MK Family Law

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...

The U.S. District Court issued a new order on May 18, 2020 in the Barron v. Kendall case related to the issue of abstention in a Hague Abduction return proceeding simultaneously before the state courts and the federal courts.  In this case, the father allegedly abducted the parties’ 5-year-old child from Mexico to San Diego, California, where, about one week later, he filed for custody.  He was granted temporary emergency custody. The mother appeared in the custody case in February 2020 and requested that the family court return the child to Mexico.  The judge denied the mother’s request, but set in, sua sponte, the case for a “Hague Status hearing” despite the fact that no petition was filed requesting that the child be returned to Mexico using the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention.  At the status hearing, the judge set in a trial date on the Hague Abduction issue, but it was continued, and continued again, due to court closures related to COVID-19.  As of ...