English Prenuptial Agreements
Blog A critical case on English prenuptial law is currently being heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which is the highest appeals court for UK overseas territories including the Isle of Man, where the parties live. The current state of the law in England is that prenuptial agreements are considered as just one factor in determining a […]
Australia’s Child Custody Law, International Relocation and International Child Abduction
Blog This editorial (see below) in Australia’s Courier-Mail criticizes the provisions in Australia’s recently-amended Family Law Act that call for equal shared parenting orders. The article is totally on target. However it does not address another unexpected consequence of the new law, which is that it has made it even harder than before for an […]
Jamaica Acceding to Hague Abduction Convention
Blog The Jamaican Cabinet has reportedly approved Jamaica’s accession to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, 1980. Jamaica joins Bahamas, St. Kitts & Nevis and Trinidad & Tobago as Caribbeancountries who have acceded to the treaty. The Convention will not be in force with the United States until the U.S. accepts Jamaica’s accession to the treaty.
An aside about gossip
Blog My daughter at college is suddenly most impressed with the press that I have been receiving. Not that I’m referring to quotes in The Economist or the Times of London — mention of which received a bored “Oh Great! What else is up?” — but to the current issue of OK! Magazine, the place for “hot celebrity gossip and […]
British Court rules Islamic Law Dscriminatory
Blog The Independent,23 October 2008 Britain’s highest court has criticised Islamic law for discriminating against women after a case in which a mother was forced to flee the Middle East for Britain to protect her son from his abusive father. In a 5-0 ruling, the law lords said that there was no place in sharia […]
Forced Marriage Law in Britain
Blog Britain has initiated a concerted effort to stem the number of forced marriages in that country. A new law – the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007– will come into force there next month. A “forced marriage” is one in which a party is married without his or her consent or against his or her […]
Forced Marriage is a Crime Against Humanity
Blog We have just read the appeal judgment of the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in a case entitled Prosecutor v. Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu. For international family lawyers the judgment is significant in that the court ruled that forced marriage constitutes a crime against […]
Fifth Circuit’s Hague Abduction Convention Ruling
Blog The Fifth Circuit has followed the Second Circuit’s ruling in Croll v. Croll and has ruled that a “ne exeat” right does not constitute a “right of custody” for the purposes of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. (Abbott v. Abbott, handed down on 9/16/08). The case concerned a British father […]
RUSSIA: “Lawful” Child Kidnapping
Blog The article below in today’s Daily Telegraph illustrates the grave dangers that may arise when children visit Russia: An 11-year-old British girl has been left stranded in Russia after her biological father obtained a Court Order preventing her from leaving the country until she is 18. Victoria Osborne, who was visiting her grandmother in Saratov with her mother Tatiana, […]
Jersey, Channel Islands Case Favors Spouse with Offshore Trusts
Blog The Royal Court in Jersey, Channel Islands has issued a key ruling in favor of a wealthy Indian jewelry magnate with substantial assets in offshore trusts, in a case known as Mubarak v Mubarak.The Court ruled that assets held in offshore trusts could be released to ex-spouses only if the trustees had the power to do so: The Financial […]