Thank you for joining me. My name is LaSheena Williams, and I am a Maryland family law attorney. My firm helps our clients take control of out-of-control domestic situations. Today we will be discussing international custody battles.
International Custody Concerns
In the DMV, there are a lot of people from a lot of different areas throughout the world. And when you have children with people from other countries and the relationship doesn’t work there are a lot of concerns about how your custody will be addressed if your partner might be a dual citizen with another country, or if your partner may decide that they no longer want to be in the United States at all. This brings up issues that are unique to international custody concerns and I want to address those concerns today.
Keeper of your Child’s Passport
One of the biggest concerns we have in international co-parenting relationships is who keeps the child’s passport. the issue is that, for some reason, the communication is broken down in the relationship and one co-parent no longer trusts the other co-parent to have and hold the child passport and fear that they may flee to another country and refuse to return the child. If you feel as though that the communication between you and your co-parent has broken down and you may have that type of concern, you may want to pick a neutral third party to hold your children’s passports. You may pick your attorney. you may pick a parenting coordinator. You may pick a family member that you both can agree on to hold the passport so that you’re sure that they’re not going anywhere with your children and so that they know that that passport is safe and you’re not necessarily hiding it from them. If you decide that you want your child to go on an international trip or your co-parent wants to do that, you can reach out to the third party they can provide the passport there’s terms drafted up and you all know what the situation is moving forward.
International Kidnapping under the Hague Convention
International kidnapping is a big deal and because it’s such a big deal and a major concern it’s important that people understand that the Hague Convention will assist in dealing with potential kidnapping situations. Signatories of the Hague Convention, whether it’s the United States, whether it’s Nigeria, whether it’s Ireland, have all signed and agreed that if there’s a situation involving child custody and kidnapping that they will adhere to the country that the child has come from when deciding if they need to extradite that child. they will do what’s necessary under the Hague Convention to remove the kidnapped child and make sure that that child is returned to their home country. So, what does that mean? That means, if your co-parent is planning to travel to a country where they are in fact a signatory of the Hague Convention you can be sure that under those terms, if they decide to abscond and fail to return your child that that country will do everything in its power to make sure that your child is returned back to the United States. However, if the country that your partner is planning to take your children is not a signatory of the Hague Convention, that country will not do everything in its power to make sure that your child is returned. This can be concerning because a lot of people don’t even know what they Hague Conventions are, but if you think your spouse is going to a country that’s not a signatory like Gambia or some other country, it’s important that you and your co-parent have very explicit written terms about the international travel, the rights under that international travel agreement with them, and what if any rights you may have to enforce the return of your child back to the United States. It’s important that you speak with an attorney familiar with these conventions so that you know what your rights are and so that you can make sure that your co-parent does not abscond with your child to a country where you can’t retrieve them.
If you have any questions about international child custody concerns or any other matters related to custody, contact the Law Office of LaSheena M. Williams at (301) 778 – 9950 or leave an online request for a consultation.
