Family Law

Japan and International Child Abduction

Posted on November 17, 2009
Policy hurts Japanese nationals too Lawyer for Christopher Savoie foresees curbs on visits 'home' with kidsBy JEREMY D. MORLEYIn the debate about whether Japan should sign the Hague abduction convention, a serious consequence of Japan's failure to ratify the treaty is being overlooked...

People in Glass Houses ?

Posted on November 13, 2009
Does the U.S. comply with the Hague Abduction Convention?By Jeremy MorleyThe United States Congress has instructed the U.S. Secretary of State to issue annual reports evaluating the compliance by other countries of their obligations under the Hague Abduction Convention...

Korea Reportedly Moving Towards Signing the Hague Abduction Convention

Posted on October 25, 2009
Korea is apparently taking steps towards signing the Hague Abduction Convention.This would be a major step forward in the prevention of international child abduction. Korea Mulls Signing Treaty to Protect KidsKorea is moving to sign an international treaty to protect children against parental abuse and possible abduction in cases of multi-cultural marriage breakdown...

Japan ? Leading Haven for International Parental Child Abduction

Posted on October 18, 2009
The firestorm of publicity that we generated concerning the case of my client, Chris Savoie, whose kids were abducted to Japan by their Japanese mother, has now led to an official demand by eight countries that Japan stop its practice of providing a safe haven for international child abduction...

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Publication of International Family Law Practice

Posted on October 04, 2009
My book, International Family Law Practice, has now been published. It can be ordered through West at http://west.thomson.com/productdetail/159300/40816680/productdetail.aspxWest Publishing Co. Description:DescriptionThis title provides a practical approach for U...

Tagging to Prevent International Child Abduction

Posted on August 20, 2009
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, a geographic-information-system platform and parents' cell-phone numbers...

American parents struggle to reunite with children in Japan

Posted on August 03, 2009
Overseas custody rights: American parents struggle to reunite with children in JapanBy Charlie Reed, Stars and StripesPacific edition, Tuesday, August 4, 2009It?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 from their American parents...

Consent and the Hague Abduction Convention

Posted on June 24, 2009
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 the children to live in a specific country at some point in the future or upon the fulfillment of a specified condition...

Japanese Child Abduction Developments

Posted on June 16, 2009
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...

Switzerland's Pattern of Noncompliance with Hague Abduction Convention

Posted on June 10, 2009
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...

U.S. Supremes Likely to Review Judge Sotomayor?s Ruling

Posted on June 02, 2009
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...

Thai administrative divorce in U.S. causes major headaches

Posted on May 07, 2009
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...

England: Electronic Tagging to Prevent Re-Abduction of Child

Posted on April 14, 2009
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...

The Plight of the Expatriate Spouse

Posted on April 12, 2009
My article on The Plight of the Expatriate Spouse, published in the current issue of The Matrimonial Strategist is on my website and may be found at http://www.international-divorce.com/expat_plight.htm The article contends that lawyers and judges need to do a far better job of understanding the unique circumstances of expatriates with children who moved overseas for romance or to accomodate their spouses' work assignments...

Exit Controls

Posted on April 08, 2009
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...

English court won't allow economic collapse to reopen divorce case financial component

Posted on April 02, 2009
The global economic collapse has had divorced clients running to their lawyers seeking to rewrite divorce settlements or overturn divorce judgments that were made when assets value were far higher.An English appeal court has just issued a key ruling on the issue of whether a court?s final judgment dividing divorcing parties? assets can be reopened because of the impact of the current global financial turmoil on those assets...

Hague Abduction Convention and Immigration Status

Posted on March 23, 2009
The Ninth Circuit has rendered an important decision on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Mendoza v. Miranda, (March 18, 2009).Article 12 of the Convention provides an affirmative defense to a Hague return application if the abducting parent can show that the petition for return was filed more than a year after the wrongful removal or retention occurred, and ?that the child is now settled in its new environment...

