Can you stop someone to return to their home country on the basis of Humanitarian reason?

Question

Hello,

I am looking for a Legal Advice, I am married to an Ukrainian woman, we have a daughter age 2 yrs and 3 months. I am a permanent resident of Ukraine. We entered Germany due to war in Ukraine on 30th March 2022. Now we have 2 years of Resident Permit under Act 24 of German Refugee Law.

Now, my wife asked me for a divorce as she wants to return to Ukraine with our daughter, She told me as we are asking our Divorce in Ukraine Court, if I do not agree to divorce she can take the daughter with her to the home country Ukraine as it is her right.

So we made a mutual divorce agreement and sent the application to Ukrainian Court and waiting for a decision.

Our agreement basically consist of our rights towards our daughter. I agreed to pay for my daughter and she agreed no funds for herself from me, only for daughter.

Now she says she do not want to live in Germany and want to return to Ukraine even if there is war or no-war.

So, I need to ask as a father I am very concerned for my daughter, Though she is a citizen of Ukraine and the mother has the right to take the daughter with her to Ukraine, there is no right as a father I can stop her to move to Ukraine on an humanitarian grounds?

As, our daughter is innocent and has no clue what is going on, A person who gets legal right on her doesn't mean that she can just take her to a country which is not safe...Currently the mother is saying that she won't go to Ukraine for now, but I would prefer my daughter will live in Germany for better life and better safety.

Please guide me through this!

Answer 1

Dear @Eli83,

This is not an area I am specialised in but generally in such cases, where a child is resident in Germany and an agreement cannot be made between the parents, a family court will decide upon the matter. The court would assess each case individually, with the welfare of the child the deciding factor on where they should reside in the future and how the other parent can continue to exercise their access rights.

I recommend you **** at the information provided by this organisation:

https://zank.de/en/

They are specialised in this field. They also have information in Russian on their site.

Throughout German there are youth welfare offices (Jugendamt) and family advisory services. Such offices are also there to assist both parents and children in such situations. Here you can search the directory for such assistance:

 https://zank.de/en/materials-addresses/contacts/

The German Federal Office of Justice also provuides information in English about international custody matters and their role in such cases:

https://***.bundesjustizamt.de/EN/Topics/FamilyMattersInternational/Custody/Custody_node.html

I hope that helps, let us know if you have any further questions.

Best,

Éanna