MK Family Law

On February 26, 2021, in the matter of Colchester v. Lazaro , the U.S. District Court for the W.D. of Washington ordered the parties' 6-year-old child returned to Spain.  This child had been the subject of a separate Hague Abduction return petition in 2018.  In January 2020, Mr. Colchester secured a sole custody order from the Spanish courts, and in April 2020, Ms. Lazaro again absconded with the child to Washington State, precipitating this action.   The Court spent the better part of its 3-page order describing what it deemed to be Ms. Lazaro's "meritless" efforts to "sidestep" court rulings and her repeated "disregard" for those rulings.  In elaborating on Ms. Lazaro's behavior, the District Court crafted an order that included quite a few enforcement measures that are worth noting in a blog post.  Most specifically, the order included the following language: "The United States Marshals Service shall assist Mr. Colchester or his duly-ap...

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. ...

On October 29, 2020, the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 3, addressed, in an unpublished opinion, the 2nd appeal noted by Tammy Noergaard to the order returning her eldest daughter, Mia, to Denmark.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...