Family Law

Russia - England High Profile Divorce Case

Posted on March 31, 2011
The hot-off-the-press decision of the English Court of Appeal in a Russia-English divorce case is most interesting. Stay tuned for analysis. Meanwhile today?s Daily Mail article, below, must suffice.£2.85m in London court after ex-husband loses his bid to have divorce settled in RussiaBy Daily Mail Reporter 31st March 2011Read more: http://www...

INDIA?S DOWRY / 498a LAW

Posted on March 31, 2011
We have commented previously on the abusive ?498a Law? that was well-intentioned in its enactment but which is frequently misused in India as a means of blackmailing non-resident Indian husbands.  Please see: http://www.international-divorce.com/Indias-Notorious-Section-498A...

Singapore Ruling on Marital Agreements

Posted on March 29, 2011
We have previously reported that Singapore Court of Appeal has held that it will normally enforce prenuptial agreements or other marital agreements, at least if they were entered into in a foreign jurisdiction under whose law they are valid. (Singapore Prenuptial Agreements)The Court determined in the case of TQ v TR, [2009] SGCA 6 (Feb...

U.S. Prenuptial & Post-Nuptial Presentation

Posted on March 27, 2011
Many people have requested access to my PowerPoint presentation on U.S. Prenuptial & Postnuptial Agreements. The presentation can be accessed at this link.The presentation was at the Symposium on International Pre- and Post-Nuptial Agreements hosted by Family Law in association with the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers on March 8 2011 in London...

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Law-Shopping & Forum-Shopping in International Prenuptial Agreements

Posted on March 15, 2011
Drafting prenuptial agreements is always challenging but the complexities are greatly magnified when the clients are international, whether in their citizenship, the location of assets, their employment or their residency, or because such international connections are anticipated or reasonably on the horizon...

How Did Japan Become a Haven for Child Abductions?

Posted on March 11, 2011
Time Magazine, March 7, 2011Like any loving father, Christopher Savoie just wanted to do the best thing for his two kids. In August 2009, his Japanese ex-wife broke U.S. law and abducted their children from his home in Tennessee, moving them to Japan...

Japan: Contested Divorce Laws

Posted on March 07, 2011
Jeremy D. Morleywww.international-divorce.comJurisdiction: The statutory law in Japan contains no provisions concerning the jurisdiction of a Japanese court in cases concerning international spouses. The courts have held that the Japanese Family Court has jurisdiction over a divorce if at a minimum at least one party is a legal resident of Japan...

International Custody Battle Over Girl, 4

Posted on February 21, 2011
A four-year-old girl in Abu Dhabi is at the centre of an international child custody case that pits her divorced American parents against each other from different sides of the world. Sophie Azzolina goes to swimming and dance classes and has friends at her Abu Dhabi nursery school...

U.S. diplomat discusses S. Korea's accession to convention on child abductions

Posted on February 21, 2011
A senior U.S. diplomat met with South Korean officials Friday to discuss Seoul's planned accession to an international convention on the custody of children from international marriages.The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction aims to prevent parents in custody battles from abducting their children and taking them to another nation in search of a more favorable arrangement...

The Plight of the Expatriate Spouse

Posted on February 15, 2011
Just today, a client and then a potential client told me that this article describes their exact circumstances. We are reprinting the article now because so many have said it that it is reassuring to know that others understand their circumstances. We regularly counsel clients who call from all over the world about exactly these situations and how to extricate themselves from them...

Singapore Part of the Hague Convention

Posted on February 10, 2011
Singapore has acceded to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The accession occurred on December 28, 2010 and will have effect from March 1, 2011. No country has yet accepted the accession and so even after the effective date the Convention will be in force between Singapore and any other country until other Hague countries expressly accept the accession...

China-Conflict of Laws

Posted on January 21, 2011
China has now adopted its first law on the conflict of laws. Chapter 3 deals with foreign-related marriage and divorce issues. However, Chapter One is also relevant to any such case.Specifically with respect to divorce, the new law provides that if the parties themselves do not choose the law that will govern their divorce, the law of their common habitual residence shall be applied...

International Pre-Nuptial Symposium

Posted on January 20, 2011
I will be speaking in London on international prenups at the event described below.http://www.jordanpublishing.co.uk/training-and-development/family-law/international-pre-nuptial-symposiumSpeakers: Charlotte Butruille-Cardew, Nicholas Francis QC, Jeremy Morley, Geoff WilsonChairperson: David Salter Location: Charles Russell, 5 Fleet Place, LONDON EC4M 7RDDate: 8 March 2011 Accreditation/Professional DevelopmentSolicitors Regulation Authority: 3 hours 15 minutesILEX: 3 hours 15 minutesBar Standards Board: 3 hours Get up-to-the minute information on domestic and international pre and post nuptial agreements including: How to draft effective agreements Recognition and enforceability in the international arena A comparative review of international matrimonial property regimes A greater understanding of the principles underlying agreements How to opt out of the relevant marital property regimeThe limitations of such agreements  Increasing numbers of international travellers, living and working abroad coupled with rising divorce rates, have led to an increase in the number of individuals entering into pre and post nuptial agreements to protect their assets on relationship breakdown...

Israel ? Religious courts assert authority over dissolution of civil marriages

Posted on January 15, 2011
By Yair Ettinger Haaretz 1-14-11Three recent rabbinical court rulings have asserted far-reaching and controversial authority in divorces of couples married in a civil ceremony.The Interior Ministry requires Jewish couples to provide proof of divorce from a rabbinical court to get their divorce registered, regardless of how they married...

