The Right of ‘No Exit’

Q: After we moved to a foreign country, the marriage fell apart.  The court there gave daily care and control of my son to his mother.  I would have no authority to decide whether he undergoes some medical procedure, whether he attends a school field trip, whether he has a religious upbringing or whether he can have a cell phone. These are all rights and responsibilities of his mother.

Nevertheless, I received visitation rights.  Moreover, the mother was not to travel with our son outside of the country without my consent, unless a court there overrode my veto.  Today, however, she brought him back here with no one’s permission.

A: Your case is subject to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction  and to the International Child Abduction Remedies Act.  Your ‘no-exit’ right gives you sufficient joint custody that the American courts must cooperate with the foreign courts whose permission, wrongfully, was never requested.

That a ‘no-exit’ right does not fit within traditional physical-custody notions is beside the point.  A transborder child abduction becomes no less reprehensible when it is perpetrated by the parent with greater custody.

By: Scott Baron,
Attorney at Law Advertorial

The law responds to changed conditions; exceptions and variations abound. Here, the information is general; always seek out competent counsel. This article shall not be construed as legal advice.

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