The notion of “habitual residence” of the child is reffered to in different juridical instruments, belonging to both national and international areas, which nevertheless do not define the notion. Given that the habitual residence must be determined in concreto in case of litigations, courts worldwide (national and international) have been forced to shape their own standards. The purpose of the article is to analyse this notion in the particular situation of international child abduction, given the continuously increasing number of cases where children are moved from one state to another, in the context of both free movement of citizens, but also respect for family life. Hence, the objectives of the present study are to identify legal instruments applying in case of an international child abduction and also the case law of both national and international courts, relevant in connection to the notion of “habitual residence”. Furthermore, in the context of lack of definition, absent juridical criteria and divided case-law, the study aims to identify the criteria that should be taken into consideration by national courts when establishing the state of habitual residence of the child.