A recent federal court ruling involving international child custody determined whether an unmarried father has rights of custody under the Hague Child Abduction Convention. The ruling depended on reviewing the law of Ireland, the child’s country of habitual residence, and the status of fathers of children born out of wedlock.

The Craic

The father, an Irish citizen, and the mother, a U.S. citizen, began living together in Ireland. They never married. Their child was born in Indiana. After the birth, they make a short trip to Ireland to visit Pap’s family, then return to Indiana. Then in 2024 they all return to Ireland with the intention that the family will reside there permanently. The family moves into an apartment together.

In 2025, the mother takes the child to Indiana for a family visit. One day before the child’s scheduled return to Ireland, the mother tells the father she has scheduled an appointment for the child in the United States and will remain in the United States until then.

On October 2025 father filed a federal action under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and ICARA seeking the child’s return to Ireland. In response, the mother moved to dismiss the petition, arguing that the father, as an unmarried father, had no rights of custody under Irish law and therefore could not establish a wrongful removal or retention under Article 3 of the Hague Convention.

Father argues that Ireland’s Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 changed Irish law and gave him automatic guardianship rights because the parents had cohabited for at least 12 consecutive months and had lived together with the child for more than three consecutive months after the child’s birth.

The Hague Abduction Convention

I have written on, and will be speaking about, international child custody and the Hague Abduction Convention at the prestigious Family Law Review Course in January 2027 in Orlando. The Hague Convention’s mission is basic: to return children to the State of their habitual residence to require any custody disputes to be resolved in that country, and to discourage parents from taking matters into their own hands by abducting a child.

The removal or the retention of a child is to be considered wrongful where it is in breach of rights of custody under the law of the state in which the child was habitually resident immediately before the removal or retention; and at the time of removal or retention those rights were actually exercised, either jointly or alone, or would have been so exercised but for the removal or retention.

Rights of custody can arise by operation of law or by reason of a judicial or administrative decision, or by reason of an agreement having legal effect under the law of that State. Rights of custody include rights relating to the care of the person of the child and, in particular, the right to determine the child’s place of residence.

The issue in the Ireland case is whether under Irish law the father has rights of custody even though he was not married. Or, is the mother right that in Ireland an unmarried father has no automatic rights of custody?

District Court Ruling

In the mother’s motion to dismiss, she relied on Ireland’s Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 and a U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals 2013 decision Redmond v. Redmond. In Redmond, the court stated that an unmarried father did not automatically possess custody rights under Irish law and instead could apply to an Irish court for guardianship and custody rights.

However, Irish law changed in 2015. The father’s response pointed to an important change in Irish law that occurred after Redmond. Father argued that Ireland’s Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 amended the prior guardianship law.

Under the amendments, an unmarried parent may become a guardian automatically when the parents have cohabited for at least 12 consecutive months, including at least three consecutive months after the child’s birth during which the mother, father, and child lived together. The amended statutory definitions also recognize an unmarried father as a parent in circumstances where the required cohabitation periods are satisfied.

At the motion to dismiss stage, the trial court was required to accept the factual allegations in the father’s complaint as true and draw reasonable inferences in his favor. Importantly, the court was not deciding whether the father’s allegations ultimately would be proven at trial.

The district court concluded that the father had adequately alleged that he possessed rights of custody under Irish law. Because his rights of custody could support a finding that the child’s removal or retention was wrongful under Article 3 of the Hague Convention, the mother’s motion to dismiss was denied. The case was directed to proceed toward case management, possible settlement, and an evidentiary hearing if necessary.

The decision is here.

Information on the Certification Review Course is here.