If both parents hold parental authority (ouderlijk gezag), you may only move abroad with your child if the other parent agrees in writing or the Dutch court gives replacement consent (vervangende toestemming) under Article 1:253a of the Dutch Civil Code (BW). The main exception is a parent who holds authority alone: that parent needs no consent, although the other parent keeps a right to contact. Moving without consent or a court decision is wrongful removal, which can lead to a return procedure under the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention and to prosecution under Article 279 of the Dutch Criminal Code (Sr).
Below we explain how you obtain permission, how a Dutch court weighs a relocation request, what an international parenting plan must cover, what happens if a child is taken without consent, and how maintenance and court orders are enforced across borders.
Table of contents
When do you need permission to move abroad with your child?
Whenever the other parent also holds parental authority. A move abroad changes the child’s home, school, language and contact with the other parent, so neither parent may decide it alone. Our glossary entry on parental authority explains the concept.
Establish first who holds authority. Parents who were married when the child was born hold it jointly, and a divorce does not change that (Article 1:251 BW). Since 1 January 2023, an unmarried partner who acknowledges a child acquires joint authority by law at the moment of acknowledgement. For acknowledgements before that date, joint authority had to be entered in the authority register (gezagsregister) at the court, so check the register. Our article on the acknowledgement of a child in the Netherlands explains the difference.
A parent with sole authority needs no consent, but the other parent keeps a right to contact (Article 1:377a BW), and a move that frustrates it can be challenged in court.
What should valid consent look like?
Consent should be in writing, dated, signed by both parents and specific enough to be enforced: the destination, the address, the intended date and the contact and travel arrangements. Record it in a revised parenting plan. Consent for a temporary stay, such as a one-year secondment, is not consent for a permanent move.
How do you get replacement consent from the court?
If the other parent refuses, you ask the family court for replacement consent under Article 1:253a BW. In the same proceedings the court can decide on the division of care and contact after the move.
The other parent can ask for provisional measures, including an order prohibiting departure or requiring the passport to be handed in. Do not move first and apply afterwards: a parent who has already moved has created the very situation the judge must assess. Our guide to Dutch child custody arrangements covers the underlying framework.
How does a Dutch court decide a relocation request?
The court weighs all circumstances, with the interests of the child as a primary but not always decisive consideration. The Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) held this on 25 April 2008 (ECLI:NL:HR:2008:BC5901).
Lower courts work with a recognisable set of factors, which your application or defence must address:
- the right of the parent to move and organise their own life;
- the necessity of the move and the reason behind it, such as a job, a new partner or family support;
- the degree of preparation: housing, school, healthcare, income, language and residence status;
- the alternatives offered for the loss of daily contact, and who bears the travel costs;
- how well the parents communicate and cooperate;
- the age of the child, their roots and how settled they are now;
- the practical obstacles: distance, cost, flight times and time zones;
- the division of care before the move.
No single factor decides the case. The strongest applications combine a genuine need, a detailed plan and a concrete contact proposal that offers the parent staying behind more than a bare minimum.
Does the child have a say?
Yes, but the child does not decide. A child of twelve or older is invited to give their view to the judge, without the parents present, and a younger child may be heard where the court considers it appropriate. Coaching a child before that conversation usually harms the parent’s own case.
How long does it take?
A relocation application takes months rather than weeks, longer if the court asks the Child Protection Board (Raad voor de Kinderbescherming) for a report. If the child should start school abroad in September, file early in the year. In an international family, first establish which court may hear the case; our article on which Dutch court has jurisdiction in international families deals with that.
What must an international parenting plan cover?
Residence, travel, contact, decisions, documents, money and which court decides, in terms that can be enforced. A parenting plan is compulsory in Dutch divorce proceedings (Article 815 of the Dutch Code of Civil Procedure, Rv), and a plan written for parents twenty minutes apart will not survive a move abroad.
- Residence and schedule. Fixed blocks tied to the school holidays in the country where the child goes to school.
- Travel and costs. Who books, by when, which airports, who travels with a young child, from what age the child flies alone, and how costs are shared.
- Contact between visits. Frequency, duration, platform and fixed times in one named time zone.
- Decision-making. Which decisions need joint consent, what happens in a medical emergency, and a response deadline so that silence does not become a veto.
- Documents. Who holds the passport, and a promise to sign each renewal within a set period.
- Maintenance. Amount, currency, exchange-rate risk, payment date and annual indexation.
- Review and disputes. A fixed review moment, mediation as the first step, and agreement on jurisdiction and applicable law.
Ask the court to include the revised plan in its decision. A court order can be enforced, and within the EU a decision on parental responsibility is recognised in the other member states without a separate procedure (Regulation (EU) 2019/1111, Brussels IIb). Our guide to the parenting plan in the Netherlands covers the Dutch requirements, and our overview of cross-border legal issues the international ones.
What about passports and holidays?
A Dutch passport or identity card for a minor is only issued with the consent of every parent with authority. If one parent refuses, the other can ask the court for replacement consent.
When you travel abroad alone with your child, the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (Koninklijke Marechaussee) may ask for proof that the other parent agrees. Carry its consent form with a copy of the other parent’s identity document and, if your surnames differ, an extract from the register of births. Check the entry rules of the destination and any transit country well before departure. Our article on holidays with children after divorce deals with the everyday version of this question.
When does a move become child abduction?
When you take a child abroad, or keep a child abroad after an agreed visit, without the consent of the other parent with authority or a court order. This is wrongful removal or retention under the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention, reinforced within the EU by Brussels IIb, and a criminal offence under Article 279 Sr.
How does a return procedure work?
