This article is submitted with a view to being part of the special issue ‘Protection of international families with links to the EU post-Brexit’. This article is based on research undertaken as part of project entitled ‘Protection of international families with links to the European Union post-Brexit: Collaborative Scotland-EU partnership’ and funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (PI: Prof Katarina Trimmings). More information is available at https://www.abdn.ac.uk/law/research/centre-for-private-international-law/protection-of-international-families-with-links-to-the-european-union-postbrexit-1439.phpPeer reviewe