General legal information furnished as a service of Fort Lauderdale / West Palm Beach family law attorney Janet Langjahr
In the criminal courts, the defendant can insist on speedy justice.
Not so the litigants in family court, which often operates in a virtual time warp.
Husband and Wife live in North Carolina. They have two children.
Wife files for divorce.
North Carolina Court grants permission for Wife to relocate to Rhode Island, but allows for visitation by Husband each month in both states.
The Wife reportedly tries to block Husband’s visitation and cut Husband out of the children’s lives by accusing Husband of everything from harsh discipline of the children to neglecting them to watch pornography on the internet.
Wife also obtains an injunction for protection against domestic violence, or order of protection, against Husband - in Rhode Island.
Not buying it, the North Carolina Court orders Wife to return with the children to live in North Carolina.
Unhappy with the North Carolina ruling, Wife tries to do an end run around the North Carolina courts and seeks emergency jurisdiction in Rhode Island.
Which Rhode Island’s family courts exercise … repeatedly.
Having apparently exhausted his remedies in North Carolina, Husband appeals in Rhode Island.
And Husband wins …
A mere seven years later.
The reasons Husband wins are because:
Read more in this Providence Journal news blog post: R.I. Supreme Court: Mother, children must return to N.C.
Haitian immigrant Mother thinks 6 year old Daughter is possessed by evil spirits.
Mother resolves to rid Daughter of them. With a voodoo ritual.
Mother allegedly pours rum on the floor in a circle surrounding Daughter and then pours some more on Daughter’s head and then … sets fire to Daughter.
When Daughter is engulfed in flames, Grandmother puts the fire out with water.
Then Mother and Grandmother simply bathe and put Daughter to bed, without any medical treatment.
Not until the next day, at a relative’s urging, does Mother take Daughter to a hospital.
Daughter has second and third degree burns over twenty-five percent of her body.
Mother is charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
Mother denies her guilt and tells police the incident was an accident caused by Daughter startling her while she was boiling rice.
Mother also denies awareness of Daughter’s burns.
Mother blames Grandmother for putting Daughter to bed without medical treatment.
Grandmother is charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.
Daughter, still in the hospital in a medically induced coma, is now in child protective custody.
Daughter told her foster caregiver what happened.
Neighbors reportedly heard Mother and Grandmother yelling at Daughter to remain down on her knees for hours on end on various occasions.
It does not appear that any of the neighbors ever called the child abuse hotline or the police to intervene on Daughter’s behalf.
Washington state Mother and Father, both Indian immigrants, marry and have Son.
As part of their divorce, the Court permits Son to travel to India with either parent.
Mother allegedly takes three year old Son to India.
Nearly a year ago.
And Mother and Son reportedly have not returned to the US since.
Father is entitled to court-ordered visitation.
And, since the abduction, Father has been awarded custody of Son.
But both orders are just so much paper, without practical effect.
Because India is not a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
And India is indifferent to US court orders in family law cases.
Even the custodial interference charges filed against Mother in Washington state have no impact.
Practically speaking, Father has no legal recourse for return of his son.
Read more in this Kent [WA] Reporter article: A Father’s Day he won’t see: International child abduction devastates former Kent man.
A Texas surgeon (Mother) has been ordered to produce her eight year old Daughter in a Texas court.
The Mother is feared to have left the country with the Daughter.
Mother is now wanted on a state charge of interference with child custody and a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
The Court awarded the child’s father (Father), a veterinarian, legal fees and investigation expenses to help him to locate and return Daughter to the US.
Since the couple divorced, Father moved around in an effort to keep up with his ex so he could be near Daughter.
Until Mother said she wanted to move to Mexico or Costa Rica.
Once Daughter is located, Father plans to file papers in the country where she is found to secure her return to the US.
In the meantime, the Texas Court has awarded Father sole custody of Daughter … and prohibited contact with Mother pending further order of the Court.
Read more in this San Antonio [TX] Express-News article: Fugitive Boerne mom ordered to bring back daughter and this San Antonio WOAI TV news article: Update: Father given legal custody of missing daughter.
A child welfare agency is breathing down their necks, threatening to remove their children.
They aren’t beating or starving their children.
Or leaving them unattended.
Why then?
The agency calls it medical neglect.
In one recent high profile case, hardly the first such case, the family refuses conventional medical treatment for religious reasons.
The child has cancer. A kind with an excellent prognosis with chemotherapy.
