Sawal, Schüller, Hanke | Notare, Rechtsanwälte, Fachanwälte

The day my wife abducted my child, my time stopped. What followed was a continuous struggle filled with pain, and there were moments when I almost lost hope. However, Dr. Hanke gave me hope once again and helped my stopped time start flowing again.
The process of winning the Hague Convention case and achieving the actual return of my child was far from easy. Yet, Dr. Hanke stood by me with unwavering professionalism and heartfelt advice throughout the challenging journey. Thanks to his support, I was able to reunite with my child. I now plan to commemorate the day of our victory under the Hague Convention and the actual return date as the most significant anniversaries of my life.
I extend my deepest gratitude to Dr. Hanke and wholeheartedly recommend him.

It's a pleasure to work with Dr. Hanke, who is representing me on an international custody agreement. As someone who isn't a German citizen and is unfamiliar with German law and the German language, I faced significant challenges. He explained what my rights were, how the law is structured, and reassured me that not being from a European country wouldn't tilt the playing field against me. Dr. Hanke’s perfect command of English, combined with his deep understanding of both US and German family law, is making this process much easier for me to navigate. He's accessible and empathetic, and I couldn't be more grateful for his assistance.

Dealing with Andreas Hanke was frustrating and stressful. Yes, he can come across as charming, yes, he gave the impression that he knew what he was talking about, but, it gradually became apparent that there was a lot of talk and very little action. He mentioned many things that he thought would help my case but then never acted upon any of them. There always seemed to be a handy excuse for not giving me the help I desperately needed and sometimes he took weeks to respond to me. He also kept reminding me that his fees (and those of other German lawyer's) were much lower than those of lawyers in the UK. I guess it was his way of suggesting that I didn't really have any grounds for complaint. Perhaps this should have been a warning to me.
Here are some of the issues that I had with Andreas:
1. He failed to present evidence to the court that was important to my case.
2. He didn't advise me properly on how to prepare for the German family court assessment.
3. He didn't give me clear and detailed guidance on the German court documents that I was receiving and that I was unable to translate. He advised me to use Deepl translation app. Some of these court documents were written in a legal German that my German friends found difficult to translate.
5. His tactic was to rely on my child's mother showing her difficult and unstable character to the assessor. She had displayed this in the first court session. I felt this was a risky and unreliable way to fight the case. He was essentially relying on her losing the case, rather than us trying to win it.
6. He was difficult to contact and made me feel like he did not have time to talk to me when I did manage to contact him. He once even told me that mine was not the most important case and that he was currently dealing with a child abduction.
I emailed these concerns to Andreas a few weeks ago. Rather than address the concerns directly his response was typically evasive. He said that he was passionate about his job and that I should look to myself for the blame rather than blaming others. He also said I should spend my time being a better father to my son.
My advice would be to avoid using Andreas Hanke. I don't know what the rest of the team at Sawal Schüller Hanke are like but I realised too late that Andreas was always telling me what I wanted to hear only to let me down when I really need him.
I believe his professional behaviour fell well short of what should be expected of lawyer. I would still like to know why the court failed to address my concerns in the appeal. I would also like to know why the judge seemed to ignore my evidence when I read it out in court. It seems that if I want answers to these questions I will need to employ another lawyer to continue my fight for my son. #andreashanke #sawalschullerhanke

Massive THANKS to the firm Sawal, Schüller, and Hanke; And in particular to Dr. Andreas Hanke. Thanks to these professionals, I was able to get my child back after she was abducted. They are extremely knowledgeable regarding international child law, abductions and the Hague process.
If you find yourself in the similar situation and the children are located anywhere in Germany, I would highly recommend them!
Forever grateful for their professional, timely and overall amazing service.
Very knowledgeable about the laws in both countries. Fluent in English, which really helped me as my German wasn’t up to par.
Thank you, Mr. Hanke and your team!

Thanks to the firm Sawal, Schüller, and Hanke I was able to successfully get my children back after my ex-wife kidnapped them. Dr. Hanke in particular is extremely knowledgeable regarding international child law and was more than helpful. While I hope no one ever has to go through an International parental kidnapping case if you do and the children are in Germany I would highly recommend them!