The Court of Appeal has overturned an order requiring a young child to be returned from Ireland to Kansas, finding that the child’s American father had previously consented to the mother relocating to Ireland if their reconciliation failed.
The Irish mother and US father married in Kansas in 2022 and their child was born there in November 2023. Following serious difficulties in their relationship, the mother returned to Ireland with the child in February 2024 with the father’s agreement.
The couple later reconciled. Before returning to Kansas in September 2024, they signed a written Custody and Relocation Agreement. It provided that if reconciliation failed, the mother would have the right to relocate to Ireland with the child. It also contained provisions dealing with behaviour presenting safety risks.
The reconciliation subsequently broke down. The mother and child left the family home in April 2025. The father rented the house out and later joined the military and moved to Missouri. On September 24, 2025, the mother returned to Ireland with the child without telling him beforehand.
The High Court found the child remained habitually resident in the United States and ordered a return to Kansas. It concluded that the father’s consent, given 12 months earlier, was no longer operative and placed significant weight on the mother’s failure to mention the relocation agreement in an email sent shortly after her departure.
The Court of Appeal disagreed. Ms Justice Faherty held that the High Court had placed undue emphasis on that email and had not assessed the evidence as a whole.
The court found that the breakdown of the reconciliation was objectively verifiable: the parents had lived separately since April, the family home had been rented out and the father had moved to another state. There was also no evidence that he had withdrawn his earlier consent before the removal.
The court held that the consent remained operative on September 24, 2025 and that the mother was entitled to rely on the relocation agreement. The appeal was therefore allowed.