India's Notorious Section 498A: Divorce Law as Criminal Law

Posted on March 13, 2009
India?s amendments to its Criminal Procedure Code are now effective. They may ameliorate some of the harshest aspects of India?s infamous Section 498A. The newly- enacted provisions take away the powers of the police to arrest in cases of alleged offenses which carry a maximum sentence up to seven years of imprisonment...

Divorce, Bigamy & Naturalization

Posted on February 28, 2009

Singapore Prenuptial Agreements - Important Decision

Posted on February 08, 2009
The Singapore Court of Appeal has just rendered a weighty and well-reasoned decision on the enforceability of prenuptial agreements in the case of TQ v TR, [2009] SGCA 6 (Feb. 3, 2009).The opinion is especially important for its analysis of the (substantial) weight to be given in Singapore to foreign prenuptial agreements as compared to prenuptial agreements entered into in Singapore...

Money in misery: International marriages

Posted on February 05, 2009
The current issue of The Economist has a great article by Edward Lucas on international family law. The title is Money in misery: International marriages are crumbling with the global economy, revealing unseen pitfalls in cross-border divorce law...

Brazil's Compliance with the Hague Abduction Convention is Questioned

Posted on January 31, 2009
Karen Mazurkewich, Financial Post Published: Saturday, December 27, 2008Francois Larivee is fighting for the return of his five-year-old son from Brazil. But being on the right side of the law is cold comfort to the 38-year-old businessman. He has won two court decisions in Brazil, and has followed The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction to the letter of the law, but Mr...

California Disclosure Rules Scare Wealthy Spouses

Posted on January 17, 2009
Further evidence that California is an excellent jurisdiction for a spouse who does not have complete knowledge of the other spouses?s financial condition is supplied by the just-issued decision in In re Marriage of Straus, 2009 WL 98447 Cal.App. 4 Dist...

Texas Court Holds that Mexico?s Legal System is Ineffective

Posted on January 14, 2009
!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 It is unfortunate that courts are usually extremely reluctant to judge the effectiveness of other countries? legal systems, even when such findings need to be made in international custody and visitation cases...

China and International Child Abduction

Posted on January 05, 2009
We were recently asked to research the issue of potential child abduction in China and the remedies for securing the return from China of a child if the Chinese national parent kept her in that country. The results of our research were depressing. China is not a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (except for Hong Kong and Macau)...

English Court OKs Post-Nups, Landmark Case

Posted on December 17, 2008
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Irish court: 6-year old to be heard in Hague Abduction Case

Posted on December 14, 2008
An Irish court has ruled in a Hague Abduction Convention case that a child of just six years of age should be heard by the Court in determining whether to return the child to his habitual residence in another (unnamed) European Union country. N. -v- N...

Israel Amends Its Divorce Law

Posted on December 11, 2008
Israel has made a significant amendment to its divorce law. In Israel divorce is in the exclusive hands of the rabbinical courts for all Jewish Israelis ? and that will continue to be the case. The amendment is to the 1973 Spousal Property Relations Law which permitted the civil family court to divide the spouses? assets only after the rabbinical courts had granted a get (religious divorce)...

Romania Child Abduction & Divorce Law

Posted on December 11, 2008
We have added new pages to our web site for Romania. One is on ROMANIA: INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION and the other is on ROMANIA: DIVORCE LAW.

Romania Child Abduction Divorce Law

Posted on December 11, 2008
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Israel Amends Its Divorce Law

Posted on December 10, 2008
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English Prenuptial Agreements

Posted on November 14, 2008
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 resolution of the financial claims of divorcing parties...

Australia's Child Custody Law, International Relocation and International Child Abduction

Posted on November 13, 2008
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 expat parent in Australia to receive permission to relocate with the children from Australia back to her country of origin her marriage has ended...

