International Family Law News & Analysis

ABA International Family Law Conference in DC May 25-26

International Families:

Money, Children, Long Term Planning

ABA Washington, DC CLE Conference May 25-26

 

It is more common today than ever before to marry someone from another country, culture, or religion. International families have unique problems. Join leading experts in international family law for a conference about the international family, sponsored by the American Bar Association and held at the ABA’s Washington, DC office. Topics include international aspects of prenups, child relocation, child support, adoption, assisted reproductive technology, tax shelters, offshore assets, Islamic Family Law, court order enforcement, conflicts of laws, and the tax-related and other legal problems of couples who change or alternate their country of residence.

 

The conference has top speakers from the Hague, the U.S. Department of State, judges, practitioners, and academics.  Speakers will be traveling from London, Switzerland, Sweden, Hong Kong, Canada, and from around the U.S. to present on a variety of topics.  On Friday evening, there will be a reception at the Canadian Embassy, and there will be a closing reception on Saturday at the Old Ebbitt Grill, with plenty of time to network with the top international family law practitioners in the U.S. and abroad.  Space is limited, and filling up quickly. There is a reduced rate on a hotel within a short walk of the conference site, and its details can be found on the conference registration site. For more information go to http://bit.ly/abamay25 or call the ABA at 1-800-285-2221. Registration is only $100, embassy receptions etc. extra.

US State Dept. Holding Child Abduction "Open House"

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs is hosting an open house for "International Parental Child Abduction" May 16, In Washington, D.C. RSVP's by March 30. For more information email Jessika Sandle at SandelJS@state.gov.

- via Kevin Brown of Children First

Affairs can get diplomats in trouble

State Department disciplines workers for off-duty affairs

By Emily Heil - Washington Post

 

Alabama counties ban illegal alien marriages, get sued

"Southern Poverty Law Center Files Suit Against Most Of Alabama’s Counties: A suit filed by the S.P.L.C. challenges county laws preventing illegal aliens from getting married."

By Todd Prater, WERC-FM via the US Border Security Council

 

Obama speaks to Japan's Prime Minster about joining Hague Convention AND addressing pre-existing child abductions

Paul Toland of the Children's Rights Council of Japan forwarded this description of the meeting, by  Assistant Secretary of State Campbell, which is also on youtube: 

"The President also very strongly affirmed the Japanese decision to enter into The Hague Convention ... on Child Abduction - asked that these steps be taken clearly and that the necessary implementing legislation would be addressed. He also indicated that while that was an important milestone for Japan ... he also asked the Japanese prime minister and the government to focus on the preexisting cases, the cases that have come before. The prime minister indicated that very clearly, he knew about the number of cases. He mentioned 123. He said that he would take special care to focus on these particular issues as we - as Japan also works to implement the joining of The Hague Convention, which the United States appreciates greatly."

Honor Killings, Forced Marriage Happen Here Too

Marry—or Else:

Forced weddings and ‘honor’ killings aren’t just a developing-world issue. New research shows how it happens in England and the United States.

Newsweek via The Daily Beast  9/18/11

State legislation would bar foreign & religious law from American courts

Many Americans are, understandably, worried about trends that impose mushy notions of international law on our system of American constitutional law; and about worldwide trends toward Shari'a law being used in secular courtooms in various ways. There is legislation proposed in many U.S. states aimed at preventing this. This is a legitimate concern that goes all the way back to the American Revolution - the Declaration of Independence not only says that lawmakers across the ocean can no longer make laws that govern us, but also complains about Americans being taken out of state to stand trial. The problem is, from my perspective as a practitioner of family law in international cases, that there are some cases where foreign or religious law plays a legitimate role, and our legal system already has several decades of experience in working out rules about when and how that should happen. Legislation that arises from political fears is likely to disrupt that, and the damage will probably happen in cases that have nothing to do with politics, with consequences that no one proposing these laws has any idea about.

 

One such bill is Georgia's House Bill 242, the "American Laws for Georgia Courts Act." It says no court or government may enforce a foreign law, or defer to a foreign court, if doing so would violate a right guaranteed by the U.S. or state Constitution. Most astoundingly, considering that it's being proposed by people who care about liberty, the bill nullifies contracts in which people agree to be bound by foreign laws or courts, if the enforcement or application of the contract would result in a violation of constitutional rights.

 

The bill also has an interesting use of the term "foreign", from my perspective. In Virginia legalese it means "from Washington DC, North Carolina, etc.". Seriously. If you you mean only foreign-country-foreign you must take pains to emphasize that. I thought it meant the same in other states, but apparently not in Georgia.

 

There's a lot of carefully thought out language in the bill, but under the law of unintended consequences, which knows no international boundaries, all kinds of trouble will probably flow from it. I'm not sure what, but something no one wanted is bound to happen.

 

In applying the law of comity, the UCCJEA, UIFSA and the Hague Convention, there's already some tendency to avoid results that are repugnant to our ideas of human rights or constitutional rights, but this bill would make that a much more explicit, prominent part of international family law cases. Which will be a big change for family law, since in most family law cases, people don't have "rights" in the way which they're familiar with from other areas of the law. How constitutional rights mesh with the bread and butter of family law -- child custody, child support and alimony -- is generally murky. Dealing with constitutional issues in international family law cases may have major side effects on non-international cases, by making rules about constitutional rights which will then be applied in all family law cases. That's not necessarily altogether a bad thing, but it'll certainly be different.

 

US AG freezes deportation of alien in civil union, says DOMA may be invalid

Holder halts deportation for foreign national in civil union | Washington Blade 

International Law is between nations, not above them; beware utopian elites

We work with "private international law", which is not literally private but is certainly far less well-known than "public international law", which is what most clients, students who contact us about internships, and the general public think of when they think of international law. Clients and others are usually surprised to hear that we practice international law not at the World Court at The Hague, but at the local juvenile court across the street, and the other state and federal courts here in Northern Virginia (and occasionally elsewhere).  But the "private" law we practice, especially regarding child abduction and diplomatic or military families' issues, often becomes a matter of public concern; and at some fundamental level, progress and the rule of law in our field depends on stable progress in "international law" in the more popular sense of the word.

  

We don't read the academic literature on public international law, but of the things I have read, two of the best are (1) a paper by our Scottish law student intern, Claire Miller, arguing that "There is No Such Thing As International Law", and (2) this piece by Kenneth Anderson on"Der Spiegel and International Law". Anderson calls for:

 "protecting this important, but fragile, category called international law ... from itself.  From its most enthusiastic supporters, who are always willing to purify it into a form of law suitable only for uninhabited planets or maybe heaven. I’m a believer in international law — as a pragmatic activity that inevitably fuses law, politics, state practice, and diplomacy.   International law can be the the natural law of the moon if it wants, and it can get there by paying too much attention to professors and too little to how states on earth actually behave."

Half UK kids see parents split by 16 in divorce, cohabitation breakups; do worse

Divorce Statistics and Studies Blog: Half UK kids see parents split by 16 in divorce, cohabitation breakups; do worse.