Orange County Divorce Lawyer Blog

This past Friday, a Milwaukee father was reunited with his daughter, whose mother abducted her to Japan shortly after the father filed for divorce back in 2008.

The father, Moises Garcia, met his daughter at O'Hare International Airport, where she arrived with her grandmother and Garcia's Japanese lawyer. Along with Sakar, there were several law enforcement officials, staff of the Japanese Consulate in Chicago, a psychologist, representatives of the U.S. State Department and advocates for other American parents whose children are being held in Japan, where officials have refused to sign a world convention about international child abduction.

The girl's return also freed her mother from jail in Milwaukee, where she had been held on contempt charges due to her interference with a prior child custody order. The mother was arrested on a Wisconsin warrant in Hawaii, where she had gone to renew her U.S. permanent resident status.

Garcia's ex-wife, Emiko Inoue, 43, is Japanese with legal U.S. residency while married to Garcia, a physician. She took her daughter to Japan in February 2008, shortly after Garcia had filed for divorce, and ignored court orders to return. Last month, Inoue pleaded no contest to interfering with child custody under an agreement that she would ultimately be convicted of a misdemeanor if her daughter was returned to Garcia, who has legal custody.

From an Orange County divorce lawyer's perspective, such child custody battles can be very traumatic and expensive. The father in this case had not seen his daugther since 2008 and miraculously, she was released back to her father after many years of court battle.

This case is also sets an example of what happens to parents who do not comply with court orders. The court can hold the person in contempt and throw them in jail or pay a fine.

For more information on any child custody or visitation issues you may have, contact an Orange County divorce lawyer for more information.

Source: Daughter in custody rift returns from Japan

An interesting article published by the Huffington Post details the problems California parents can experience when trying to collect California child support from an ex who is a member of one of the state's 103 recognized Native American nations. According to the investigation, some "tribal governments and businesses are shielding them from court-ordered payments, records and interviews show."

The investigation was conducted by California Watch, a project of the non-profit Center for Investigative Reporting. Quoting the Chief Judge of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, it notes that of the 100+ tribal governments in the state "only about 20... have official child support enforcement systems in place." State - and some tribal - officials express frustration with this situation, but note that since the tribes are sovereign nations (i.e. legally-speaking they are as separate from the United States as the governments of France or Japan) the state's options are limited.

The article notes that the exact extent of the problem is difficult to define, since the state "does not systematically track which businesses, tribal or otherwise, honor support orders." It is clear from the details offered in the article, however, that enforcement of California support orders can be an issue throughout the various tribal legal systems.

As an Orange County child custody and visitation lawyer these are the sort of complex, and often delicate, legal issues a Costa Mesa, Anaheim or Santa Ana family law attorney confronts almost every day. The fact that legal remedies are sometimes limited - and that achieving justice can be unusually complicated - in California international custody and child support cases does not mean that they don't exist.

Custodial parents deserve - and are legally entitled to - child support. As the Huffington Post article notes, tribal judges and elders do not dispute this. Indeed, they support it. As one tells California Watch: "Traditionally, Native peoples are taught that we take care of our children and elders. Taking care of our children means child support." An experienced Orange County family law attorney can help clients navigate the complexities of overlapping legal systems to get the support, and justice, they need.

Huffington Post/California Watch: Native American tribes' child support difficult to collect

In a child custody case that will certainly be of interest here in Orange County, Mexican parents expelled from the United States as illegal immigrants and the two American-born children they were forced to leave behind were recently reunited in Mexico City after a lengthy international child custody dispute, according to Fox News Latino.

We usually think of such disputes pitting parents of different nationalities against one another. In this case, however, the Mexican parents found themselves fighting county officials in Pennsylvania as part of a complex custody dispute. According to Fox, the couple had been living illegally in the US for about a decade when Pennsylvania authorities moved to take their four children and place them in foster care.

With the couple's two older children already in the foster care system they sought to return to Mexico with their two younger daughters who, unlike the older children, had been born in the United States and are, therefore, American citizens. The family were "detained by police in California as fugitives for not appearing in the Pennsylvania court." The network adds that the parents "were eventually released without charges and deported to Mexico without their daughters."

From there the couple faced the monumental task of battling for custody in US courts while being unable to return to the United States. With the assistance of the Mexican government they were eventually able to testify in the Pennsylvania court via Skype, and to win an order returning their children to them.