Jamaica Acceding to Hague Abduction Convention

Posted on November 04, 2008
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 Caribbean countries who have acceded to the treaty...

An aside about gossip

Posted on October 30, 2008
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 photos...

British Court rules Islamic Law Dscriminatory

Posted on October 24, 2008
The Independent,23 October 2008Britain'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 for the equal treatment of the sexes...

Forced Marriage is a Crime Against Humanity

Posted on October 09, 2008
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 http://www.sc-sl.org/AFRC.htmlFor international family lawyers the judgment is significant in that the court ruled that forced marriage constitutes a crime against humanity...

Forced Marriage Law in Britain

Posted on October 09, 2008
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 will...

Fifth Circuit's Hague Abduction Convention Ruling

Posted on September 17, 2008
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 purposes of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. (Abbott v...

RUSSIA: ?Lawful? Child Kidnapping

Posted on September 05, 2008
AFFIRMATION OF JEREMY D 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...

Jersey, Channel Islands Case Favors Spouse with Offshore Trusts

Posted on September 04, 2008
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...

Korea Okays Sex During Divorce

Posted on August 19, 2008
Korea's top court has ruled that sexual relations outside marriage committed during consensual divorce proceedings was not a criminal act.Under current Korean law, adulterous relations are considered a criminal act and those found guilty can receive jail sentences of up to two years...

Israeli court: Husband who refused divorce must pay damages

Posted on July 22, 2008
The Jerusalem Family Court (Judge Ben Zion Greenberger) has reportedly ordered a husband who refused to give his wife a divorce for nine years to pay damages of approximately $160,000. In an unprecedented ruling, the judge said that even if a husband is not required by the court to give his wife a divorce, he will still compensate her for his refusal on the matter...

Credit crunch raises divorce rate for America's superwealthy

Posted on July 10, 2008
London Times article citing me and other N.Y. lawyers:The Times, July 11, 2008 Tom Bawden in New YorkAmerica's credit crunch is putting the squeeze on the marriages of New York's superwealthy as a record number of couples with $10 million or more in assets sue for divorce...

International Child Visitation to Colombia

Posted on June 28, 2008
We represented the mother in successfully defeating the Hague International Child Abduction Convention portion of this case in North Carolina. International child-custody case settled A boy, 12, will live in the U.S. with his mother. His father can visit but can't take the boy to visit Colombia against his will A custody tug-of-war spanning two continents was settled Monday in Durham County court [North Carolina], ending a protracted dispute embodying international treaties and questions of travel safety...

International Child Visitation to Colombia

Posted on June 27, 2008
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Australian Child Relocation & Abduction Problems

Posted on June 24, 2008
There seems to be a rash of child abductions out of Australia -- although perhaps this is simply because many Australian cases are coming my way.My theory is that it is partly a result of the recent changes in Australian child custody law. The main and eminently laudable objective of the 2006 amendments to Australia's Family Law Act was to ensure that the best interests of children are met by ensuring they have the benefit of both of their parents having a meaningful involvement in their lives, "to the maximum extent consistent with the best interests of the child...

Australian Child Relocation Abduction Problems

Posted on June 23, 2008
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Canada: Divorced Couples Must Share Marital Debt

Posted on June 13, 2008
Just as divorced couples sometimes share future assets, they also should have to share future debts tied to the marriage, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday. The 6-1 decision puts a Vancouver woman on the hook for part of her former husband's unascertainable tax liability arising from tax shelters he bought during their marriage...

English Law Commission Looking At Prenuptial Agreements

Posted on June 12, 2008
From Times Online June 11, 2008 Pre-nuptial agreements between couples planning to marry could become legally binding under a review of the law being carried out by the Government's law reform body. The inquiry announced today by the Law Commission is part of its latest programme of law reform, which is also looking at the law on intestacy, the laws governing residential care and level crossings...

