NEWARK, NJ – A federal judge has refused to dismiss a Hague Convention petition filed by a British father who alleges his young son was abducted from Germany to the United States by the child’s mother, ordering the case to proceed and appointing pro bono counsel to represent the father.
U.S. District Judge Evelyn Padin issued the ruling on January 15, 2026, in Elliott v. Elliott, No. 25-cv-14678 (EP)(AME), denying New Jersey resident Stacy A. Elliott’s motion to dismiss and granting the appointment of free legal counsel for Benjamin A. Elliott, a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Germany who filed the case pro se under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA).
Benjamin Elliott claims that Stacy Elliott wrongfully removed their son, M.A.E., from Germany in December 2024 without his consent, violating their joint custody rights under German law. The child, born in New Jersey in 2021, holds dual U.S. and German citizenship.
According to the court record, the couple lived together in Berlin from January 2024 until their separation that October. Their son was enrolled in daycare, received German child benefits known as Kindergeld, and saw local pediatricians. The father served as the primary caregiver and the couple twice extended their Berlin apartment lease.
Tensions between the parents escalated, with documented allegations of domestic violence from both sides. In November 2024, Stacy briefly traveled to the U.S. for Thanksgiving with the child without Benjamin’s permission but returned to Germany after promising she would not disrupt the child’s life. A month later, she asked for temporary custody around New Year’s Eve — then boarded a flight with the child to the United States and informed Benjamin by text that she was not returning.
German police later issued summonses for Stacy, and the country’s youth welfare office advised Benjamin to pursue legal action in the United States for the child’s recovery.
Judge Padin found that Benjamin Elliott’s petition met the legal threshold under the Hague Convention, which allows courts to order the prompt return of children wrongfully removed from their country of habitual residence. The court held that the father’s allegations “permit the reasonable inference that [the child] was wrongfully removed under Article 3 of the Hague Convention.”
The judge rejected Stacy Elliott’s argument that Germany was not the child’s habitual residence, noting that the family’s one-year stay, long-term visa plans, lease renewals, and integration into German life all supported the conclusion that the child was “at home” there.
Padin also declined to accept Stacy’s claim that she was coerced into remaining in Germany, saying that such factual disputes must be resolved later through discovery or an evidentiary hearing, not at the motion-to-dismiss stage.
“The nearly year-long stay prior to removal is particularly indicative that [the child] habitually resided in Germany,” the opinion stated, adding that enrolling the child in daycare and obtaining benefits “demonstrate that [his] life had settled in Germany.”
The judge further found that the father exercised his custody rights and had not abandoned the child, while the mother’s claim that returning him to Germany would pose a “grave risk” of harm was unsupported at this stage. “Respondent provides no evidence that Petitioner has or would abuse [the child] or that his behavior exposed [him] to a risk of harm,” the court wrote.
Recognizing that the case involves complex international and factual issues, Judge Padin took the unusual step of appointing pro bono counsel for Benjamin Elliott. The court cited his financial hardship, overseas location, and the difficulty of representing himself in a time-sensitive international case.
“The Petition spans over three hundred pages of exhibits,” the judge observed, noting that the father’s filings showed he “has struggled to effectively prosecute this case pro se.”
Under the Hague Convention, courts are expected to resolve such international child abduction cases within six weeks. The ruling allows discovery to proceed and ensures that the father will now have legal representation as the case continues.
Bottom line: The court refused to dismiss the father’s claim that his son was wrongfully taken from Germany, ordered the case to move forward under the Hague Convention, and appointed free counsel to help him pursue the child’s return.
