MK Family Law

In a rare appellate opinion that addresses international child support, the Court of Appeals of Arkansas reversed its trial court and concluded that Arkansas did have jurisdiction to issue an initial child support order .   Natalie Tompkins and the parties' child resided in Germany, which the parties agreed was the child's "home state" (pursuant to the UCCJEA for purposes of custody jurisdiction).  Lawrence Tompkins was active duty military and his permanent residence was Arkansas.  The parties proceeded to a divorce hearing in Arkansas in November 2018.  It did not address custody of the parties' child.  During the hearing, Natalie's lawyer raised the issue of child support, and requested a child support order.  The trial court conflated the issue of child support with jurisdiction over the child's custody, and denied Natalie's request for a support order.  The Court of Appeals clarified that the UCCJEA dictates child-custody jurisdiction, but th...

On October 29, 2020, the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 3, addressed, in an unpublished opinion, the 2nd appeal noted by Tammy Noergaard to the order returning her eldest daughter, Mia, to Denmark.  In quick summary, Tammy had 2 daughters with Christian Noergaard.  They were born in California, but a few years later, the family re-settled in Denmark.  The parents separated, and they went through years of litigation and appeals in Denmark over the custody of their two children, eventually resulting in Christian securing full custody of both daughters in October 2011, affirmed on appeal in December 2012.  In May 2013, Tammy abducted the oldest child to California.  In January 2014, Christian located Mia, filed a Hague Abduction return petition, and Mia was ordered returned to him.  Tammy appealed (apparently without obtaining a stay of the return order), and succeeded.  Her case was reversed and remanded for a new trial because of...

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...

In this post, I am returning to April 2, 2020, where a Massachusetts court, in the Adoption of Daphne , vacated a trial court's order dismissing a petition to adopt a minor child born in Massachusetts to a gestational surrogate.   The child was the product of in-vitro fertilization.  The genetic father of the child and his partner entered into a gestational carrier agreement with the surrogate in Massachusetts.  The two men selected an egg from a donor, fertilized it with the sperm of the genetic father and implanted it into the surrogate who carried the child to term in Massachusetts.  The child's birth certificate lists the genetic father and the birth Mother (surrogate) as parents, and the two intended to proceed with a post-birth adoption to terminate the mother's rights, and establish the genetic father as the sole parent.   In April 2018, the mother signed the "surrender form" under Massachusetts law.  The father, his partner, and the child ...

On July 24, 2020, the U.S. District for the District of Columbia addressed an interesting request under the Hague Abduction Convention.  In the case of  Stone v. U.S. Embassy Tokyo, et. al. , Mr. Jack Stone sued the U.S. government to issue a passport for his first-born child.  Subsequently, he amended his filing.  In his Second Amended Complaint,  he argued that his wife left the United States for Japan on November 11, 2018, with his child and without his consent, out of fear that she would be deported because the U.S. government had not issued her a visa, despite the Plaintiff submitting a Petition for Alien Relative (Form I-130) over a year prior.  Mr. Stone then filed additional pleadings, which the court construed as a motion for leave to amend his Second Amended Complaint. In the Third Amended Complaint, Mr. Stone requested his child’s return under the Hague Abduction Convention, an order compelling U.S. citizenship for his second-born child, a visa f...

On July 6, 2020, the Court of Appeal of the State of California issued an opinion in the case of L.A. Cnty. Dep't of Children & Family Servs. v. MH .  At issue, in this case, is a minor child who had been in a shelter in Mexico, and was then transferred to his maternal grandmother in California.  The child's parents were both found unfit to care for the child, and the child had been living in deplorable conditions with the parents in Mexico.  The child is a U.S. national (the mother is American), and upon learning of the child's citizenship, the U.S. consulate was contacted, and arrangements were made to transfer the child as an unaccompanied minor to the United States.  The juvenile court in California issued a custody order on August 6, 2019 declaring the child a dependent of the court and ordering the child's placement with his maternal grandmother. The California court never contacted the Mexican court.  The Father timely appealed, arguing a lack of juri...

