Case: Bakker v. Bakker – 2020

Abib Ngom was the successful counsel at the Supreme Court of British Columbia in a groundbreaking case of wrongful retention of a child: Bakker v. Bakker.

The Story

• A husband, wife, and their four-year-old child were all citizens of New Zealand
• The couple split in December 2018
• The husband and wife reached a separation agreement stating they would share the child's care equally
• The wife accepted a one-year fellowship in neuroradiology at Vancouver General Hospital starting July 2019
• The husband asserted that he agreed to let the wife take their child with her to Vancouver for the one-year fellowship in April 2019. This was on the condition that the child return to New Zealand in July 2020
• The wife claimed that there was no agreement for the child to return to New Zealand in July 2020
• While in Canada, the wife filed a Notice of Family Claim ("NFC"), seeking sole guardianship and custody of the child in Canada.
• The husband applied for an order that the child be returned to New Zealand immediately. He argued that the wife wrongfully retained the child in Canada while filing the NFC. By filing the NFC, the husband contended that the wife had no intention of returning the child to New Zealand in 2020 or at all. He maintained the wife wrongfully removed the child from New Zealand in 2019 based on his consent to her removal being on false pretenses.

The Significance

Bakker v. Bakker was the first Canadian case in which counsel successfully argued that a child can be wrongfully retained before an agreed-upon date of return. Thanks to Bakker v. Bakker, there is now Canadian case law that accepts anticipatory retention as constituting wrongful retention. In this case, the mother's filing of the NFC illustrated her intent to remain in Canada with the child. If you are dealing with a wrongful retention issue and need our help, we are happy to assist you. Click here, call us at 604-974-9529, or email us at [email protected].