A Thai female family member is married to a French citizen and lives in France.

The relationship recently broke down and his family immediately took the only child's passport.

She has dual Thai/French citizenship and I think her passport was French.

The wife still has access to the child as she remains in the family home but they are carefully watched to see they don't disappear.

I looked at a little French family law and see the custody rights of the father are extremely strong, a 50/50 arrangement is normal unless one can be shown to be a completely unsuitable parent.

I know what he and the family will be thinking, once they have gone back to Thailand he will never see the child again.

If we could avoid all the "son nam nar"'s and look at this realistically, the woman cannot support the child in France, she can here, her family is well off and access for the father would genuinely not be a problem.

What is a problem obviously is getting him to believe this, he would need guarantees under Thai law before he would even consider allowing the child to leave.

What would happen if she waited it out?

Eventually she would get 50% custody and I assume that they could leave the country.

The Thai family is currently sending substantial funds so a lawyer wont be a problem but I suggested talking to the Thai embassy first.

The French court can issue an order that the child cannot leave France.

The Thai embassy cannot interfere and the child cannot get a Thai passport without the approval of the father.

Guarantees cannot be given, till a judge makes a ruling. But normally a Thai judge will order shared custody with the father, unless the father is unfit/a danger. He can also order that the child cannot leave Thailand.

Pretty much what I thought, thanks Mario.

What is the reason for break up in the relationship ?

What is the background of his and hers family ?

Who according to you is best to raise the kid, mother or father ?

Pretty much what I thought, thanks Mario.

Moreover, the father maybe is serious about assuming his 50% of custody, so that if the mother went to Thailand with the child, she would in effect prevent the father from his part of the custody, which is not acceptable.

As I see it, through a French divorce the mother will be provided with the money she needs for living in France with her child.

I can understand that she doesn't want to stay there, because she would be alone, her family being in Thailand.

If she wants to leave France, she will have to leave the child behind if the father doesn't agree. And I think this is pretty normal.

I have no real opinion either way, I was asked to provide advice.

Obviously the best interests of the child are paramount but where 50/50 custody may work when the parents reside close by problems arise when they want to live on different sides of the planet.

The situation was unexpected, the woman was here with the child visiting family for more than a month this year and returned to France.

It's never going to be easy when divorcing parents are from different parts of the world and children are involved.