C (A Child: Relocation to Sweden), Re

Facts

The applicant mother, MC, and the respondent father, FC, are both Swedish nationals and the parents of C, a nine-year-old girl born in Sweden in mid-2017. The parents separated before C's birth, and C lived in Sweden with MC while FC lived in England. In January 2025, by agreement between the parents, C came to live with FC in England, where her half-brother D was already living under a separate arrangement with D's mother. MC intended the placement to support C's relationship with her father while MC completed a business course. Relations deteriorated during 2025: MC raised concerns with C's English school and other authorities about FC's care, and FC stopped contact between MC and C from early July 2025, contact resuming only after the court intervened in November 2025. MC applied for C's summary return to Sweden under the Hague Convention 1980. In March 2026, Mr Justice Poole refused that application, finding that the agreement had been unclear but that C was expected to remain in England for at least a year, that FC was in repudiatory breach of the agreement from 1 July 2025, but that by that date C was habitually resident in England. MC then applied for permission to relocate C permanently to Sweden; FC opposed the application.