Children (International)

A growing number of families have links to more than one country and children increasingly move between countries as their parents relocate and their family structures change. Penningtons Manches Cooper's highly ranked family law team has huge experience in assisting international families with issues relating to the care and responsibility of their children.

Our specialist lawyers advise on the wide spectrum of issues that can affect international families and their children. We pride ourselves on helping parents to find solutions focused on the specific needs of their child. Penningtons Manches Cooper has excellent links with lawyers in other jurisdictions through our membership of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL), International Bar Association (IBA), and International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA) and we work frequently with our counterparts in other countries to ensure that agreements reached in England can be enforced around the world. We can also help to ensure that overseas agreements are registered and enforceable in England.

Our team, which is based in London, Oxford, Reading and Guildford, has particular expertise in representing parents who wish to move with their children from England to another country, or who have concerns that such a move is not in their child’s interests. Where possible, we help them to reach agreement with the other parent and try to ensure that family relationships survive, whether or not the relocation takes place. If an agreement is not possible, we represent parents in court proceedings.

We also have extensive experience of cases involving allegations of child abduction and have acted in many of the leading cases in this area.

The cross-border movement of children is an increasingly specialist field in which Penningtons Manches Cooper has developed an exceptional reputation. One of our partners, Anna Worwood is an author of the leading publication on international relocation, Relocation A Practical Guide (Family Law 2013), an updated edition of which was released in 2016.

One of our key strengths is the ability to draw on our vast experience of such cases to provide tailored and child-focused advice to meet the unique needs of individual families.

We offer an online system that can help our clients to understand their legal position, prepare for their first meeting, and provide us with the information required to maximise the value we can deliver. We invite you to get started online.