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...

On March 30, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights, in Case of Thompson v. Russia , weighed in on a Hague Abduction case filed in Russia, seeking the return of a minor child to Spain.  At the trial level court in Russia, the court rejected the return petition on the basis that returning the minor child would place the child in an intolerable situation in the vein of Article 13(b), because the child, age 3 years and 3 months, was "deeply attached to his or her mother, both physiologically and psychologically."  The trial court also relied on Principle 6 of the UN 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child, arguing that, except in exceptional circumstances, a child of tender years should not be separated from his or her mother.  The mother had no intention of returning to Spain.  The appellate court agreed and further relied on Article 38 of the Russian Federation Constitution arguing that the child had become well integrated into her social and family environment ...

The UK Supreme Court heard oral argument this week in the case of G v. G, on the complex issue of a child's asylum claim and a parent's request to return that child using the Hague Abduction Convention to the country that the child is trying to escape.  You can find the case details here .  The questions presented to the Supreme Court were:  1) Does a child named as a dependent on a parent's asylum application have any protection from refoulement?  2) Can a return order be made under the 1980 Hague Convention even where a child has protection from refoulement? 3) Should the High Court be slow to stay an application under the 1980 Hague Convention prior to determination of an application for asylum? The Court of Appeals for England and Wales concluded that the High Court was not barred from determining the Father's application for the return of his child under the Hague Abduction Convention, nor was the court barred from making an order to return the child. ...

In February 2020, the Family Court in Kings County, New York addressed a custody jurisdiction issue between New York and Yemen in the case of Karimah K and Bassim A .  The parents were married in 2002 in a Muslim Religious ceremony in Yemen.  They remained in Yemen until 2005, at which time they moved to New York with their four daughters.  They frequently traveled back and forth between the two countries.  In Spring of 2016, the entire family traveled to Yemen.  The Mother was apparently expecting to return to New York, but the Father unilaterally decided to remain in Yemen.  The family lived together until November 2018 in Yemen, at which time the Mother vacated the home, without the children, and began living with her brother in Yemen.  In April 2019, she returned to New York, leaving the children in Yemen.  She then commenced custody proceedings on October 9, 2019 in NY.  There was some significant wrangling in the New York court initiall...