Singapore's First Hague Case
Posted: 2 Apr 2014
BTU v BTD [2014] SGCA 12
Court of Appeal - Civil Appeal No 65 of 2013
Sundaresh Menon CJ, Chao Hick Tin JA and Andrew Phang Boon Leong JA
Hearing Dated: 22 July; 18 October; 28, 29 November; 3 December 2013, 14 February 2014
IAML Fellow Poonam Mirchandani & Ashok Chugani [Mirchandani & Partners] argued Singapore's first Hague Case involving a German child wrongfully retained in Singapore. The case was heard by Singapore's apex court, Court of Appeal. Although the German child was ordered to return to Germany, it is a landmark ruling in terms of the Court of Appeal's detailed discussions of the treatment of cases under The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction & more importantly, the unique approach to Undertakings and those required by Singapore's Court of Appeal from the left behind father before the child returns to Germany. Mirchandani & Partners acted on behalf of the Singapore mother pro bono for part of this case with part being legally aided.