But the family’s religion frowns upon such treatment, preferring alternative, natural treatments.
And the boy and his mother go on the run … for a time.
When the boy’s condition worsens, they give in to the necessity of conventional treatment.
And the boy is allowed to stay with his parents.
In a second, lower profile case, a 14 year old child is obese, on the magnitude of 555 pounds.
To avoid a court hearing, this mother and son also go on the run.
And the mother is arrested for custodial interference.
Of course, it isn’t healthy for a child - or adult - to weigh over 500 pounds.
But is the child neglected? Should the child be removed from his or her family?
Are you following your pediatrician’s recommendations?
To the letter?
Is your child’s other parent keeping track?
Read more in this NewsWeek article: What Makes a Parent Negligent?
Minnesota Boy removed from parents’ home and placed in foster care on a child welfare agency petition alleging that Boy needed protection or services.
Over two years later, still no resolution to Boy’s case.
Boy’s parents have had only supervised visitation with Boy since case began two years ago.
Why?
Boy’s parents’ first child died a death that was ruled a homicide.
But neither parent was ever charged in the death.
No one was charged in the death.
Reportedly because there was insufficient evidence as to which parent, or whether both parents acting together, were the aggressor. Or whether a third party was involved.
At a trial to terminate Boy’s parents’ parental rights, the court did in fact terminate their rights.
On appeal, the intermediate level appellate court reversed the termination due to insufficient evidence.
The Boy’s parents are now seeking his immediate return from foster care.
But the file has to come back from the appeals court first.
Then there is the hair-splitting question of whether the child protection investigation remains open, despite the reversal and closing of the termination of parental rights case.
Arguably an end run around the appeals court. Arguably not.
Read more in this St Cloud [MN] Times article: Custody of boy remains in limbo.
The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which determines which country has jurisdiction in international child custody disputes, appears to be enjoying something of a resurgence.
Two long holdouts against entering the Convention are reportedly … considering signing it.
Carefully …
First, there is Japan - where, even among Japanese couples, the parent awarded primary custody is, in essence, the sole parent and the other parent is shut out of their child’s life and parental kidnapping is a rejected concept.
More and more children of mixed Japanese heritage are being denied any access whatsoever to one of their parents where there is an international child custody dispute.
Then, there is Russia. From which country a Finnish diplomat recently allegedly removed a five year old boy of dual Russian / Finnish citizenship, illegally according to the Russian view.
Read more in
One might not think of a legal dispute over jurisdiction with our neighbor to the north as being an international jurisdiction battle.
But …
Canadian Husband and American Wife live in British Columbia.
Couple divorce.
Husband is awarded sole custody of Daughter by Canadian court.
Wife moves to Nebraska.
Husband and Wife work out timesharing and Wife has Daughter over much of the summer.
Then Wife accuses Husband of abusing Daughter.
Husband denies it, backed by a lie detector test and lack of criminal charges.
Wife retains Daughter and Husband doesn’t see her for two years.
Wife hasn’t been able to transfer jurisdiction from Canada to Nebraska, but neither has Nebraska honored the Canadian custody order and ordered that Daughter be returned to Husband.
Wife does succeed in getting Nebraska to pass legislation to the effect that Nebraska need not honor custody orders from outside the US.
One must speculate that the constitutionality of that statute will be tested soon.
Nebraska may have rejected the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
Husband is pursuing political intervention by the Canadian government.
Some Canadians are concerned that it isn’t safe to allow visitation in the US anymore.
Read more in this [British Columbia, Canada] Richmond Review article: Richmond educator fights for daughter.
Florida does not allow adoptions by a homosexual couple.
Washington state does.
A lesbian couple living in Washington state each give birth to a child.
And each partner adopts the other’s biological child as permitted under Washington law.
Lesbian couple relocates to Florida.
And eventually breaks up.
At first, they agree to share legal and physical custody of both children, so that the children can spend most of their time together.
The next year, however, one of the couple “goes straight” and becomes engaged to marry a man.
Who wants to adopt his fiance’s biological child.
At that point, when the child is about 9 years old, her mother denies any timesharing to her former partner.
The frustrated partner brings suit to determine parental responsibility and timesharing.
At trial, the court denies the frustrated partner any parental responsibility or timesharing with the denying partner’s biological child.
On appeal to an intermediate level appellate court, that ruling is reversed.
The Florida appellate court holds that Florida has to give full faith and credit to the Washington state adoption and the rights and obligations flowing from it.
