HADENOUGHPIZZA

Not in the EU . My ex sister in law is Spanish , when her marriage broke up she swore she would never go back to Spain but after three years she decided to head home and we found out that within the EU she could go and live where she liked . Its been tough on my neice who'd been used to seeing her father / Nonna / cousins everyday and visiting is not easy- although the flights are cheap enough you still need to consider hotels / car hire if he goes there and fit in with school if she comes here . BIL and SIL do not behave very well to each other but both go on and on about '' whats best for J '' which then tends to be what they want .

gelato

Um actually the Hague Convention applies within the EU as well. There must be some other factor to your SIL's case. Maybe she had sole custody of the kids? Or maybe the British Court ruled that she could return with the children? Or did you brother consent to the move?

HADENOUGHPIZZA

She did have sole custody but in the end he consented rather than fight becuase he was advised that if he lost the costs would bankrupt him , oh and she said she'd go anyway and let him fight her in Spain......

Jerseygirl

I didn't know that...bloody EU changing things. Thanks for the info.

gelato

Well there you go. Spain being an EU country did not mean that the Hague convention did not apply. BIL consented to his ex taking the kids back to Spain. If the Italian father of those Italo-Australian kids had consenting to his ex-wife taking the kids to Australia then that would also be OK.

MarkRD

Interesting case...

But anyway in Italian news sites I only found this:

http://affaritaliani.libero.it/crona...lia160512.html

http://www.ilsitodifirenze.it/conten...ambine-contese

and this from Italian speaking canton of Switzerland.
http://www.tio.ch/Estero/News/682087...va-a-rivederle

National news has been busy with bomb in Brindisi and earthquake in Emilia, local elections and such .. hard to say whether it would have made headlines otherwise.

Lorna at Vicenza

Court rules the girls must come back to Italy.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/quee...003-26z60.html

Patty

just watched the video clip of this on the D Mail and it made me cry
Those poor little girls - they so obviously want to stay with their mum.
This is just cruel.

ononno

So sad that things come to this. I just wonder how legally binding the father's 'undertaking' not to proceed with a criminal case against the mother will be. I am quite sure that some Italian procura will take it on themselves to 'procedere d'ufficio' whatever the father undertook or not.
ciao for now,
'o nonno