International custody disputes are always difficult but, from the perspective of an Orange County child custody lawyer, it is fair to say this case posed a number of unique challenges. Parental rights sometimes needs to be fought for in our courts, and the complexities that often accompany international custody disputes here in Southern California and elsewhere never make such legal battles any easier. It is heartening to see that the authorities hearing this case were sufficiently innovative both to allow the parents to testify using computer technology and to acknowledge the importance of parents' rights and the interest we all have in keeping families together.

Fox News Latino: Mexican Couple Wins Back Custody of Kids in U.S. Court Battle

A Los Angeles man is taking Japan Airlines to court claiming the carrier "wrongfully helped his Japanese ex-wife leave the United States with their son, despite court orders that the child remain in California," according to an account of the case by Agence France Presse.

The incident goes back to December 2008, AFP reports, when Scott Sawyer's ex-wife Kyoko took their two-year-old son to Japan in violation of a California child custody order. Sawyer has not seen his son since. His chances of doing so are particularly bleak because, as the news agency notes, Japan is one of the world's few wealthy countries that is not a signatory to a 1980 treaty requiring "the return of wrongfully held children to their usual countries of residence." In addition, Japanese courts rarely return children to foreign parents in the context of international child custody disputes.

At first glance this might seem to be mainly an issue of child custody, rather than of
California father's rights. What it spotlights, however, is the uneven enforcement of father's rights, particularly by the travel industry. As many divorced fathers can attest, international travel with one's children is rarely smooth unless the dad is carrying a letter from the child's mother authorizing the trip. Divorced women undertaking similar trips, however, are rarely asked to produce similar documentation.

Parental abduction has been a serious issue for years, and an especially complex one when cases cross national borders. Rules designed to protect the rights of parents need to be enforced evenhandedly, not in a way that favors parents of one gender. Sawyer's lawyer contends that neither Japan Airlines nor the travel agency that arranged the trip took appropriate precautions to protect both parents' rights, despite what the California family law attorney calls "a long list of red flags."

Fathers' rights are an important area of the law, but not the most common one. That is why it is crucial to select an Orange County fathers' rights attorney with extensive experience in this legal specialty. Divorced parents should be treated equally by the law when they travel. A Costa Mesa fathers' rights lawyer can help you ensure that your rights as a parent are respected.

AFP: US dad sues Japan Airlines after ex-wife left with son

An article last weekend in the San Mateo County Times serves as a reminder of the difficult situation many fathers here in California and elsewhere face when caught up in international child custody cases.

"Basically, I'm getting doors slammed in my face," Andoni Petroutsas told the paper as he detailed his struggle to enforce a California family law child custody order regarding his five-year-old son. Last August, a court in Santa Cruz issued an arrest warrant for Petroutsas' ex-wife after she failed to honor its earlier California child custody ruling. Because she is now living in Greece (where she has dual citizenship with the United States), however, the order is effectively unenforceable. "There are not strong extradition agreements between Greece and the U.S.," the paper notes.

According to the paper, the couple split up soon after their son's birth. The boy has shuttled back-and-forth between his mother and father ever since, with the mother living in Greece for much of that time. Last April a federal court awarded Petroutsas full custody, but allowed the mother to take the boy to Greece for a "final" six-week visit, ignoring warnings from Petroutsas that she was unlikely to send him back.

In an email to the newspaper, the mother defended herself, called the custody argument complicated and "raised questions about her ex-husband's behavior." She also noted that a Greek court has issued a ruling that is, essentially, a mirror image of the American court decision: awarding her custody on the grounds that Petroutsas abducted the boy to America. The paper notes that the US embassy in Athens has told Petroutsas it can be of little assistance since it is able mainly to facilitate help from the Greek authorities and the Greek court ruling makes such assistance highly unlikely.

International custody disputes involving alleged child abductions are among the most complex and stressful of California child custody cases. Fathers, in particular, often feel the custody system is stacked against them. In fighting for their California fathers' rights they also find, in cases like these, that their legal options can be even fewer in number than they would be were the dispute confined to the United States. An Orange County international custody dispute attorney who is both experienced and compassionate can be a wronged father's most important ally when embarking on this difficult legal road.

