A law firm and attorney helped a company settle a lawsuit over a faulty product. The company had to pay money to the people who were affected by the product. If a child is taken to another country by one of their parents, the other parent can use the Hague Convention to try to get the child back. The Hague Convention is a set of rules that many countries follow to help decide where a child should live. It’s meant to stop parents from taking their children to different countries to find a court that will agree with them. The Hague Convention doesn’t decide who should have custody of the child, just where the child should live. If all the rules of the Hague Convention are followed, the parent who didn’t take the child can ask for them to be sent back. If a parent’s child is wrongfully taken to another country, the parent can ask a court in the US to order the child to be returned. To do this, the parent must show that the child usually lives in the US, that the parent had custody rights when the child was taken, and that the taking was against the parent’s rights. If the parent can prove all of this, the child must be sent back to the US, unless the person who took the child can show that there is a good reason why the child should stay. This is called a Hague case. It’s up to the parent to prove that the child was taken against their rights. The main thing the court looks at when deciding where a child usually lives is the child’s past experience, not what the parents want in the future. For example, in one case, the court decided the child’s usual home was in Italy because that’s where they were born, went to school, and had friends. Even though the parents talked about taking the child to the U.S., that didn’t matter. Another parent argued that the children’s home was in the U.S. because the family had some connections there, but the court didn’t agree. Just because the parents have ties to two different countries doesn’t mean the child does. Simply put, when a child is taken out of their home country without one parent’s permission, the court needs to look at the laws of that country to see if the parent’s custody rights were violated. The court also looks at whether the parent was actively involved in the child’s life before they were taken. The court shouldn’t make up its own rules about what counts as being involved in a child’s life, and should leave those decisions to the courts in the child’s home country. In the case of Friedrich II, the court ruled that just because a parent may not have shown as much attention or concern for their child during a difficult time, it doesn’t mean they have given up their parental rights. The court also said that custody disputes should be decided in the country where the child normally lives, and not in a different country. Once it’s determined that a parent has been involved in the child’s life in some way, the court shouldn’t question how well they did it, because that’s for the custody dispute to decide, not the court. If a parent takes a child away from their home without permission, it’s considered wrongful if it goes against the custody rights of the other parent. This can happen if one parent moves to Florida and files for divorce or custody without the other parent being able to defend themselves in court. The law says that the parent who took the child has to pay for the costs of bringing them back, like transportation and lodging. If a child is taken to another country without permission, the court will make the person who took the child pay for the costs of getting the child back, like legal fees and travel expenses. The court will also accept photocopies of documents from the child’s home country without needing them to be officially authenticated. The Hague Convention and ICARA prevent parents from taking children to another country to gain custody. Courts must quickly return children to their home country for custody disputes. This helps stop parents from moving children to a different country to get custody more easily. This ensures that custody claims can only be pursued in the right place and children will be returned to their home state. This text includes references to legal cases and laws related to international child abduction. It also mentions a lawyer who specializes in family law and has experience in handling abduction cases. The column is submitted on behalf of the Family Law Section. The purpose of the section is to promote the principles of duty and service to the public, improve the administration of justice, and advance the science of jurisprudence.
Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/international-parental-child-abduction-part-i-the-petitioners-case/
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