Without regard to Florida’s law and policy against gay adoption.
The birth mother intends to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.
Read more in this Courthouse News Service article: Fla. Must Recognize Gay Adoptions, Court Rules and this Sarasota Herald Tribune article: Adoption by Sarasota lesbian is upheld on appeal.
Husband is convicted of sexually assaulting Wife.
Wife is terrified that Husband will kill her.
Husband allegedly threatens to dismember her.
Wife flees to Australia with their two Children.
But the Australian courts rule that England has child custody jurisdiction under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
Wife returns to England with Children.
Police are summoned to intervene in domestic clashes several times.
Police give Wife a “panic alarm”.
About a year after Wife’s return, Husband allegedly drags her from a car and stabs her to death … in front of her own mother and their Children.
Just a few hours after she begged British police for protection.
While she was in the midst of trying to flee from Husband again.
Husband is convicted of murder.
He will serve at least eighteen years in confinement.
Read more in this Brisbane [Australia] Times article: Young mother fled to Sydney to save her life.
Mother, Grandparents and 3 year old Child go to mall.
Mother and Child become separated from Grandparents.
Mother and Child leave mall.
Amber Alert goes out.
Grandparents have legal custody of Child.
Mother is only allowed supervised visitation with Child.
Warrants for Mother’s arrest for kidnapping are issued.
Mother is suspected to have abducted Child to Georgia.
Child is not believed to be in danger of violence from Mother.
But Child is still missing.
Read more in this Mooresville [NC] Tribune article: Warrants issued for mother of missing 3-year-old.
In one North Carolina county, the number of children in foster care has gone down, pretty dramatically, over the last several years.
How did they accomplish it?
The child welfare agency there has been experimenting with several preventative, early intervention programs, using government and charitable funds grants.
Each program or service has a different focus, such as:
Between 2002 and 2009, the number of children in foster care in this North Carolina county shrank from 573 to 396.
Read more in this [Greensboro, NC] News & Record article: Editorial: Keeping families whole.
Canadian Husband and Wife separate and later divorce.
Wife gets custody of their three Boys, who are all close with each other.
About 10 years after Husband and Wife’s separation, Boys choose to move in with Husband. Boys are about 10, 12 and 17 years old at that time.
Boys allege that Wife is physically and verbally abusive toward them.
Wife insists Husband has alienated the Boys from her. For what it’s worth, a social worker agrees.
The oldest boy reaches 18 years of age.
The trial court orders the two younger boys into treatment for parental alienation.
The boys reportedly resist the “treatment”. Sometimes referred to as “deprogramming”.
The two younger boys are placed in foster care.
Psychiatrist concludes the boys have no psychiatric disorder, recommends suspending treatment for alienation, and recommends resuming contact between the younger boys, their older brother and Husband.
Court disregards psychiatrist’s professional opinion, orders that younger boys continue treatment for alienation and continues to bar contact with older brother and Husband.
Five months later, the two younger boys remain in foster care.
With case in limbo and contact between brothers still prohibited, older brother decides to seek custody of his younger brothers.
The court holds that the older brother has standing.
Predictably, Wife appeals.
Read more in this Toronto Star article: Custody battle ‘beyond tragic’.
Russian Mother and French Father divorce in France, where they have been living.
French court awards custody of their then 1 year old Child to Father.
Mother returns to former Soviet Union.
Child is reportedly abducted back and forth multiple times over last two years since divorce, most recently allegedly by Mother, to former Soviet Union.
During a previous abduction, Child did not see Father for 10 months and knew Mother’s new partner as her father.
What of the future?
Father opposes sharing joint legal custody with Mother but is not opposed to Mother having two months’ (or even equal) timesharing with Child in the former Soviet Union … as long as the Child’s return to France is guaranteed, he has ongoing video and phone contact with Child while she is in the former Soviet Union and Child attends a French-speaking school.
Meanwhile, Mother is under arrest and being detained in Hungary for up to 40 days pending a request for extradition from France.
But Father does not want to see Mother jailed for kidnapping Child.
Read more in this [Russian] RIA Novosti article: French father dismisses joint custody, in favor of visitation.
Mother and Father have Baby.
Mother lives in North Carolina with Baby.
Father, a member of the armed forces, removes Baby and brings Baby to live with him on base in California.
Implication is that Baby may be at risk with Mother.
