Andreas Hanke
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Andreas has been working as an attorney in Berlin, Germany since 2011. He handles the full range of family law cases, including child support, custody, spousal support/alimony, visitation/access, parental relocation, divorce, division of marital property, pension benefits, and international child abduction.
Andreas has practised law in Germany with a focus on International Law from the beginning of his career. Andreas has an expertise as counsel in complex international family law cases (including US- and Canadian family law).
Andreas publishes articles on family and on international family law on a regular basis, he is a member of the Berlin Bar Association, an Associate of the American Bar Association, and a member of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL). Andreas has successfully passed the certification exams of the Fachanwaltsordnung and holds the official title “Examined Specialist for Family Law” (Fachanwalt für Familienrecht). Andreas successfully served as a counsel to private clients from Germany, the US and Canada.
Relevant experiences and positions
Andreas is a partner of the law firm SAWAL SCHÜLLER HANKE based in Berlin. He has been admitted to the Berlin Bar in 2011. He is a doctoral graduate and has been awarded his PhD in law in 2018. His dissertation is a comparative study between the Relocation Laws in the United States and Germany. Within his dissertation he analyzed the Relocation laws of all 50 US states and the law on relocation in Germany.
Since 2019 he is a lecturer at the Berlin School for Economics and Law (HWR).
He is in the editorial board of the Family Law Journal “Der Familienrechtsberater”.
Some personal questions
What is your opinion on the law / case law on child relocation in your country?
Germany has implemented the Hague Child Abduction Convention and the German Courts in general are very accurate in following the procedural rules stipulated by the Convention and the report on the Hague Convention. In general the Courts honor the expedited nature of the convention and schedule a hearing within six weeks after the initial application. The Courts do understand that a Return proceeding under the Hague Convention is not a custody proceeding and has a narrow approach. The threshold to claim defenses according to Art. 13b of the Convention is high.
That said, within Germany, a relocation from one town to the other is handled very differently as there is no strict and written law on how to treat inner-country relocation.
If a parent wants to relocation to another country from Germany, from my observation the proceedings take a very long time. Courts tend to over-analyze the reasons for a move despite a Supreme Court order from 2010 in which the Court stated that the motives for the move are irrelevant as long as the move does not have the intention to interfere with the relationship between the non-moving parent and the child.
What should parents know before starting a court procedure about child relocation?
That is important to get all relevant information about the child intended new place of living. What kindergarten/school will the child be attending? What is the curriculum of the new school? What are the benefits for the child regarding his/her education at the new place? What friends and family is living nearby? What is the general network of support? What is the moving parent intending to do in the new place (work schedule)? Will the child be health-insured and what are the benefits of the insurance? Is the child fluent in the language of the intended new residence? Has the child been visiting there in the past?
What is your opinion on/ experience with the interests of siblings in child relocation cases?
The relationship between siblings is considered an essential part of the best interest test. If the relocation endangers this relationship or will at least have the potential to have a negative impact, the motion to relocate may be denied on those reasons.
As a parent is important to make sure that there is a reliable parenting arrangement that protects that relationship.
What would you like to say to judges who handling child relocation cases?
Make sure you are fair to both parents and to understand that the world and the reality has changed. Evaluate the case according to the best interest of the child/children and not on the factor if you understand the move or not. Expedite the proceeding as the children suffer under long proceedings and several interviews.
What is your (practical) advice to parents, to make relocation easier for a child?
Prepare the child for the “new future”. Visit the place before you are relocating. Make sure there is a good school and good kindergarten. In order for the child to learn a new language, nothing is more helpful that a team sport, like soccer or basketball or another hobby in which you are interacting with people the same age.
When did you first handle a child abduction case?
In 2011.
Why is it interesting for you as a lawyer to work on these cases?
It’s the international aspect. To learn about the custody laws of different countries and to give clients (parents) a perspective.
What is your advice to parents dealing with international child abduction?
Find someone who is experienced and that time is of the essence. The sooner a proceeding is brought forward the better. Do not forget to inform yourself about the custody laws of the country of the last habitual residence and try to find a legal expert to write you a statement to those laws and why the removal of the child has been wrongful as the Court which deals with the actual case applies a different law and might have no information about foreign laws.
Do you advice parents to file criminal charges in case of child abduction?
Normally not, as this could be used as a defense argument in Court.
Do you think your country is dealing well with criminal cases concerning child abduction?
Absolutely not. The District Attorneys offices consider those issues as minor charges and have – to my experience – a hard time understanding the impact it has on the child/children.