“It takes two to tango.”
Jack Schoenmakers has been a lawyer since 1986 and thus has extensive experience in multiple areas of law. Jack has specialized in the field of (international) family law (International Family Law). As an attorney, he is involved in domestic and international divorce, custody and access issues. He also advises and litigates in the field of International Child Abduction. In this area, therefore, he is very active. Jack has an extensive network of lawyers and referrers in this field both at home and abroad. He works in the field of child abduction on a daily basis, assisting clients at home and abroad.
Jack Schoenmakers is aangesloten bij de Vereniging van Internationale Kinderontvoeringsadvocaten (The Dutch Association of International Child Abduction Lawyers, D.I.A.L.). Here he was previously chairman. This association consists of independent lawyers who specialize in the field of international child abduction, among others.
In his spare time, Jack is an active sportsman; running, cycling, tennis and padel. Spain and Spanish culture is his passion. He visits Spain regularly, including for his work and Gimbrere Legal.
As an attorney, Jack Schoenmakers has been involved in the following proceedings:
International child abduction: India – Netherlands
Father’s request for return from India to the Netherlands granted. The court concluded that it cannot be assumed from the deed that the father gave permission to the mother to settle permanently with the child in India. Mother’s reliance on the grounds for refusal (resignation and intolerable condition) fails.
Personal and family law: foreclosure dispute
The Hague District Court and Court of Appeal previously ordered the return of the minor to the Philippines in an international child abduction case. Now there is an enforcement dispute in summary judgment over the return conduct. Interlocutory court orders remand and attaches a penalty. Travel restrictions due to corona, given the corona pandemic that has been going on for almost two years, are considered by the trial court to be included among the potential practical difficulties in actual return.
International child abduction: Syria – Netherlands
The mother should bring the children back to the Netherlands from Syria, where she currently resides.
Persons and family law: return of minor to Italy under Hague Convention on Child Abduction 1980
Autonomous determination of habitual residence of minor using ECJ Mercredi v. Chaffe. Grounds for refusal article 13 HKOV 1980: no opposition minor.
International child abduction: Spain – Netherlands
The court concludes that the transfer of the minor from Spain to the Netherlands is impermissible, as it has not been established that the mother consented to or acquiesced in the minor’s stay in the Netherlands of more than one month. The father’s reliance on the ground for refusal under Article 13(1)(a) fails. In the court’s opinion, the father has not shown, or has not sufficiently shown, that the mother at any time consented or acquiesced to the minor’s permanent residence in the Netherlands.
Nor does the father’s appeal to the ground for refusal under Article 13(1)(b) succeed. In the court’s view, the existing concerns are not such as to expose the minor to physical or mental danger upon return, or to place the minor in any other unbearable condition. The existing concerns about the minor were on the radar of the Spanish authorities well before her departure for the Netherlands, and there was, and is, intensive interference from various care and assistance agencies in Spain.
The basic premise of the Convention is that the child should be returned to the country of habitual residence and appropriate measures should be taken there. Several care and assistance agencies in Spain are involved with the mother and the minor, and the court assumes that the assistance in Spain will be picked up once the minor is back in Spain. Finally, the court found that the father had not sufficiently substantiated the ground for refusal set forth in Article 20 of the Convention. The court orders the return of the minor to Spain. Litigation costs will be compensated.