There is no information as to whether a court ever determined custody or whether Mother ever sought Baby’s return.
Some time later, seven month old Baby dies while in Father’s care.
Of blunt force trauma to head and abdomen.
Father arrested for child abuse causing death.
Father faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Read more in this [Barstow, CA] Desert Dispatch article:Former soldier charged in fatal child abuse case goes to trial.
Georgia Mother and Father separate.
Mother reports Father for child abuse.
Mother’s allegations are determined to be unfounded.
Father is awarded sole custody of their two Children in divorce.
While she has visitation with the Children, Mother reportedly flees.
First to Texas, where she has relatives.
And again reports Father for child abuse.
Texas authorities decline to take Mother into custody despite knowing of arrest warrant.
Then, allegedly, to Mexico, where she is from.
Authorities are looking for Mother in connection with federal charges of international parental kidnapping and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and state charges of felony interference with child custody.
If caught and convicted, Mother faces incarceration for up to five years.
Read more in this Jacksonville [FL] Times-Union article: Kids believed hidden in Mexico.
Today, mothers celebrate Mother’s Day with their children.
A foster mother and adoptive mother is among them.
While she is celebrating Mother’s Day, she also celebrates the selflessness of the birth mothers of her adopted children.
And she wishes those birth mothers a Happy Mother’s Day as well.
Read more in this Examiner editorial: Happy Mother’s Day to my children’s birthmoms and this Woonsocket Call article: There’s plenty of love to go around on Mother’s Day.
Some Nebraska legislators are working to change the state’s child custody laws.
Current law is couched in terms of the best interests of the children.
But some say that test leads to conflict … and the court unnecessarily inquiring into which parent is the better parent.
Advocates for changing the law contend that current law almost always translates into the mother being awarded primary custody in Nebraska.
Proposed legislation would presume that both parents are equally fit and presume that both parents should have equal decision-making and equal timesharing with their children.
That means that if one parent is not fit for equal timesharing, the burden is on the other parent to prove it, sometimes by clear and convincing evidence. Almost as tough as proving beyond a reasonable doubt, the state’s burden in criminal cases.
Proponents of the bill favor both parents being able to share their children.
The proposed legislation is not expected to pass anytime soon.
Although fathers’ rights groups tend to favor such legislation, advocates against domestic violence maintain that such laws too often place children in the custody of abusers.
This same battle is or has been fought in a number of other states.
Read more in this Nebraska TV article: State Child Custody Law: 50-50 Split?.
Father has custody of Daughter.
Father marries Stepmother.
Stepmother is only mother Daughter has known since she was three or younger.
Daughter is now 32.
Stepmother recently became ill.
Daughter decides to formalize what she feels.
Stepmother adopts Daughter.
Stepmother becomes Mother.
More than half of the states in the US permit an adult to be adopted.
Stepparent adoptions, in particular, are fairly common.
When the prospective stepchild adoptee is a minor, however, the consent of the other biological parent is typically required.
So, many such adoptions are deferred until the child becomes a legal adult, at which time consent of the other biological parent is no longer required.
Read more in this Beaumont [TX] Enterprise article: Adoption makes 31-year mother-daughter relationship official.
A 2 year old central Florida Child was slowly beaten to death … allegedly by her adoptive Mother.
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) believes that Mother must have been mentally ill, although never diagnosed.
Mother was arrested on first degree murder and child abuse and neglect.
DCF’s investigation into the Child’s death revealed that her maternal grandmother was aware of Mother’s sometimes abusive behavior toward Child but did nothing.
DCF concluded that Mother and her husband were a threat to any child in their custody.
Mother and her husband have five other adopted children under the age of eight.
The other children were placed in foster care.
So much for the preadoption home study …
Read more in this Ocala Star-Banner article: DCF report documents tot’s severe beating, troubled mom.
A disturbing case …
Pennsylvania man’s home is burned down … with him in it.
Neighbor-witness accuses seven year old Boy.
Police interrogate Boy - and eventually secure confession.
But Boy is too young to prosecute under Pennsylvania law.
So child welfare agency (Agency) wins custody of the Boy on an emergency basis … reportedly without any allegations of abuse or neglect.
The Agency commits Boy to a residential juvenile treatment center.
Boy is moved from facility to facility over time.
Five years later, Boy is in a facility in Texas.
Prior to Agency’s involvement, Boy was diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder. Nothing else.
Agency has not acted to terminate Mother’s parental rights in all this time, but neither has Mother enjoyed normal parental rights and access to Boy.
