By Jeremy D. Morley* 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. In such situations lawyers have a responsibility to consider […]
Jeremy D. Morley On 24 February 2017, Jamaica deposited its instrument of accession to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Jamaica is the 97th Contracting State to the Convention. The Convention will enter into force for Jamaica on May 1, 2017, but it will not have effect with respect to other […]
The U.S. State Department has now issued its 2023 Action Report on International Child Abduction. Peru has been declared by the State Department to be non-compliant with the Hague Abduction Convention for the last nine years. The State Department has reported to Congress that within the past year it has taken the following actions in […]
Time Magazine, March 7, 2011 Like 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. But when Savoie went to get them weeks later, he was […]
Pursuant to Section 3 of the Divorce Act 2005 of St. Kitts and Nevis, “The Court may hear and determine any Divorce proceedings if either spouse has been ordinarily resident in Saint Christopher and Nevis; for at least one year immediately preceding the commencement of the Divorce proceedings.” The phrase “ordinary resident” has been interpreted […]
Jeremy Morley will speak this Thursday, October 29 at 11am ET in a webinar, sponsored by the American Bar Association, entitled, “All in the Family: COVID-19 Impact on Cross-Border Marriage, Divorce and Custody.” As the pandemic and its associated restrictions have remained largely in place, divorces appear to be on the rise, child custody battles […]
Jeremy D. Morley The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has prepared a manga-style booklet explaining the Hague Abduction Convention, which it has sent to Japanese embassies and consulates. Much of the booklet is actually well done. However, some have claimed that the booklet is racist. The cover appears to show a Western-looking man beating an […]
A major debate is under way as to the future of the “grave risk of harm defense” in Hague Convention international child abduction cases. The move is spearheaded by those who believe that the Hague Convention discriminates against expatriate mothers who are victims of domestic violence and who return to their countries of origin with […]
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 […]
Connecticut has passed “An Act Concerning the Relocation of Parents Having Custody of Minor Children,” to be effective October 1, 2006, that significantly changes the law of parental relocation in Connecticut. The Act is a result of the decision of the Connecticut Supreme Court in Ireland v. Ireland, 246 Conn. 413, 428, 717 A.2d 676 […]
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, […]
My client, Moises Garcia, may be about to achieve the impossible: bringing a child abducted from the United States to Japan back home from Japan by means of the legal system. But let no one be mistaken. It was the legal system in the U.S. – and some unusually good luck – that did the […]
Jeremy D. Morley Courts around the world generally reserve the right to invalidate prenuptial agreements that were entered into under duress. The meaning of “duress” can be extremely hard to determine in specific cases. Can there be duress when a young impecunious foreign woman moves to another country to marry a rich man who then […]
Jeremy D. Morley In the case of Oller Kamińska v. Poland, determined on January 18, 2018, [2018] ECHR 70, the European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Chamber, has ruled that the Polish authorities violated their obligations to return an abducted child under the Hague Convention and the Brussels II bis Regulation. The Court […]
