New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CHILD PROTECTION (INTERNATIONAL MEASURES) ACT 2006 - SECT 21

21 When a certain New South Wales property protection measure lapses

(1) A New South Wales property protection measure relating to a child that is taken in response to a particular situation by a New South Wales authority exercising jurisdiction under section 16 (2) (b) (i) or (ii) lapses if:

(a) a foreign property protection measure relating to the child, that is taken in response to the same situation, is taken by a competent authority of a Convention country, and

(b) any of the following applies:

(i) the child is habitually resident in the Convention country,

(ii) the child is present in the Convention country and is a refugee child,

(iii) a request to assume jurisdiction is made to the competent authority of the Convention country by, or at the invitation of, a competent authority of the country of the child’s habitual residence,

(iv) a competent authority of the country of the child’s habitual residence agrees to the competent authority of the Convention country assuming jurisdiction,

(v) a competent authority of the Convention country is exercising jurisdiction in proceedings concerning the divorce or separation of the child’s parents or the annulment of their marriage (but see subsection (2)),

(vi) the child has been wrongfully removed from or retained outside the Convention country and a competent authority of the Convention country keeps jurisdiction under Article 7 of the Child Protection Convention.

(2) Subsection (1) (b) (v) applies only if:

(a) one or both of the child’s parents are habitually resident in the Convention country when the proceedings referred to in that subparagraph are started, and

(b) one or both of the parents have parental responsibility for the child, and

(c) the jurisdiction of the competent authority of the Convention country to take the measure is accepted by the parents and each other person with parental responsibility for the child, and

(d) the exercise of jurisdiction to take the measure is in the best interests of the child, and

(e) the proceedings on the application for divorce or separation of the child’s parents or the annulment of their marriage have not been finalised.

(3) A New South Wales property protection measure relating to a child that is taken in response to a particular situation by a New South Wales authority exercising jurisdiction in a case of urgency, or in the taking of a measure of a provisional character, lapses if:

(a) a measure for the appointment, or the determination of the powers, of a guardian for the child’s property, that is taken in response to the same situation, is taken by a competent authority of a non-Convention country, and

(b) the measure is recognised under New South Wales law or under the law of another State or of a Territory.