what are my chances of returning my daughter to her habitual resident i.e. Ireland.

Thanks.

I'm guessing you are aware of Reunite in the UK. If not contact them immediately. Listen to there advice and start proceedings under the Hague Convention for Abducted and Illegally Retained Children immediately. Follow Reunite's instructions precisely and with luck you will be returned to the position you were in before the parental abduction. Then as you probably know, you will then have to do the right thing in the Irish Courts which will make the decision regarding the childs future.

Good luck. The Polish courts in which these cases are tried, do not have the competence to do so, and can make very odd decisions. My wife and I won through, but paid a very heavy price in the divorce proceedings which legally could not be started until the Hague stuff was completed and the child was returned. The courts overlooked the matter of legality and made it political. If you intend divorcing, get everything in place prior to the end of your case and have someone ready to put papers in court immediately the child is on Irish soil. That way you may be able to prevent the Polish courts taking control of the divorce which will be bad for you if you win the abduction case.

Thanks, Ant63. I have spoken with the Reunite in the UK and suggested me to call tomorrow. In the meantime, how my wife can file a divorce in Poland if her accusing upon me were happen in Ireland. We were married in Poland. Does the Polish law allow to divorce in this case?

My wife hasn't returned back on the scheduled flight. I have submitted the Hague convention application. I am worried that if she is aware of this, she might have taken some action such as removal of my guardianship and so on.

I cannot trust her motive now. She may say that my child is at the physical and mental risk if she returned to Ireland. I want to know how does this rejection can be countered back to Polish court.

Any comments are warmly welcome.

My advice is very simple: you need a ruthless Polish lawyer to represent you.

thesolicitor.ie

This is a good idea - they've got a dual Irish-Polish registered lawyer on the books. You *need* such a person.

Thanks for the advice. I will follow the link.
If my child is returned, can I apply for single custody since my wife literally committed a crime?

Let's just say that you have an almost 0% chance of getting the child returned.

Are you saying that I have no chance to see my daughter?

I'm saying exactly that. You need a lawyer who will be fearless and who knows the Polish family court system inside out. Even then, the chances of a positive outcome are almost zero. Polish courts simply do not respect judgements made under Hague when a Polish child is involved.

amazon.com/Idiots-Liars-Psychos-Me-Bizarre/dp/1520689349

Spend a few dollars and read this book. It will take you a few hours to read, and when you've finished, you'll understand.

Delph thats a bit harsh and not true.


Do it right and you have a moderate chance.

Once your Hague case is filed with the supreme court there is nothing she can do until its over. Which city does this involve? If Poznan I can put you in touch with a lawyer who will treat you with respect and not empty your pockets for personal gain. Plenty of those scammers about.


Not strictly true. The problem is that there is nothing in Polish Law to enforce a decision made by the court for return. You have the order and you could ....

Thanks for the optimistic view.

No, my wife lives at the moment in near Wroclaw. But I would appreciate if you could share some other lawyers along with the one you know from Poznan.

I have submitted all the documents mentioned according to Article 3.
I have contacted these lawyers so far.
reunite.org/lawyers.asp?location=international§ion=Poland+&lawyers_international_submit=Find

Among them, this one (kg-legal.pl/en/) seems quite competent.

I have a question, are the free legal aid provided by Central Authority competent enough or should I represent my own competent lawyers?

Thanks.

Better to be harsh now than to leave him with false hope.


More to the point, no-one in Poland is going to risk doing such a thing, given the fact that the population believes that foreign courts are always against Poles.

They moan about a broken court system, yet cheer when someone openly defies foreign courts.

Where to get such fearless lawyer from Poland?