The Agency’s on-paper goal remains reunification, although Mother has been able to see Boy only once since his confinement due to the distance involved.
Agency has the power to confine Boy until he is 21 years old.
Mother and Grandmother are attempting to have Boy evaluated by an independent psychologist, in the hopes that it will cast doubt on the Agency’s assessment of Boy and lead to his freedom and return home.
Read more in this [Wilkes-Barre, PA] Times Leader article: Juvenile arsonist or victim?
Numerous illegal immigrants work in a food processing company in Missouri.
Immigration authorities conduct a raid there.
136 illegal immigrants are taken into custody.
One Mother is sentenced to jail, with deportation likely to follow.
American couple seeks to adopt Mother’s Baby.
Missouri Court terminates Mother’s parental rights to Baby based on abandonment of Baby.
The Court finds that Mother hasn’t contributed to the Baby’s support or tried to visit with Baby … while in jail.
Although Mother may have received two letters from the Court and the adoptive parents’ attorney, Mother doesn’t read English and does not have an attorney for her custody claim.
Mother has not known where Baby is.
Every time Mother has gone to Court, Mother has tried to find out about Baby.
Terminations of parental rights of mothers like Mother are occurring with increasing frequency, with babies like Baby being adopted by Americans.
Read more in this New York Times article: After Losing Freedom, Some Immigrants Face Loss of Custody of Their Children.
Canadian Mother allegedly alienates Children from Father, her ex-husband.
Ontario Superior Court then enters a “series” of orders intended to repair the relationship between Father and Children.
Mother does not comply with Court’s orders.
Court holds Mother in contempt and concludes that Mother’s conduct constitutes “emotional abuse” of Children.
The Court modifies custody of Children so that Father has sole custody of Children … and Mother is prohibited from having any contact with Children.
Court orders intensive therapy for Children to combat parental alienation syndrome.
Court imposes fine on Mother of $35,000.
Father’s attorney commends the punishment as clarifying that court orders must be “taken seriously” or violators will suffer the consequences of their actions.
Read more in this Guelph [Ontario, Canada] Mercury article: Toronto mother, 42, fined more than $35,000 in messy domestic dispute.
I have posted more than once recently about the impact of the recession on noncustodial parents struggling with child support obligations.
Their situations are tough, but parents will not lose custody of or access to their children due to unemployment.
Millions of American grandparents raise their grandchildren, because their children are unable to do so.
If they can’t support their grandchildren, though, they may well lose custody and/or guardianship of them.
In this recession-weakened economy, older workers who lose their jobs are having an especially difficult time replacing them … sometimes eventually giving up.
In addition to the stresses of prolonged unemployment that one might expect, those raising grandchildren bear the additional fear that they will be taken away from them and placed in foster care with strangers.
What assistance there is for grandparent-custodians is rapidly being depleted by those in need because of the weak economy.
Many grandparent caregivers could simply become foster parents to their grandchildren. That would provide them with greater financial assistance from the government for raising their grandchildren.
But it would also put the grandchildren “into the system” and subject them all to monitoring and intrusions.
Read more in this Wall Street Journal article: ‘Grandfamilies’ Come Under Pressure.
Florida birth Mother gives her twin babies (Twins) up for adoption.
Mother maintains she signed adoption papers under duress resulting from sleep deprivation.
Twins are adopted by North Carolina couple.
Adoption is open, according to contract, with Mother being involved with the Twins after the adoption.
Then Mother allegedly takes off to Canada with the Twins.
Mother is charged with kidnapping the Twins.
Mother’s parental rights to Twins are terminated.
Now Mother is seeking visitation with the Twins from a North Carolina court.
The trial court ruling apparently turned quickly on the fact that Mother’s parental rights had been terminated.
Mother is pressing to have a full hearing despite that.
Mother characterizes the case as a custody dispute.
The adoptive North Carolina couple characterize it as a contract dispute.
The North Carolina appellate court has yet to rule.
Read more in:
Virginia Mother and Father conceive a Child.
Mother and Father split up before Father learns of pregnancy.
Years pass.
Mother introduces Child to Father.
Father is now married to another woman.
Father seeks visitation.
Mother and Father engage in bitter court battle.
And then the Court reportedly awards Father sole custody.
Mother starts Children Without a Voice, an advocacy group for women who have lost custody to their children’s father.
