MK Family Law

2020 was not for the faint of heart, with a global pandemic and a U.S. Supreme Court opinion on the Hague Abduction Convention authored by the late Justice Ginsburg.  Here are the TOP TEN most clicked blog posts from MK Family Law's Family Law Across Borders  BLOG.   No. 10     Case Update: International Service of Process using the Hague Service Convention - Winston v. Walsh No. 9     Case Update: Hague Abduction Convention's application between Hong Kong and the United States after July 2020 Executive Order - Wan v. DeBolt No. 8     Case Update: Issuing a U.S. passport to a minor child, abduction prevention issues - LO v. NO No. 7      HCCH Update: COVID-19 Toolkit for the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention No. 6    Case Update: Recognition of Foreign Divorce Decree, Notice of Foreign Order, Court Deadlines - Derbez v. Derbez No. 5     Case Update: Simultaneous divorce proceedings, comity - Vica...

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, in the case of U.S. v. Houtar , recently addressed the issue of whether the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act (IPKCA) was unconstitutionally vague as applied against a father who had not actually abducted his children, but instead retained his children in Yemen after they had already lived there for several years.  The parents were married in Yemen, moved to the U.S., had children, and then returned to Yemen with the children.  They obtained a divorce in Yemen, and then returned to the U.S. separately, leaving the children with Mr. Houtar's family in Yemen. In September 2016, Mr. Houtar's ex-wife obtained a custody order from the Kings County Family Court, which ordered Mr. Houtar to bring the children back to the U.S. from Yemen.  He defied the order, fled the U.S., and resumed living in Yemen with the children.  The mother then went for three years without seeing the children.  Mr. Houtar was charged with 2 counts of...

In the continuing saga of Chris Brann and the Guimaraes Family , the Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas accelerated Chris' interlocutory appeal, and ultimately dismissed the Guimaraes' civil suit against him.  This family has been through a significant volume of litigation, including: family court cases in Texas and Brazil, a Hague Abduction return proceeding in Brazil, and a criminal suit in Texas.  This particular appeal relates to yet another lawsuit - a civil case brought by Marcelle Guimaraes' parents against her ex-Husband, Chris Brann.   As background, Carlos and Jemima Guimaraes' daughter, Marcelle, was married to Chris Brann and they had a son Nathaniel.  In 2012, Marcelle filed for divorce from Chris in Texas.  In 2013, Marcelle obtained a Texas trial court's permission to take Nathaniel to a family wedding in Brazil.  Once in Brazil, Marcelle enrolled Nathaniel in her family-run school, initiated a Brazilian custody case, and s...

A recent 10th Circuit Case,  United States v. Mobley , addressed an appeal of a crime that related back to the mother's abduction of her children to Russia. Mobley (Father) and Osipova (Mother) had a daughter.  Shortly after Mobley filed for divorce in Kansas, Osipova abducted their daughter to Russia.  At the time of the abduction (April 2, 2014), Osipova was seven months pregnant with the couple's second child.  She gave birth 2 months after her arrival in Russia.  Two weeks after the abduction, the Father secured a sole custody order from Kansas related to the eldest child.  Shortly after the youngest child's birth in Russia, the father secured a divorce and sole custody order from Kansas for that child. (Note - this is a criminal case, so I am not clear how the Kansas court had jurisdiction under the UCCJEA over the youngest child to issue an initial child-custody determination).  In Spring 2015, Osipova secured a divorce, and custody and chil...