Father obligated to continue the care arrangement every other weekend after moving to Dubai
The children have their main residence with the mother in the Netherlands. Father does not need permission from the mother or the court to relocate to Dubai. However, the court can obligate the father to continue the care arrangement with the children every other weekend and during part of the school holidays from Dubai. To ensure that the father complies with the care arrangement, a penalty payment is imposed on him.
Facts
The father and mother have two children together, aged 12 and 13. The parents both share parental authority, but the children have their main residence with the mother in the Netherlands. Prior to this case there was a care arrangement where the children spent every other weekend and part of the school holidays with their father. The father has since remarried and decided to relocate to Dubai. Since then, the father has not complied with the care arrangement.
Father’s request
The father requests the court to change the previously established care arrangement. He proposes a plan in which he primarily sees the children during the holidays (in Dubai or elsewhere), with the mother being fully responsible for picking up and dropping off the children at the airport. Furthermore, he aims to see the children for a long weekend once every two months. The father also requests the court to permit the children to use the airline’s ‘unaccompanied minor service’ when traveling abroad to visit him.
Mother’s request
The mother requests the court to prohibit the father from relocating to Dubai or to require him to return to the Netherlands. She also seeks a minor modification to the care arrangement and asks the court to impose a penalty of € 250,00 for each day the father fails to comply with the care arrangement.
Decision of the court
The court holds the father accountable for failing to consider the impact his relocation to Dubai would have on the children. There was no prior consultation with the mother, nor did the father propose a reasonable plan to compensate for the time that the children will now miss with him.
The court suggests that it would be in the children’s best interest for the father to regularly return to the Netherlands, for instance once a month for an extended period, rather than concentrating contact solely during school vacations.
The court also states that they cannot issue a ruling on whether the children may use the “unaccompanied minor service” for international travel, as this depends on the specifics of each trip. Therefore, the father’s requests are denied.
Furthermore, the court finds no legal basis to prohibit the father from relocating to Dubai or to require him to return to the Netherlands, as the children primarily live with the mother in the Netherlands and the care arrangement does not constitute co-parenting.
Penalty
The court does grant the mother’s request to change the care arrangement and impose a penalty on the father. Under the law, the father has both the right and the duty to care for and raise his children, and he must fulfill this responsibility regardless of convenience. A penalty of € 100,00 per day is imposed for each day the father fails to comply with the care arrangement, up to a maximum of € 10.000,00.
The father therefore has to continue the care arrangement, with the children staying with him every other weekend and part of the school holidays, which may be very difficult and expensive when living in Dubai…
Court of The Hague, 30 October 2024:ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2024:21098