San Mateo County Times: Feds opt out of international custody dispute centered on boy from Capitola

A recent Associated Press article exploring the ever-complicated issue of international child custody cases touched off by parental abductions is shining new light on a problem that never seems to go away. As the piece notes, two of America's most important Asian allies - India and Japan - are among the nations that parents and State Department officials alike have the most trouble dealing with. Neither country, the news agency notes, is among the 80+ signatories to an international convention designed to add some certainty to international custody cases.

According to the article, the two countries account for 300 cases involving "more than 400 children, opened by the State Department since 1994." Here in California and elsewhere, many cases like these turn on international marriages that end in divorce, after which one parent takes the children back to his or her home country in defiance of an American court order.

With a new Congress scheduled to be sworn-in tomorrow there is a chance this issue may receive more attention. With Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives, Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey is scheduled to assume the chairmanship of a key subcommittee that examines human rights practices worldwide (the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health). Smith has long been the House's most outspoken advocate of the rights of American parents caught in child abduction and international child custody battles. According to AP, Smith plans to introduce legislation to create an Office of International Child Abductions within the State Department.

Child abductions can be among the most jarring results of a divorce in Los Angeles, San Bernardino County, here in Orange County or elsewhere in California. California and Orange County child custody issues should be settled within the law. Doing so requires not only strong legal representation, but the assistance of an Orange County child custody attorney with sufficient experience to alert clients to possible pitfalls of a settlement agreement, and to insist on safeguards that can prevent an otherwise Orange County unremarkable divorce from turning into an international child abduction case.

AP via The Japan Times: U.S. may up child custody pressure

I previously blogged about a few International Child Custody battles here. I also blogged about an Orange County child custody abduction involving Newport Beach native, Andrew Ko here.

Well, here is another international child custody story involving Boston native, Colin Bower. Bower has not seen his kids in more than a year after his ex-wife abducted his two kids to Egypt using forged passports after losing a custody battle. In fact, Bower has traveled to Egypt six times, enlisted the help of U.S. Senator John Kerry and the State Department and started a Facebook campaign in an effort to be reunited with 7-year-old Ramsay and 9-year-old Noor. This is truly heart wrenching. Despite all his efforts, Bower does not even know if he will ever get to see his kids again. This story is all too familiar.

As a background, Bower was granted sole legal and physical custody of Ramsay and Noor following his divorce from their mother Mirvat el Nady in 2008. Bower dropped the boys over to Nady for a visitation on August 9, 2009, with Bower scheduled to pick them up from her home a week later. However, on August 11, Nady boarded a flight with Ramsay and Noor using Egyptian passports bearing the name "Power" to get them on the plane.

When Bower went to pick the boys up, he received a phone call from a mobile phone. On his Facebook page, Bower says the caller told him he "would not be able to see or contact his children again if he did anything about the fact that [my] children were missing."

If you are a Southern California parent who finds him or herself in this tragic position, consulting with a Los Angeles or Orange County child custody lawyer at the earliest opportunity is imperative. Fighting for your rights in California family court can be difficult, especially for fathers. An Orange County father's rights attorney is an essential ally as you navigate our complex, and often confusing, legal system. With international custody cases sometimes taking years to resolve, it is important to have a California custody attorney who will fight for you working on your behalf from Day One.

Source: Father: Ex-Wife Smuggled our Kids to Egypt

Unlike the rights a non-custodial parent would get here in an Orange County or Los Angeles County court system, Japan's custody laws are vastly different. In Japan, 100% custody is typically awarded to the mother, even in divorces involving Japanese parents. It is most certainly the custody battle from hell -- a battle that's impossible for a father to win.

This is precisely the case involving Christopher Savoie, whose ex-wife, Noriko took their two children from the United States to her home in Japan eight months ago in violation of a Tennessee court order. Because Japanese law gives sole custody to the mother and does not recognize international treaties upholding parental custody rights, Savoie may never see his two children until they are adults.

In the past 10 years, Savoie said, 231 children have been abducted from America to Japan. Since 1952, when Japan returned to self-governance after World War II, no child taken to the county by its Japanese mother has ever returned.

"Japan hasn't returned one child -- ever," Savoie said.

While the House resolution has no force of law, Savoie hopes that Japan will update its laws if sufficient pressure is put on the government.

These international custody battles are becoming more and more prevalant. I previously blogged about Orange County's Andrew Ko here. Regardless, if you are facing an imminent custody battle, contact a reputable Orange County attorney to learn more about your rights.

