Facts
By judgment of 5 November 2007, the Civil Court of La Gruyère pronounced the divorce of spouses A. and B. and ratified their agreement on ancillary effects, which attributed parental authority and child custody of children C. and D. to the mother. In 2009, the mother initiated an action to modify the divorce judgment. In 2010, the mother left Switzerland with the children to settle in Tunisia. In 2011 and 2013, the Swiss courts modified the divorce judgment to attribute parental authority and custody to the father, and then again to the mother in 2014. The father appealed this last decision to the Federal Tribunal.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal first examined ex officio the issue of the competence of the Swiss courts to hear this action to modify the divorce judgment. Given that Tunisia has not ratified the 1996 and 1961 Hague Conventions on the protection of minors, the Federal Tribunal considered that Art. 85(3) PILA could establish the competence of the Swiss courts, provided that the protection of the children so requires. The Federal Tribunal therefore referred the case back to the cantonal authority to examine this issue. Furthermore, the Federal Tribunal specified that, in the event that the Swiss…