Comparing Divorce Jurisdictions in International Family Law: Procedure May Trump Substance

Posted on May 30, 2008
My new article, Comparing Divorce Jurisdictions in International Family Law: Procedure May Trump Substance, is in the current (June 2008) edition of The Matrimonial Strategist. It is also available on my website. When comparing possible jurisdictions for international family law cases, it is frequently important to focus on procedural matters and not simply to compare the rules and practices concerning the division of assets, maintenance and other substantive issues...

Israeli Divorce Based on 'Get' Not Recognized in New York

Posted on May 19, 2008
A state judge has declined to recognize an Israeli divorce judgment that was based on a "get," or decree of divorce, issued by a Brooklyn rabbi."If this court were to sanction the utilization of a 'Get' to circumvent the constitutional requirement that only the Supreme Court can grant a civil divorce, then a party who obtains a 'Get' in New York could register it in a foreign jurisdiction and potentially, later on, rely on the 'Get' to obtain a civil divorce in New York thereby rendering New York State's Constitutional scheme as to a civil divorce ineffectual," Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey S...

Japan to Sign Hague Child Abduction Convention

Posted on May 09, 2008
Yes!!!!05/10/2008BY MIAKO ICHIKAWATHE ASAHI SHIMBUNJapan will sign a treaty obliging the government to return to the rightful parent children of broken international marriages who are wrongfully taken and kept in Japan, sources said Friday. The Justice Ministry will begin work to review current laws with an eye on meeting requirements under the 1980 Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, the sources said...

Preventing International Child Abduction: Texas Case

Posted on May 06, 2008
When should a court take steps to prevent possible international child abduction by a foreign national parent? This issue is critical to many parents but many courts -- and even many family law lawyers -- do not give the issue the serious consideration that it must be given...

Interview about International Child Relocation

Posted on April 30, 2008
An interview with me - about international child relocation - has just been published on http://www.divorce.co.nz/.The introduction says:"His website, was very informative about the subject - something lawyers are not always known for. I decided to call and interview Jeremy, as the subject of child abduction and relocation is currently a hot topic with cross cultural marriage, migration and divorce all on the increase...

Australia Child Custody & Relocation Problems

Posted on April 24, 2008
Australian child custody law presumes that it is in the best interests of the child for each of the child?s parents to have equal shared parental responsibility. (Australia?s Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006). This presumption has reportedly created significant damage...

Korean Adultery Law

Posted on April 03, 2008
Adultery is a crime in Korea punishable by up to two years in jail. Now Ok So-Ri, a famous Korean actress who has been indicted for adultery, has petitioned Korea?s Constitutional Court to invalidate the 1953 law that criminalizes such conduct. In her complaint, her attorneys have argued that, "The adultery law constitutes a serious breach of the individual's rights to make decisions concerning sex and privacy under the constitution...

International parental child abduction from the U.S. to India

Posted on March 25, 2008
March 28, 2008, News India-Times By Jeremy D. Morley There has been a rash of cases concerning parents who remove a child from the United States to India without the consent of the other parent and then refuse to return the child to this country...

Grave Risk of Harm and Hague Convention: Judge orders girl back to Australia

Posted on March 20, 2008
A Sheridan (Wyoming) woman who fled Australia with her young daughter a year ago must -- according to the rules of an international treaty -- return the child on April 8 to that country where her convicted rapist father is in jail, according to an order by Chief U...

Offshore Trusts and Divorce

Posted on March 15, 2008
The chief justice of the Cayman Islands, Mr Justice Smellie, has launched a staunch defence of trusts and has railed against what he described as the ?entirely misguided? criticism of offshore trusts by onshore authorities. So reports legalweek.com. This fuels expectations that there will be an unprecedented stand-off between offshore and onshore judges over the issue...

India - Good News in an International Child Abduction Case

Posted on March 11, 2008
For more than three years, Deepa Topiwalla fell asleep every night wondering where her young son was. She doesn't have to wonder anymore. He sleeps in her bedroom in a small bed next to hers. After a court battle that took her halfway across the world, she has returned home to Cary with her son, and together they look forward to starting a new life...