Mother allegedly decides to hire a hit man to murder Father and get him out of the picture.
Except the hit man Mother pays is an undercover law enforcement officer.
Mother is arrested for solicitation to commit murder … and attempted murder.
Mother pleads guilty to attempted murder, and the remaining charges are dropped.
Mother faces two terms of incarceration for life, plus a $200,000 fine.
Of course, Mother still won’t have custody of Child.
And Mother’s visitation, if any, will be less than optimal.
Read more in this Culpeper [VA] Star-Exponent article: Woman guilty of plotting murder.
It’s very common for divorcing parents to be ordered to attend a parenting class for divorcing parents.
Never-married parents may be required to attend the same class, but they frequently feel that it “doesn’t apply to them”.
Ohio’s Stark County is attempting to address that program flaw by instituting a separate class for never-married parents.
The course emphasizes communications skills and appreciating the importance of both parents to a child.
The new program provides mediators and a psychologist to educate parents on “psychological wellness for kids”.
It is hoped that the new program will benefit the growing numbers of children of unmarried parents as well as the unmarried parents themselves.
In future years, the new course will be funded through court fees.
Read more in this Stark County [OH] Press-News article: New parenting program offered to never married parents who are separating.
Illinois Father and Mother split up.
They have two children together.
Mother wins sole custody, having accused Father of abusing her and the children and having obtained short-lived protective orders against Father during their divorce case.
But Father later wrested custody away from Mother, because Mother allegedly moved the children to a house without heat, electricity or running water, which was infested with bugs, and their children allegedly went unbathed for days on end.
Father’s current wife wrote of the stormy relationship between Mother and Father on a social networking website.
Father and his current wife were recently found by Mother, murdered in their home. Their baby was unharmed.
At the time of Father’s death, he was scheduled to square off against Mother in Court on their custody case soon.
Given the allegations made by Father before his death, it is unknown and unclear whether Mother will regain custody of their children or whether the children will go into protective custotdy.
Read more in this Chicago Herald News article: Slain couple was in custody dispute.
Mexican Mother and Father live in the US for a number of years before Father is deported.
Their daughter (Daughter) is born in Mexico in 1996.
When Mother and Father separate in 2001, Mother returns to the US. Mother alleges that Father committed domestic violence.
Father contends that Mother wrongfully kept Daughter in the US beyond her agreed few months’ stay in 2002.
Although they have both been here for years now, technically, neither Mother nor Daughter are in this country legally.
Over four years after Mother allegedly wrongfully retained Daughter in the US, Father applies for return of Daughter to Mexico under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. It is not clear why Father waited so long to act.
A federal trial court holds that Daughter should be returned to Father in Mexico for a custody determination there.
On appeal, the intermediate level appellate court reverses, based on an exception in the Hague Convention where, due to the lengthy passage of time, the child in question has become well settled in his or her new location, so that return would only cause the child further distress.
By all accounts, Daughter is well-adjusted and doing well in the US.
Some disagree with the appellate court’s ruling because none of the family is a US citizen or legal resident.
As with all decisions under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, this ruling is a not a determination of custody, or in which country Daughter will ultimately live. It just decides which country has jurisdiction to determine custody, and where the child will remain until custody is determined.
It is likely that the appellate Court was heavily influenced by Daughter’s protracted stay in this country before Father ever chose to file an application for her return. There is nothing to suggest that Father’s delay resulted from ignorance of where Daughter was abducted to.
Read more in
Maine Husband and Wife are engaged in child custody battle.
Wife accuses Husband of raping and sodomizing her, charged as multiple counts of gross sexual assault.
Defense counsel wants to introduce the custody dispute into evidence as a motive for Wife to falsely accuse Husband of sexually assaulting her. The defense also wants to introduce evidence that Husband sought an order of protection against Wife.
The trial court excludes any such evidence by the defense.
At the same time, the prosecution reportedly repeatedly denies the existence of a custody dispute to the jury.
Husband is convicted of some but not all of the charged counts of gross sexual assault, a felony punishable by up to thirty years’ confinement.
Husband moves for a new trial, contending that his trial was unfair and that he was denied due process for the above and additional reasons.
The Husband is granted a new trial.
The prosecution is contemplating appealing that ruling.
Read more in this Ellsworth [ME] American article: New Trial for Man Convicted Of Wife Rape.
Interestingly, comments posted by members of this small town, local community uniformly suggest that the article contains inaccuracies and bias in favor of Husband.
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