HONG KONG SAR, CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jocelyn Tsao and Philippa Hewitt, Withers
• any harm that the child has suffered or is at risk of suffering; • any family violence involving the child or a member of the child’s family; • how capable each of the child’s parents, and any other person in relation to whom the court consid - ers the question to be relevant, is of meeting the child’s needs; and • the practical difficulty and expense of the child having contact with a parent, and whether that difficulty or expense will substantially affect the child’s right to maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis. In practice, other factors relating to removal applica - tions include the following: • there must be a carefully thought-out plan in place for the child, including accommodation, education and family support in the new location; • it has been said that for expatriates applying to go “home”, the bar is set lower than one for a parent seeking to move children to an unfamiliar location; • the motivation for the move must be genuine and not motivated by a selfish desire to exclude the other parent; • the effect on the parents if the application was refused/granted; • the rights of the parent who has been left behind, and how much contact they will have after the move; • consideration of the left-behind parent’s motivation for refusing consent (was it genuine?); • whether the plan makes practical financial sense for the family as a whole; and • disruption of the status quo for the children and their wishes (see 2.3.2 Wishes and Feelings of the Child and 2.3.3 Age/Maturity of the Child ). 2.3.2 Wishes and Feelings of the Child The wishes and feelings of the children are important but may not be the determining factor. The court has a statutory duty to consider the child’s views. There will be a social welfare report that will consider all of the factors listed in 2.3.1 Factors Determining an Application for Relocation , and the factors listed in the welfare checklist. The social welfare officer will see
the children and ascertain their views where possible, and it is open to the officer to make a recommendation based on their findings. The judge has wide discretion, including whether or not to follow the recommenda - tions in the report. The family court judge may also meet with the children directly to ascertain their views and the level of their understanding. 2.3.3 Age/Maturity of the Child The older the child and the more the child shows maturity, the more weight will be given to their wishes regarding relocation. An older child may have strong views that they need to express, which may be less so in a younger child. A younger child may not appreciate the ramifications of the move in the same way as an older child and may change their mind depending on who the child addresses. There is no hard and fast rule about age and matu - rity, and it will be up to the social welfare officer to assess the child; the judge will then assess whether the officer’s recommendation is to be followed. This was considered recently by the Court of Appeal in CN v LYP (Relocation) [2024] HKCA154; RM v SRM [2024] HKFC 189; Secretary for Justice (in his capacity as the Central Authority designated under the Child Abduction and Custody Ordinance, Cap 512) v C and Another (Hague; Germany) [2024] HKCFI 282; and Q v J and Another (Abduction: China to Hong Kong) [2025] HKCFI 632. The family court has a very wide discretion when it comes to children. The thoughts and wishes of a mature nine-year-old have been determinative in the family court in the past, but generally the child’s views would carry more weight when the child is over 12 years old. Children in their later teens often “vote with their feet”. 2.3.4 Importance of Keeping Children Together The family court in Hong Kong will endeavour to keep the siblings together, particularly in cases of relocation
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