Japan Won't Let Abducted Kids Go

Posted on February 26, 2008
This article from ABC News is based in part on an interview with me.Notwithstanding the information in the article, there are some things that can be done in case of child abduction to Japan, though rarely using the Japanese "system."By RUSSELL GOLDMAN, Feb...

NCMEC Not Handling Incoming Child Abduction Cases

Posted on February 18, 2008
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has announced that as of April 1, 2008 it will no longer handle any aspect of incoming child abduction cases arising under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction...

Saudi Family Law Must Be Revised: U.N.

Posted on February 14, 2008
GENEVA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia must create laws to protect women from violence and also allow them to play a bigger role in society and the workplace, the United Nations said on Thursday. "The lack of written laws governing private life constitutes a major obstacle to women's access to justice," said Yakin Erturk, the U...

Islamic Divorces Not Recognized in France

Posted on February 12, 2008
The French courts now generally refuse to recognize Islamic divorce decrees. So reports the conflictoflaws.net blog. The typical cases before the French courts concern Islamic divorces obtained in Algeria or Morocco by husbands of Algerian or Moroccan origin who have emigrated to France...

Slovakia Hague Abduction Injustice

Posted on February 11, 2008
In what is believed to be the first Hague case in Slovakia concerning an abduction to that country from the United States (a case in which I acted for the father), a Slovak appeal court has rejected a Hague return application on grounds that make the prospects of meaningful application of the treaty in Slovakia seem extremely remote...

Automatic Restraining Order and Nonresident Child

Posted on February 07, 2008
In many states a standard restraining order automatically issues whenever a custody petition is filed. The orders typically prohibit a parent from removing a child from the state without the other party?s consent or a court order. Do such orders require a parent whose child is in another state or country to bring the nonresident child into the state in which the petition has been filed? No, says a California appeal court in a just-issued decision...

Cyprus: Foreign parents with joint custody may face prosecution if they leave

Posted on February 04, 2008
A PARENT who decides to leave Cyprus with his or her children without first seeking the approval of their other half could soon be subject to criminal prosecution. In its January 3 sitting, the Cabinet approved a bill submitted by the Justice Ministry that is set to alter the Penal Code...

Hague Abduction Convention: The Defense of Grave Risk of Harm Is Not Working

Posted on February 03, 2008
The case of Van de Sande v. Van de Sande, which was remanded by the Seventh Circuit to the district court in Illinois in 2005 (431 F.3d 567 (7th Cir. 2005) appears to have taken a tragic turn. The district court has now rendered a ruling in which it has thrown the proverbial book at the violent and dangerous petitioner-father...

Hague Abduction: New 6th Circuit Case on Grave Risk of Harm

Posted on December 31, 2007
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has issued a highly significant ruling on the grave risk of harm defense to a Hague Convention international child abduction petition. Simcox v. Simcox, File No. 07a0502p.06; decision dated December 28, 2007...

England Inching Towards Prenuptial Enforcement

Posted on December 20, 2007
The English courts yesterday took a further step towards eventual enforcement of prenuptial agreements. In Crossley v. Crossley, the spouses had signed a prenuptial agreement in England. The wife asked the divorce court to ignore it because her husband had failed to tell her of the full extent of his fortune...

Canadian Court - Jewish Divorce

Posted on December 16, 2007
The Supreme Court of Canada made a rare foray into the religious forum yesterday, coming to the aid of a 48-year-old Jewish woman whose estranged husband had stubbornly refused for 15 years to grant her a religious release from their marriage. A 7-2 court majority said that judges must tread warily when they adjudicate religious matters, but that it would be wrong to shy away when a bedrock Canadian principle - such as gender equality - is jeopardized...

