Venezuela “Noncompliant” with Hague Child Abduction Convention
Blog The U.S. Department of State, in its 2006 Report on Compliance with the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, has declared that Venezuela is “noncompliant” with the terms of the Convention. The report states that: “Venezuela was not mentioned in the 2005 Convention compliance report because there were no active cases […]
Child relocation to Japan
Blog Custody dispute crossing borders: Mom wants to take daughter to Okinawa Newark Star-Ledger, May 01, 2007 The state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in a Hillsborough child custody case with international implications. After the breakup of her marriage, Erika MacKinnon wants to return to her homeland, Japan, along with her 7-year-old daughter. A network of […]
Pakistan Law and Violence Against Women
Blog The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) of Pakistan ruled on March 31, 2007 that a woman who is raped should not be considered guilty of adultery and should be viewed under the law as a victim of rape. The ruling may reduce the impact of the Hudood Ordinances adopted in Pakistan in 1979 under which in order to […]
Conflict between Child Custody Laws of China and the United States
Blog The Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act – which includes some specific provisions designed to prevent international child abduction – was signed into law in Kansas on April 6, 2007. Kansas is the fourth state to enact it, along with Nevada, Nebraska and South Dakota. Bills to adopt the new law have been introduced in at least five other legislatures — Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah, and […]
Conflict between Child Custody Laws of China and the United States
Blog A recently-decided case in Massachusetts sheds light on the growing problem of international couples and competing divorce jurisdictions. Qiuyue Shao v. Yue Ma. It also illustrates a serious problem that exists with Section 105 of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. Chinese-born married parents – characterized by the appellate court as “unusually mobile,” “financially successful”, “highly […]
For richer and poorer
Blog The current issue of The Economist has an interesting article on international divorce law, the introduction to which is as follows: MARRIAGE may be about love, but divorce is a business. For global couples—born in different countries, married in a third, now working somewhere else and with children, pensions and other assets sprinkled over […]
The Grave Risk of Harm Defense in Hague Child Abduction Cases
Blog A major debate is under way as to the future of the “grave risk of harm defense” in Hague Convention international child abduction cases. The move is spearheaded by those who believe that the Hague Convention discriminates against expatriate mothers who are victims of domestic violence and who return to their countries of origin […]
Lawsuits against airlines who allow international child abduction
Blog The abduction of children from the United States is facilitated by the lack of exit controls at U.S. borders. A lawsuit just filed in Massachusetts against Continental Airlines may help shift at least some of the responsibility onto the airlines. The plaintiff claims that Continental should not have allowed his ex-wife to fly to […]
New article on Japan and International Child Abduction
Blog The current issue of Metropolis Tokyo has an update on Japan’s practices that favor international child abduction. The article is based in significant part on my input. Part of the article reads as follows: “As we reported 12 months ago, no Japanese court has ever caused a child abducted to Japan by a Japanese parent to […]
Equitable Tolling, Concealment and the One-Year, Well-Settled Provision in Article 12 of the Hague Child Abduction Convention
Blog The Southern District of Texas has clarified the issue of whether a parent’s concealment of a child should affect the judicial application of the one-year provision in Article 12 of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Driessche v. Ohio-Esezeoboh, 2006 Lexis 92943 (S.D.Tex. Dec. 2006). The United States has developed a uniquely American approach […]