MK Family Law

The Family Court of New York County addressed an interesting UCCJEA case on February 1, 2021 .   The minor child at issue was repatriated by the U.S. Department of State from Pakistan to New York on June 26, 2020 at the age of 16 because of concerns that she had been brutally beaten and coerced into an arranged marriage.  The child, Saida, is a U.S. citizen, and had lived in New York prior to being taken to Pakistan by her father on July 29, 2019.  The father left Saida in her mother's care in Pakistan.  Upon her return to New York, she was placed in the care of New York City Administration for Children's Services, and on September 29, 2020, an abuse petition was filed against her parents.  On November 2, 2020, the parents filed a motion to dismiss the abuse petition under the UCCJEA on the grounds that Pakistan was the child's home state.  The father requested that Saida be transferred to social services in Pakistan. Children's Services filed an affir...

In the case of  Pawananun v. Pettit , the U.S. District Court returned the parties' two daughters to their habitual residence of Thailand.  The parties stipulated that the father, Mr. Pettit, had wrongfully removed the parties' children from Thailand.  Mr. Pettit focused on arguing that it would present a grave risk of harm to the children to return them to Thailand because of certain claims of abuse of his daughters that he believed were inflicted by a family friend that may have been having an affair with his ex-Wife. The family friend, Mr. Hardy, was a doctor who had moved to Thailand from the United States.  Mr. Hardy had been investigated in the U.S. after allegedly sexually assaulting patients and staff.  He surrendered his U.S. medical license.  Upon learning of this, Mr. Pettit began surreptitiously investigating Mr. Hardy and his involvement with his daughters by taking the children to a series of doctors without advising their mother of the s...