Preventing and Responding to International Child Relocation Disputes

Child Relocation Disputes: Key Facts

If I let my spouse take our child to Korea for a visit, can I still get the child back?

Often, yes, but the way you cooperated matters. A Korean court can refuse a Hague return order where the left-behind parent consented to the move or later acquiesced in it (Hague Convention Implementation Act, Article 12(4)(ii)). Buying round-trip tickets or sending living expenses without objection has been treated as consent.

Is there a deadline for a Hague return application?

There is no fixed filing deadline, but if more than one year has passed since the removal or retention and the child has settled into the new environment, the court can refuse to order return (Article 12(4)(i)). Act as soon as the agreed return date passes.

Which court hears a Hague return case in Korea?

The Seoul Family Court has exclusive jurisdiction over return applications under the Hague Convention (Article 11), wherever in Korea the child is.

Can my spouse file for divorce and custody in Korea first?

Yes. Korean courts have jurisdiction over custody where the child's habitual residence is in Korea, or where one parent and the child are Korean nationals (Act on Private International Law, Article 59). Filing first in a familiar court is a common strategy, so timing matters.

Is taking a child to Korea without consent a crime?

It can be, but criminal law rarely prevents a move. The Supreme Court held that a parent who had been caring for the child and took the child abroad without violence, threats or unlawful force did not commit abduction (Supreme Court Decision 2010Do14328, en banc, 20 June 2013).

Can a Korean court stop the other parent from leaving with the child?

Only to a limited extent. The family court can make pre-trial orders, but they are not directly enforceable and a breach leads to a fine of up to KRW 10 million (Family Litigation Act, Articles 62 and 67). In a Hague case the court can also make pre-trial or provisional orders to prevent the child being moved or hidden again (Article 12(3)).

Where are you now?

• My spouse wants to visit Korea with our childWhat to put in writing before the trip↓
• The return date has passedWhy your next messages and payments matter↓
• My spouse filed for divorce in KoreaHow filing first shapes the case↓
• I want to file for the child's returnHague Convention return applications↗

Hague Return Cases — We Have Represented Both Sides

We have represented both the parent seeking a child's return (the applicant) and the parent asked to return the child (the respondent) in Hague Convention return cases. Below are the first pages of two Seoul Family Court decisions, with personal information redacted.

Whether a return is ordered often turns on the points discussed on this page, such as consent to the trip and how much time has passed. See also International Child Abduction (Hague Convention).

Outcomes depend on the facts and evidence of each case.

How a Short Visit Becomes a Relocation

For couples living abroad, marital conflict or separation can lead one parent to return to Korea with the child "for a while". What one parent sees as a temporary visit can be turned, unilaterally, into a permanent move by the other — often followed by divorce and custody proceedings in a Korean court.

Once that happens, the left-behind parent is litigating in a foreign legal system, in a foreign language, against a spouse who may already have taken legal advice. Because the consequences for the child and for parental rights are serious, it pays to prepare before the trip, not after the return date has passed.

When Cooperation Is Treated as Consent

In one case, a wife living abroad with her husband returned to Korea with their children for what he understood to be a temporary stay. She then filed for divorce and custody in Korea and refused to bring the children back. The husband applied for their return under the Hague Convention, but the Korean court dismissed the application: it found that he had consented to the children staying in Korea, so the removal was not wrongful.

The evidence against him was his own cooperation. He had bought the round-trip airline tickets and kept sending living expenses — conduct later presented as proof that the move happened "with the consent of the parent".

“The court may dismiss a return application … where the person caring for the child … consented to or subsequently acquiesced in the removal or retention.”

Hague Convention Implementation Act, Article 12(4)(ii) (summary translation)

Even if a trip is meant as a short visit, without a clear written agreement a court can read it as permission for a permanent move.

Conduct that is often argued as consent

Legal basis: Hague Convention Implementation Act, Articles 11 and 12(4).

The Race to File First

Forum shopping means choosing the court most likely to give a favourable result. In international divorce, one spouse often files quickly in their home country's courts, where the language, the procedure and the practice are familiar.