Barbados Divorce Law

Posted on December 11, 2007
The Barbados Family Law Council is reportedly in favor of amending the Barbados Family Law Act, which governs divorce and related issues in Barbados but which is now 25 years old. The amendments under consideration include: A procedure for streamlined case management, focused on keeping one case before the same judge for all proceedings; The provision of counseling for those in the process of a divorce;A provision that would expedite the allocation of matrimonial property which, under the current law can be deferred until the divorce has been finalized;An amendment that would allow divorce proceedings and the determination of related property and other financial issues to continue and be completed notwithstanding the death of one of the parties; andThe establishment of a table of maintenance as guidelines for judges, in order to the guesswork out of the provision of support payments.

Child Abduction to Mexico Ends Happily

Posted on December 11, 2007
Our heartiest congratulations to our British client whose tiny baby was abducted by the Mexican father from Texas to Mexico. http://familylawinternational.blogspot.com/2007/07/mum-fights-for-abducted-babys-return.html The mother and her family endured months of unbelievable worry, fueled further by the father?s death threats and outrageous claims as he was ?on the run? in Mexico...

German divorce, Syrian marriage

Posted on November 29, 2007
An interesting German international family law case concerning a Syrian marriage has been summarized by Jurgen Basedow and Simon Schwarz.A Syrian couple filed for divorce before German courts whose jurisdiction was established under Arts. 1(1)(a), 2(1)(a) of the Brussels II-Regulation since the spouses had their habitual residence in Germany at that time...

Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support

Posted on November 26, 2007
Delegates from sixty-eight States and the European Community have finalized the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and other Forms of Family Maintenance at the 21st Diplomatic Session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law...

When Is a Saudi Woman Considered an Adult?

Posted on November 13, 2007
Maha Akeel, Arab News. Nov 2, 2007It is surprising and frustrating to see that women in Saudi Arabia, despite all their achievements, continue to be treated as underage dependents who need and are forced to be managed by their male guardians. It is necessary at this point of Saudi women?s history to address this important issue...

New Jersey Hague Convention Case

Posted on November 13, 2007
She's only 7, a schoolgirl from Elizabeth, but Arianna Adan soon may change state, national and even international law. Legal briefs filed by two state agencies, a coalition of national organizations and her mother's lawyers seek not only to block Arianna's deportation in an international custody case, but also to change the way the United States abides by the Hague Convention, a treaty designed to end cross-border abduction of children by their parents...

Top Ten Tips for Expats

Posted on November 08, 2007
? From an International Family Lawyer by Jeremy D. Morley Here are some of my ?international family lawyer?s best tips? for international clients moving overseas and for expatriates. Before you move overseas, realize that if you have children in a new country you may find yourself trapped there...

Fundraiser for Film on Japanese Child Abduction

Posted on November 06, 2007
Two film-makers, David Hearn and Matt Antell, are working on a film project to draw attention to the scandal of parental child abductions to Japan and in Japan.They are conducting a fundraiser for their film to be held in Tokyo in December at the Pink Cow restaurant (http://www...

"Ireland's Divorce Courts a Shambles"

Posted on October 31, 2007
Ireland's divorce courts are overloaded and need a complete overhaul to make breaking up fairer and less of a bank-breaking ordeal, an expert report on the secrecy-shrouded system concluded Tuesday. The government-commissioned report, which offered 45 recommendations to fix the system, faulted the government for doing much too little since the 1997 legalization of divorce in this predominantly Roman Catholic country...

India Marriage Registration Call

Posted on October 30, 2007
The Times of India has endorsed a demand by the Supreme Court of India that all marriages in India be registered. In an editorial the newspaper states that: Marriage law is a touchy issue in India, especially for leaders of the Muslim community. The shadow of common civil code looms over any prospective legislation on the subject...

Korea?s New Family Registration Law

Posted on October 25, 2007
The South Korean Supreme Court has issued details of its implementation of the new family registration law, which will take effect on January 1, 2008. The new system will replace the traditional ?hoju? system, which the Constitutional Court in Korea declared unconstitutional as violating the right to gender equality...

