MK Family Law

The Hague Conference on Private International Law engages in a lot of post-Convention work that benefits countries interested in or party to its treaties.  Part of its post-Convention work involves meetings of Experts Groups.  One such Experts Group on International Transfers of Maintenance Funds met for its second meeting from February 8-11, 2021.  Its meeting included a discussion on good practices and how to improve the cross-border transfer of child support payments, such as making it more cost-effective, transparent, and efficient.  The Experts Group summarized the outcome of its meeting and published it here .  It is common that prior to meetings, the Hague Conference staff (its Permanent Bureau) produces a questionnaire for attendees.  This occurred prior to the February 2021 meeting. You can find that questionnaire and a summary of its responses here .   The United States reported its plan to create a centralized international payment serv...

In Tompkins v. Tompkins , (2020 Ark. App. 122 (Ark. App. 2020), the Arkansas Court of Appeals, Division IV, made certain that the parties understood the distinction between custody jurisdiction under the UCCJEA and child support jurisdiction under UIFSA .   The minor child had been residing in Germany with her mother for some time prior to the filing of a divorce action in Arkansas, where the father was a bona fide resident.  Everyone acknowledged that the custody matters must be brought in Germany, which, at the time, was the minor child’s “home state” under the UCCJEA.  At the trial, however, the mother requested child support from the father, and the trial court denied her request, accepting the father’s lawyer’s references to the UCCJEA and “the Hague Convention” (presumably referencing the Hague Child Abduction Convention).  Neither the UCCJEA nor the Hague Abduction Convention have any relevance to child support.  The appellate court corrected the m...