Practical Steps Before and After the Trip

1. Put the terms of the trip in writing

   The purpose, the return date, and that you do not agree to the child living in Korea. A short exchange both parents sign or confirm by email is far better than nothing.

2. Keep evidence of the child's habitual residence

   School enrolment, medical records, the lease, activities — anything showing where the child's life is based.

3. Take advice before paying for anything

   Tickets and support payments can be reasons not to return the child. How and on what terms you pay can be structured to avoid that.

4. Object in writing as soon as the return date passes

   A clear, prompt objection helps rebut any later claim of acquiescence.

5. File quickly

   A Hague return application can be made through the central authority or directly to the Seoul Family Court. Delay strengthens the argument that the child has settled.

What Korean Courts Can and Cannot Do

Criminal law. Abducting a minor is punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment, and abducting a person to take them out of Korea by 2 to 15 years (Criminal Act, Articles 287 and 288(3)). But the Supreme Court held, en banc, that a parent who had been caring for the child and took the child abroad without violence, threats or unlawful force did not commit abduction (Supreme Court Decision 2010Do14328, 20 June 2013). In practice, a criminal complaint rarely stops or reverses a relocation.

Pre-trial orders. Once a family case is filed, the court can order a party not to change the current situation or can make orders for the child's care (Family Litigation Act, Article 62). These orders are not directly enforceable, and a breach leads to a fine of up to KRW 10 million (Article 67). Orders to surrender a passport or ban departure are not currently made on this basis.

Hague return. A return application is the main remedy when a child has been wrongfully removed to or kept in Korea, and Korean courts can enforce return orders, with detention of up to 30 days for a parent who still refuses (Hague Convention Implementation Act, Article 13). But the grounds for refusal — consent, acquiescence, settlement after one year — are exactly where preparation, or its absence, decides the case.

Legal basis: Criminal Act, Articles 287 and 288(3); Family Litigation Act, Articles 62 and 67; Hague Convention Implementation Act, Articles 12 and 13.

Child Relocation Guides

• Preventing a Child From Being Taken Out of KoreaLegal options for foreign parents before a move happens→
• Hague Convention Child Return in Korea: A Guide for Foreign ParentsRequirements, procedure and enforcement of a return application→
• Your Spouse Filed for Divorce Abroad: What a Korean Court Does NextParallel divorce cases in two countries→
• Child Custody in Korea: What Foreign Parents Need to KnowHow custody is decided for international families→

Related pages

• International Child Abduction (Hague Convention)Return applications for a child taken to or kept in Korea→
• Child Custody in KoreaHow the court chooses the rearing parent and enforces handover→
• International Divorce in KoreaJurisdiction, procedure, property and custody for international couples→
• Child Support from a Parent in KoreaFiling and enforcing child support from abroad→

Representative Attorney Pyoungho Kim

2011

Passed the Judicial Examination

2011

1st Bar Exam Reviewer (Ministry of Justice)

2012

54th Judicial Examination Reviewer (Ministry of Justice)

2013

Seoul Central District Court Civil Conciliation Committee

2013

Deputy Prosecutor at Jeonju District Prosecutors' Office

2013

Professional Institutional Training in the Office of a National Assembly Member

Full career (12 more)

2013

KOTRA Washington Trade Center — Study on U.S. Government Procurement Laws

2015

Member, International Committee of the Korean Bar Association

2015

Member, Autonomous Committee for Countermeasures against School Violence, Seoi Elementary School, Seoul

2017

Director and Legal Advisor, Korea Paragliding Association

2017

Member, Review Committee, Seoul Bar Association

2017

Seoul Family Court Adult Guardian

2020

Delegate, The Law Times

2020

Regulation Reviewer, Seoul Entrepreneurs Association

2020

Member, Committee for the Protection of School Rights, Seoi Elementary School, Seoul

2021

Korean Bar Association Young Lawyer Award

2021

Excellent Lawyer selected by the Korean Bar Association

2023

Member, Administrative Action Deliberation Committee, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (current)

Education: Yonsei University, Department of Physics  ·  Languages: Korean, English  ·  Press coverage (Naver News, Korean)

Certifications and awards

Reviewed by Pyoung-ho Kim, Attorney at Law · Last updated 8 November 2026