My expartner, took my daughter to Hungary without advising me, if I get a lawyer, can we makey daughter come back to New

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I am a New Zealand lawyer based in Wellington and will help you with your question today. Please give me a minute to read the question

You can apply under the Care of Children Act and the Hague Convention to have the child returned. Have they left permanently or are they there on a holiday? Generally the court will order the child returned to New Zealand and Hungary is a party to the Hague Convention and must therefore cooperate to return the child

The Family Court website says

Get a child returned to New Zealand

If your child has been taken from New Zealand or kept overseas without your agreement, you should:

• report the child as missing to the police(external link)
• contact us or a lawyer to get help to make an application for the return of the child.

You should take action as soon as possible. Any delay may later be seen as a lack of concern about the child being overseas without your agreement.

The options that are available to you will depend on which country your child has been taken to or is being kept in.

Hague Convention countries

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction is an international agreement between a number of countries. It aims to make sure that children who are taken or kept overseas are returned as quickly as possible to the country in which they usually live. The Hague Convention assumes that the courts in the country where the child usually lives are best able to make decisions about the child.

Apply to get your child back under the Hague Convention

If your child has been taken to a Hague Convention country, you need to contact the Ministry of Justice or a lawyer. They will check if the Hague Convention applies. The lawyer will help you fill in the forms.

Postal address:
Central Authority, Hague Convention
Ministry of Justice
SX10088
Wellington
New Zealand