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Family Law

: California Divorce Blawg

Very Interesting Case Regarding International Child Custody Disputes

By John E. Harding, JD, CFLS

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The United States Court of Appeal for the Eighth Circuit (St. Louis) has issued a very educational opinion concerning international custody disputes. In this case there was one family law case pending in Israel, and another one pending in Missouri. The US District Court decided that the case in Israel is the controlling case.

The court explains:

The United States and Israel are both signatories to the Hague Convention which was adopted in 1980 to address the problem of intercountry child abduction under international law. The Convention seeks to "protect children internationally from the harmful effects of their wrongful removal or retention" caused either by the removal of a child from the state of its habitual residence or the refusal to return a child to the state of its habitual residence. . . . The Convention is not directed at kidnappings by strangers, but rather at the "unilateral removal or retention of children by parents, guardians or close family members." . . . The principal objectives of the Convention are "to secure the prompt return of children wrongfully removed to or retained in any Contracting State" and "to ensure that rights of custody and of access under the law of one Contracting State are effectively respected in the other Contracting States.". . .

The opinion then goes on to detail how international custody disputes are resolved, including which court is the appropriate one the hear the case, what the hearing should focus on, the defenses available to a Hague challenge, and what a trial court can and cannot do when rule on an international dispute. The case is a very good overview. May be a bit technical for non-lawyers, but it is a very good primer for family law lawyers looking for a Hague refresher.

Click here to read the entire opinion.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.

Full post as published by California Divorce Blawg on October 23, 2008 (boomark / email).