Source: Dad: Japan a custody "black hole"

The Supreme Court ruled Monday, May 17, 2010, that a Texas mother illegally moved her son from Chile to the United States during a custody dispute with the boy's British father in the first test of the boundaries of an international child custody treaty.

The high court ruled that the Hague Convention on child abduction -- aimed at preventing a parent from taking children to other countries without the other parent's permission -- demands that the child goes back to the South American country.

However, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the 6-3 decision, said Jacquelyn Abbott can argue in lower courts in the United States for an exception to the international treaty that could allow her son to stay in the U.S.

The child, born in Hawaii, is a U.S. citizen.

Timothy Abbott accused his estranged wife of violating a court order in Chile by taking their 10-year-old son to Texas without the father's consent.

Timothy Abbott asked an American court to order the child returned to Chile, based on the treaty. The Chilean courts had given him visitation rights and the authority to consent before the other parent takes the child to another country, known as "ne exeat rights".

The mother argued that she has exclusive custody of the boy, and that U.S. courts are powerless under the treaty to order his return.

A federal judge acknowledged that taking the son to the United States violated the Chilean court order but sided with the mother, and the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed.

The Supreme Court reversed the appeals court decision.

"To interpret the Convention to permit an abducting parent to avoid a return remedy, even when the other parent holds a ne exeat right, would run counter to the Convention's purpose of deterring child abductions by parents who attempt to find a friendlier forum for deciding custodial disputes," Kennedy said.

The United States is among more than 80 countries that follow the treaty, and the Obama administration had sided with Timothy Abbott.

He "has the ability to decide whether or not the child may be taken outside of the country of habitual residence, and thus the right to share in the decision as to where the child will reside," Solicitor General Elena Kagan wrote in court briefs.

Kagan now has been nominated by President Barack Obama for the Supreme Court.

Justices John Paul Stevens, Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer dissented from the court's opinion.

Stevens said the boy's father never had custody rights, only visitation rights. That means that the father cannot determine where the boy lives, he said.

"A parent without 'rights of custody,' therefore, does not have the power granted by (the treaty) to compel the child's return to his or her country of habitual residence," Stevens said.

Kennedy said that an exception to the Hague Convention deals with the safety of the parent.

"If, for example, Ms. Abbott could demonstrate that returning to Chile would put her own safety at risk, the court could consider whether this is sufficient to show that the child too would suffer 'psychological harm' or be placed in an intolerable situation," Kennedy said.

Lower courts can also take into account the child's wishes if he is mature enough to express them, Kennedy said.

An Orange County child custody attorney can assist you in any international custody disputes you may be facing. Contact an Orange County family law attorney for more information.

Source: Justices: Child Should have stayed in Chile

An important Supreme Court decision issued last week may have implications for Orange County and other Southern California parents involved in Orange County child custody cases that stretch across borders.

By a vote of 6-3 the court overturned rulings by both a federal district court and a circuit court and held that an American mother acted illegally when she brought her son to the United States from Chile in violation of a Chilean court order, according to the Associated Press. The child, born in Hawaii, is, like his mother, a US citizen. The boy's father is British, but the family lived in Chile and the parents were divorced there. Their divorce order gave the mother custody. While the father had only visitation rights, he also benefitted from a Chilean court order giving him "the authority to consent before the other parent takes the child to another country," the AP reports.

It was this violation that the father sought to enforce in US courts, citing the Hague Convention on Child Abduction, a treaty ratified by more than 80 countries, including the United States. In a dissent Justice John Paul Stevens, who plans to retire from the court this summer, argued that since the father does not have formal custodial rights the treaty offered him no relief. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, however, countered that "deterring child abductions by parents who attempt to find a friendlier forum for deciding custodial disputes" is precisely what the treaty was designed to prevent.

Custody disputes are never easy, and child custody disputes that stretch across borders are often unusually complicated. Like most communities within a few hundred miles of the border we here in Orange County have more than our share of international custody issues. Finding an Orange County child custody visitation lawyer with expertise in international child custody issues is especially important if a divorcing couple are of different nationalities, or if you fear a former spouse may flee to a foreign country with your children.

AP: Justices: Child should have stayed in Chile

National Law Journal: International Abduction Treaty Trumps Parental Rights, Says U.S. Supreme Court