The procedure does not decide custody; it returns the child quickly to the country of habitual residence so that the courts there can decide. It applies if both countries are parties to the Convention, the child is under sixteen, and the removal breached custody rights actually exercised.
In the Netherlands, applications run through the Central Authority at the Ministry of Justice and Security, and the cases are concentrated at the District Court of The Hague, with appeal to the Court of Appeal in The Hague. Brussels IIb sets a six-week limit for each instance. Before the hearing, parents are offered cross-border mediation, and the Centre for International Child Abduction (Centrum Internationale Kinderontvoering) supports parents on both sides.
When can a court refuse a return?
Only on narrow grounds: more than a year has passed and the child has settled; the left-behind parent consented to or accepted the move; there is a grave risk of physical or psychological harm; or a child of sufficient age and maturity objects. Within the EU, the courts of the country of habitual residence can still give a custody decision that overrides a refusal.
If the destination is outside the Convention, there is no return mechanism, which weighs heavily in a relocation case. If you fear an abduction, ask the court in advance for an order prohibiting departure and requiring the passport to be handed in. Our article on international child abduction sets out the procedure in more detail.
What happens to maintenance when one parent moves abroad?
The obligation to pay continues. Within the EU, maintenance decisions are enforced in another member state under Regulation (EC) No 4/2009, in most cases without a separate recognition procedure; outside the EU the 2007 Hague Child Support Convention plays a comparable role.
The national maintenance collection agency (Landelijk Bureau Inning Onderhoudsbijdragen, LBIO) can collect maintenance from a parent abroad through these international arrangements. Agree the currency and the exchange-rate risk, whether the annual Dutch indexation still applies after the move, and keep travel costs separate from maintenance. A move is a change of circumstances, so either parent can ask the court to recalculate maintenance (Article 1:401 BW). Our guide to alimony in the Netherlands explains the calculation.
Which court decides, and under which law?
In principle the courts of the country where the child habitually lives decide on authority, residence and contact, under Brussels IIb within the EU and the 1996 Hague Child Protection Convention for many other countries. Habitual residence is where the child actually has the centre of their life.
Once the child has genuinely settled abroad, the Dutch court loses jurisdiction over future disputes about residence and contact. A case already pending in the Netherlands when the move happens in principle stays with the Dutch court. Obtain any Dutch order you need before departure. A Dutch court applies Dutch law to parental responsibility for a child living in the Netherlands, but maintenance, parentage and name each follow their own conflict rules.
What should you check as the parent who wants to move?
Prepare the move as if a judge will review it, because that may happen. A researched, costed plan carries more weight than an idea.
- Whether the other parent holds authority, by checking the authority register.
- Whether you have written, specific consent, or need to apply for replacement consent under Article 1:253a BW.
- Housing, school, healthcare, income and residence status at the destination.
- A concrete contact proposal with holiday blocks, a call schedule and a fair split of travel costs.
- Whether the destination is a party to the 1980 Hague Convention.
- That the revised parenting plan is confirmed by the Dutch court before you leave.
What should you check as the parent staying behind?
Your position is often stronger than it feels, but only if you act early and constructively. Courts weigh each parent’s willingness to cooperate.
- Do not give consent informally or bit by bit; ask for the destination, address, school, date and contact proposal.
- Propose a detailed alternative rather than only refusing.
- Make sure a trial period states what happens when it ends.
- Where you fear a one-sided departure, request provisional measures and a passport order.
- If the child has already been taken, contact the Central Authority within days: the one-year period runs against you.
Once contact runs across a border, the parent with whom the child lives is expected to encourage the bond with the other parent; a pattern of frustrated contact is one of the strongest grounds for a court to change an arrangement. Our article on when child contact arrangements can be restricted explains the test.
What can we do for you with a move abroad with your child?
Our family law specialists act for both moving and staying parents; if the separation itself still has to be arranged, see our guide to international divorce in the Netherlands.
- We check who holds parental authority and which court has jurisdiction.
- We draft the written consent and the international parenting plan.
- We file or oppose an application for replacement consent under Article 1:253a BW.
- We request provisional measures, including a departure prohibition and a passport order.
- We arrange recognition of the Dutch decision in the destination country.
- In abduction cases, we work with the Central Authority on the return procedure in The Hague.
Summary
- With joint authority, you need the other parent’s written consent or replacement consent from the court under Article 1:253a BW before moving abroad with your child.
- The court weighs all circumstances, with the child’s interests first (ECLI:NL:HR:2008:BC5901); necessity, preparation and a concrete contact proposal matter most.
- Rewrite the parenting plan for the new situation, including travel, costs, contact, documents, maintenance, jurisdiction and applicable law, and have it confirmed by the court.
- Moving without consent or an order is wrongful removal: it can lead to a fast return procedure in The Hague and to criminal liability under Article 279 Sr.
- Jurisdiction follows the child’s habitual residence, so obtain any Dutch order you need before the move.
Frequently asked questions
What if we already have a Dutch court order?
An existing order (beschikking) sets the current rules but does not give permission to relocate. You need the other parent’s written consent to change it, ideally in a revised parenting plan confirmed by the court, or a new court decision granting replacement consent under Article 1:253a BW.
How are child maintenance payments handled after a move?
The duty to pay continues wherever the paying parent lives. Within the EU, a maintenance order is enforced under Regulation (EC) No 4/2009, and the LBIO can help collect payments from abroad. State the amount, currency, payment date and indexation in the parenting plan.
Can the child decide which parent to live with?
No. Children aged 12 and older are invited by the judge to give their view, and that view carries more weight with age and maturity. The final decision rests on the child’s interests as a whole.