Mahr ? Islamic Marriage Contract ? Held to be Not Enforceable

Posted on October 21, 2007
An Ohio court has reportedly ruled that a promise made as part of a mahr ? a dowry gift given by the groom to his bride upon an Islamic marriage ? could not be enforced at law. The Ohio Case The case in Ohio stemmed from the marriage of a Muslim couple ? the bride living in Ohio and the groom from Ireland...

Czech procedure for Hague Convention international child abduction cases

Posted on October 15, 2007
International child abduction cases in the Czech Republic will be assigned to ten specially-selected judges at the Brno District and Brno Regional courts, if a bill that was presented by the Czech Justice Minister Jiri Pospisil is adopted. The bill would create internal Czech rules for such cases that are brought under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction...

Germany's Pattern of Noncompliance with Hague Child Abduction Convention

Posted on September 22, 2007
In an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in May 2006, this author vehemently protested what he asserted was Germany's noncompliance with its treaty obligations under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction...

Urgency required in child abduction cases

Posted on August 28, 2007
The English courts -- unlike the courts in many countries, including in many situations the United States -- insist that child abduction cases are resolved expeditiously. In the European Union, following the entry into force of the Brussels II bis Regulation, there is now an obligation that the entire process of child abduction cases be completed within six weeks...

Japan - New Law on Choice of Law

Posted on July 31, 2007
Japan's new law on the choice of law is now in effect. It supersedes the law known as the "Horei Law." The new law is entitled the "Ho no Tekiyo ni Kansuru Tsusoku," meaning "Law on the General Rules of Application of Laws."It will have a significant effect on international family law cases concerning Japan, as well as in commercial matters...

Prenuptial Agreement Upheld in Singapore

Posted on July 26, 2007
The Singapore High Court has enforced a prenuptial agreement entered into in the Netherlands between a Swedish wife and a Dutch husband. TQ v. TR, [2007] SGHC 106; decision date July 11, 2007. The couple had lived together in England, had moved for a short time to the Netherlands, where they had married and executed the prenuptial agreement under Dutch law before a notary who had acted for both of them...

Pre-Nuptial Agreements: New York Tolls the Statute of Limitations

Posted on July 16, 2007
The New York legislature has passed a law that clears up what had been an enormous problem concerning the enforcement of prenuptial agreements in New York. New Section 250 of the Domestic Relations Law now provides that the three year statute of limitations for commencing an action or asserting a defense that arises from a pre-nuptial or post nuptial agreement is tolled until service of process has been completed in a divorce action or until one of the parties dies...

Mum fights for abducted baby's return

Posted on July 06, 2007
We represent this English mother whose baby was taken from Texas to MexicoA young mother has told of her living hell after her baby son was abducted by his father.Samantha Lowry, who is from Swindon and now lives in the US state of Texas, hasn't seen her three-month-old son Sebastian for six weeks...

International Child Visitation

Posted on June 29, 2007
How can one parent stop the other parent from taking a child to visit a dangerous country?How can a parent make sure that a child will be returned if the other parent takes the child to visit his or her native country?Many international parents are justifiably becoming increasingly concerned about the answers to these questions...

New Jersey Child Relocation to Japan

Posted on June 12, 2007
The Supreme Court of New Jersey has unanimously upheld a decision allowing a Japanese mother to relocate with her six-year old child from their home in New Jersey to Okinawa, Japan over the strong objections of the American husband. The primary concern of the husband was that the provisions for his visitation with his daughter were unenforceable in Japan...

South Africa and the Hague Convention

Posted on June 06, 2007
South Africa?s Court of Appeal has blasted the failure of the courts below to order the prompt return of a child, now aged five, who was wrongfully retained in South Africa away from his then habitual residence in the Netherlands by his mother for 3½ years...