Protection of international families with links to the European Union post-Brexit: Collaborative Scotland-EU partnership

The free movement of people within the EU has resulted in several generations of European citizens forming family relationships across national borders. As a result, there are thousands of families in Scotland whose lives, homes and occupations cross European borders.

Similarly, there are many families with connections to Scotland living in the EU. This project seeks to address the legal issues that surround the protection of such international families. It aims to examine the effectiveness of the pertinent post-Brexit legal framework, which no longer comprises European private international law instruments but instead is represented primarily by international Conventions ('Hague Family Law Conventions').

To this end, the project seeks to enhance collaboration between Scotland and EU Member States in protecting international families in the wake of Brexit; identify good practices in applying the Hague Family Law Conventions; and make recommendations to legal practitioners, judges, Central Authorities and national legislators.

The project commenced on 01 March 2022 and will end on 29 February 2024. It is funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh under the Saltire Facilitation Network Award Scheme .

Research partners

University of Aberdeen, Scotland/United Kingdom

Dr Katarina Trimmings (Principal Investigator)

Miss Konstantina Kalaitsoglou (Research Assistant)

University of Osijek, Croatia

Professor Mirela Župan (Co-Investigator)

Martina Drventić (Research Assistant)

Jura Golub (Research Assistant)

University of Antwerp, Belgium

Professor Thalia Kruger (Co-Investigator)

Network partners

Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland

Dr Anna Wysocka-Bar (Network Partner)

Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan

Professor Pietro Franzina (Network Partner)

Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Science, Lithuania

Dr Agne Limante (Network Partner)

University College Dublin, Ireland

Professor Máire Ní Shúilleabháin (Network Partner)

National reports

• Belgium
• Croatia
• Ireland
• Italy
• Lithuania
• Poland
• United Kingdom

Project articles

Published in the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 2024, Volume 38, Issue 1:

• Pietro Franzina and Thalia Kruger, 'The International Protection of Adults after Brexit', https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/ebae017 
• Katarina Trimmings, Tung Le Xuan, Konstantina Kalaitsoglou, 'The 1996 Hague convention on international child protection in the UK post-Brexit: focus on jurisdiction and recognition and enforcement', https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/ebae018
• Máire Ní Shúilleabháin and Katarina Trimmings, 'The Hague Convention on the Recognition of Divorces and Legal Separations 1970: an effective mechanism for regulating divorce as between the UK and the EU post-Brexit?', https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/ebae019
• Mirela Zupan and Konstantina Kalaitsoglou, ‘Application of the 2007 Hague Maintenance Convention Post-Brexit: Implications for International Maintenance Obligations’, forthcoming.
• Agne Limante and Anna Wysocka-Bar, 'Cross-Border Child Abduction from the UK: Comparative Analysis of Polish and Lithuanian Court Cases', forthcoming.

Project Workshop

The Project Workshop took place on the 18th of October 2023 between 11am and 5pm (UK time) at the University of Aberdeen and online.

• Workshop Programme for more details

Online Workshop with Central Authorities

The Online Workshop with Central Authorities took place on the 25th of October 2023 between 11am and 1pm (UK time) on Microsoft Teams.

• Event Programme for more details .