The Claflins spent significant time and energy litigating in two countries over their divorce.   Ms. Zamora Claflin filed for divorce in Florida.  Mr. Claflin sought to dismiss her divorce petition, alleging that Ms. Zamora could not have legally married Mr. Claflin because she was already married at the time they said their vows. Both Ms. Zamora's first marriage and her marriage to Mr. Claflin occurred in the Philippines.   Therefore, the Florida court sent the couple packing to resolve the issue of Ms. Zamora’s sequential marriages in the Philippines.   A court in San Mateo, Philippines declared Ms. Zamora’s first marriage invalid because she lacked the legal capacity to marry her first “husband” as she was too young.  Mr. Claflin, dissatisfied with this answer, took his grievance to a court in Pasig City, Philippines, where he argued that his marriage in the Philippines to Ms. Zamora was void ab initio because her first marriage was never declared invalid p...

The Derbez v. Derbez divorce matter reminds lawyers that they must be familiar with their jurisdiction’s rules, procedures, and deadlines, and understand the complexity of the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.  Mr. Derbez pursued a divorce from his wife in Mexico, where he resided, in 2015.  Mrs. Derbez fought this divorce proceeding, arguing a lack of jurisdiction, but she lost.  The divorce case apparently proceeded and the parties were divorced on April 19, 2016.  On August 2, 2016, Mrs. Derbez, who refused to recognize the Mexican divorce decree, filed a petition for divorce in Texas, where she resided. After some significant delays, the court finally held a merits-hearing on the divorce request on February 20, 2018.   At this hearing, Mrs. Derbez testified that Mr. Derbez agreed to a variety of financial payments to her.  When Mr. Derbez testified through an interpreter, he confirmed that he understood and agreed to what Mrs. Derbez sa...

The June 23, 2020 opinion in  Cordoba v. Mullins raises an interesting abstention issue between a State Court divorce and protection order case and a Federal Hague Abduction return petition.   Ms. Mullins (Mother) allegedly absconded with the parties’ two minor children to Illinois on January 4, 2020.  After learning of the children’s departure, Mr. Cordoba (Father) filed an "international parental child abduction case" in Ecuador and enrolled the children in the Passport Issuance Alert Program .  On January 9, 2020, Ms. Mullins filed a dissolution petition and a civil protection order matter in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois (which were consolidated into one State Action).   On March 18, 2020, Mr. Cordoba filed a motion to dismiss the State Action arguing a lack of jurisdiction.  That motion remains open and unresolved.  The Motion itself, according to the federal court, first raised the issue of the Hague Abduction Convention (despite not bei...

When parents share joint legal custody of their child, both parents must sign the minor child’s U.S. passport application.  In the case of Clarke v. Lopez , the minor child’s father, Mr. Lopez, signed the child’s passport application but did it without the proper notarial stamp.  When asked by the child’s mother, Ms. Clarke, to rectify this error, he refused.  The U.S. Passport Office told Ms. Clarke that she should request an order from the appropriate court that gives her the sole authority to apply for the minor child’s passport, so Ms. Clarke filed a request for this relief in the Superior Court in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  She did not, however, request any change in legal or physical custody.   The court dismissed her request, without a hearing.   Ms. Clarke appealed, and, on June 17, 2020, the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands, reversed and remanded.  Not only did the court clarify that it should not have summarily dismissed Ms. Clarke’s reques...

The Court of Appeal of the State of California (4th Appellate District - Division 3) issued an unpublished opinion on April 24, 2020 in Kwon v. Park (G057226) addressing a variety of  issues in a couple’s multi-jurisdictional divorce.  Ms. Kwon and Mr. Park are embroiled in divorce litigation in both Korea and California.  To get a fuller picture of the multi-jurisdictional interplay, one needs to also review the briefs in this case.   The spouses in this case are both Korean nationals who had a residence in Irvine, CA.   The parties separated in mid-2017 and Ms. Kwon filed a petition for dissolution in California shortly thereafter.  In her petition, she listed the marital assets of which she was aware, but noted a need for pre-trial discovery to fully understand all the assets.  Ms. Kwon then proceeded to serve Mr. Park with a variety of CA pleadings, including subpoenas duces tecum, letters rogatory to discover assets in Mexico, and a prel...