HG (Abduction: Application to set aside return order)

Facts

The father, an Indian national with a United States Green Card, lives and works in Texas; the mother is a British national and a qualified doctor. The parties met through a dating app in 2023, underwent a Nikah in the UK and later a civil marriage in April 2024, after which they settled in the United States. Their son, HG, was born in August 2024 and holds dual US and British nationality. The family moved to Texas in February 2025, but the mother struggled to settle and travelled to the UK with HG on 15 March 2025, telling the father on 6 April 2025 that she would not return. After discussions through 2025, during which the father applied for a spousal visa and the mother became pregnant with a second child due on 4 September 2026, the father applied on 11 February 2026 for HG's return under the 1980 Hague Convention. Mr David Rees KC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, rejected all four of the mother's defences, including that under Article 13(b), and on 3 June 2026 ordered HG's summary return to Texas. Acting in person, the mother applied to set aside or stay that order on the basis of a deterioration in her health, supported by letters from a consultant perinatal psychiatrist and a consultant physician advising against air travel. The judge refused the application on 19 June 2026, and the mother appealed.