E.U. Adopts Divorce Choice of Law Regulation

Posted on December 28, 2010
On December 20, 2010 the European Union Council adopted the Rome III Regulation implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the law applicable to divorce and legal separation. Article 5 allows spouses to agree to designate the law applicable to divorce and legal separation provided that it is one of the following laws:(a) the law of the State where the spouses are habitually resident at the time the agreement is concluded, or(b) the law of the State where the spouses were last habitually resident, insofar as one of them still resides there at the time the agreement is concluded, or(c) the law of the State of nationality of either spouse at the time the agreement is concluded, or (d) the law of the forum...

Abducted Children Returned from India

Posted on December 17, 2010
We have succeeded twice in recent weeks in securing the return to their homes in the United States of children who were abducted by a parent to India. The results were not accomplished through the Indian legal system, which is generally not helpful in this area...

French deal could complicate talks with Russia on international child abduction cases

Posted on December 03, 2010
Negotiations with Russia on international child abduction cases could become more complicated. There has been growing pressure on Russia to sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, but it is now reported that the European Commission is giving France the right to start negotiations with Russia on a bilateral treaty on international child abduction...

Potential International Child Abduction to India: Canadian Court Accepts Morley Expert Opinion

Posted on October 26, 2010
The Superior Court in Ontario, Canada relied in substantial part on the expert evidence of Jeremy D. Morley as to family law in India in ruling that the father of a four-year-old child living in Ontario should not be permitted to take the child on a family visit to India...

Prenuptial Agreements in England

Posted on October 20, 2010
England's Supreme Court, its highest court, has today ruled in Radmacher v. Granatino, that "decisive weight" should be given to the German prenuptial agreement signed by a German heiress and her French husband. The husband had agreed that he would make no claims on Ms...

Resolution Condemning Japan for International Child Abduction: Full Text

Posted on September 30, 2010
Here is the full text of House Resolution 1326, passed almost unanimously by the U.S. House of Representatives today, September 29, 2010, condemning Japan's "abduction and wrongful retention" of children -- including the children of several of my clients -- and urging Japan to act "immediately" to resolve cases involving U...

More on Neulinger & Shuruk v. Switzerland

Posted on August 12, 2010
David Hodson on International Family Law8/9/10 Swiss clockmakers fail to tell the time: ECHR allows abduction after many delaysThere is much controversy across the child abduction world, between Europe and non-European countries, following a decision of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Neulinger & Shuruk v...

Book Review!

Posted on August 12, 2010
Book Review ? ?International Family Law Practice? by Jeremy MorleyJeremy Morley?s book is aimed mainly at US family lawyers whose work, either frequently or occasionally, involves international elements.  It is not only an important resource for such US lawyers, but it is also a very helpful introduction to international issues for family lawyers from other countries, especially where US elements are involved...

Non-Hague International Child Abductions from Britain

Posted on July 29, 2010
This map, prepared by the U.K.'s Foreign & Commonwealth Office, shows those non-Hague countries with the highest numbers of new British child abduction cases. The countries are Pakistan, India, Russia, N. Cyprus, Nigeria, Malaysia, Thailand, the Phillippines, Ghana and the UAE.

Australia - An Intelligent Ruling on International Child Visitation

Posted on July 22, 2010
I had the great pleasure of lecturing in Tokyo this week on the Hague International Child Abduction Convention on a panel with The Hon. Justice Victoria Bennett of the Family Court of Australia. She was most impressive in discussing her insistence on sensible decision-making in international custody and abduction cases...

A Momentous and Disturbing Ruling in Europe on the Hague Abduction Convention

Posted on July 14, 2010
Jeremy D. MorleyThe Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (the ?ECHR?) has issued, just days ago, a major decision that ? at least at first blush ? appears likely to have an extremely significant impact on the interpretation and application of the Hague Abduction Convention within Europe and may well lead to a major split between the way that Convention is interpreted and applied within Europe versus the rest of the world...

When Global Families Fail by G.M. Filisko

Posted on June 30, 2010
This article appears in the July 2010 issue of the ABA Journal Christopher Savoie got the kind of telephone call that terrifies a parent on Aug. 12, 2008. The school where his two young children attended classes wanted him to know that they had not shown up that day...

The Supreme Court and the Hague Abduction Convention

Posted on June 30, 2010
This article appears in the July 2010 issue of the Matrimonial StrategistIn Abbott v. Abbott, No. 08-645, the U.S. Supreme Court has now issued its very first decision interpreting the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction...

Notes on Ghana and International Child Abduction

Posted on June 18, 2010
1.  Ghana has not signed the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.   2.  The U.S. State Department reported in 2009 that ?Many countries are not party to the Convention. Those with the highest incidence of reported child abductions from the United States include: China, Egypt, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates...

English Law: Unmarried Couples? Rights

Posted on June 10, 2010
Having just returned from a fabulous family wedding in the green fields of Cheshire, England I was struck by the sheer number of unmarried ?partners? at the wedding. Several of the unmarried couples had delightful children and long-standing, committed relationships...

EU Divorce Law Harmony - Ireland Objects

Posted on June 07, 2010
The European Union proposed scheme for harmonized divorce rules for international couples is moving forward, though without Irish participation. The EU?s Legal Affairs Committee has unanimously backed the proposal and has recommended that the full Parliament should authorize the twelve Member States that have so far agreed to the plan to start to implement it...

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