Publication of International Family Law Practice
Blog My book, International Family Law Practice, has now been published. It can be ordered through West athttp://west.thomson.com/productdetail/159300/40816680/productdetail.aspx West Publishing Co. Description: This title provides a practical approach for U.S. lawyers handling international family law matters. It focuses on international marriage and divorce, international prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, international divorce planning, recognition of foreign divorces, international […]
Tagging to Prevent International Child Abduction
Blog Time magazine has an interesting article on the technological advances in Seoul, Korea, entitled Seoul: World’s Most Wired Megacity Gets More So Part of the article caught my eye because it has great application in preventing international child abduction: Earlier this year, the city rolled out U–safety zones for children, a program using security cameras, […]
American parents struggle to reunite with children in Japan
Blog Overseas custody rights: American parents struggle to reunite with children in Japan By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Tuesday, August 4, 2009 It’s been six years, three weeks and one day since Navy Cmdr. Paul Toland last saw his only child, Erika — one of 118 Japanese-American children living in Japan and cut off […]
Consent and the Hague Abduction Convention
Blog The English Court of Appeal has just issued a significant ruling on the issue of consent in a Hague abduction case. In re P-J (Children) (Abduction: Consent), [2009] EWCA Civ 588; [2009] WLR (D) 207, dated June 23, 2009. It frequently happens that one parent tells the other parent that the or she can take […]
Japanese Child Abduction Developments
Blog Public knowledge is beginning to grow concerning Japan’s status as one of the world’s worst havens for international parental child abduction. The problem is tolerated by the Japanese Government because the abductors are almost exclusively Japanese nationals. In fact the Japanese Government is often a knowing participant in such abductions. Japanese consulates issue passports […]
Switzerland’s Pattern of Noncompliance with Hague Abduction Convention
Blog The U.S. State Department has published its 2009 Report on Compliance with the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction: The Department continues to list only one country, Honduras, as being “Noncompliant” with the Convention. Its list of “Countries Demonstrating Patterns of Noncompliance” lists seven such countries as compared to nine […]
U.S. Supremes Likely to Review Judge Sotomayor’s Ruling
Blog It is increasingly likely that the United States Supreme Court will take its first case concerning the interpretation of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The case is Abbott v. Abbott, and the U. S. Solicitor General has recommended that the Court grant the certiorari petition. Interestingly enough the Court […]
Thai administrative divorce in U.S. causes major headaches
Blog The article below describes a case in which a Thai marriage was purportedly dissolved at a Thai consulate in the U.S. Decades later the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services asserted that the divorce would not be recognized in the United States and demanded that the parties be deported. Although this case ultimately had a happy […]
England: Electronic Tagging to Prevent Re-Abduction of Child
Blog As a means of preventing international child abduction, the English High Court has issued a consent judgment requiring that a mother be “electronically tagged” before being allowed to visit her child. Re A (A Minor) March 17, 2009. The mother had wrongfully removed her child from England to her (unnamed) country of origin on two separate occasions. […]
Exit Controls
Blog Like the United States, England has no exit controls. This means that one parent (or conceivably even a stranger) can take a child out of the country without the consent of the other parent. The police forces in Humberside, England have announced their intention to crack down on this problem. It is a model […]