Marilyn Stowe Blog

International Divorce

High Court: Polish boy can stay with mother in Northern Ireland

A Polish woman living in Northern Ireland may keep her two year-old son with her in the province, the High Court has ruled.

In the recently published case, the woman had met and married a fellow Pole in Belfast in 2010 but the separated later the same year. .At that point the husband returned to Poland while the woman remained in Northern Ireland, which had been her home since 2004.

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Wigan mum launches child abduction passport petition

A Wigan mother who fought a two year battle to regain custody of her daughter has launched a campaign aimed at making international abduction more difficult.

Sarah Taylor, from Hindley Green in Greater Manchester, was reunited with daughter Nadia, then six, in December 2009, two and a half years after the girl had been abducted

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European Court awards damages to father after bitter custody battle

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has awarded an American father €22,500 (£19179.74), after Hungarian authorities failed to enforce contact orders regarding his child.

Prizzia v Hungary concerned this man’s marriage to a Hungarian woman. They met and

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‘Abduction’ mother on the run with child warned the courts won’t give up

A high court judge has warned a doctor who absconded with her daughter that “the courts will not give up”.

Humma Dar disappeared from her London home with daughter Aamina in August 2011 after her marriage came to an end. The pair are now thought to be in Pakistan.

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Almost ten new child abduction and custody cases a week reaching the Foreign Office

The Foreign Office is dealing with nearly ten child abduction and custody cases a week, the Department has reported.

Government officials were involved in 512 new cases during the year to 2012, the department reports – an increase of 81 per cent in the last nine years. More than half are new cases. Including existing cases, the average number of phone calls relating to this

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Japanese parliament approves signing of Hague Convention on child abduction

The Japanese parliament has approved plans to join the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Earlier today, the upper house of the National Diet (parliament) unanimously approved

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New Jersey politician condemns government inaction on child abduction

The Obama administration must do more to tackle unresolved parental child abduction cases, a US politician has claimed.

Chris Smith, the Republican Representative for New Jersey, told a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee that:

“The status quo is simply not adequate.”

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‘Gossip Girl’ star Kelly Rutherford ‘on the brink of bankruptcy’ after child custody battle

American actress Kelly Rutherford says she is ‘on the brink of bankruptcy’ after an extended custody dispute with German ex-husband Daniel Giersch.

The couple’s two children – six year-old Hermes and three year-old Helena – live with their father in Monaco. Last summer a judge granted Giersch primary custody after his visa was revoked and he was banned from entering the US.

Rutherford, best known for her role in popular teen drama Gossip Girl, is fighting

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International family disputes have ‘quadrupled’ says Lord Justice Thorpe

The number of family disputes referred to the Head of International Family Justice for England and Wales has almost quadrupled in four years, according to new figures.

Referrals increased from 65 in 2008 to 253 during 2012, the judge’s office reports.

Most of the 2012 cases (127) involved European countries, with 14 focused on Poland

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Frenchman claims Malta breached his human rights by failing to return his children

A French man has applied to the highest court in Malta for compensation, saying his human rights were breached when authorities on the island failed to return his two children.

The estranged wife of Etienne Merlevede took their twins, now five, from France

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Children to be returned to the US, High Court rules

A mother who bought her three children from the United States to England has lost her legal fight against their father.

R v A concerned a couple who originally came from Zimbabwe. After their marriage they moved to California and their two eldest children were born in the state. Later they

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British woman wins order for the return of her children to Canada

A British woman who emigrated to Canada has won a legal victory over her estranged husband, after he abducted their children and took them back to the UK.

The case of FT and NT (Children) concerned a couple who married in 2007. They had two daughters, referred to as FT and NT in court reports, who were born in 2008 and 2010 respectively. In April 2008 the parents applied for permanent

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Austrian women awaits child abduction trial

The trial of a Danish man for child abduction will resume in Graz, Austria, later today.

Thomas Sörensen is alleged to have taken his five year old Oliver out of kindergarten last spring and travelled back to Denmark with him. There he was given legal custody of the

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Mother vows to take international child contact case to European Court of Human Rights

A mother who has been separated from her son for seven years said she will take her contact battle to the European Court of Human Rights.

Claire Walters has only seen her nine year old son Donavan a few times since he went to

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Marilyn’s Thought For The Day

Strike an average between what a woman thinks of her husband a month before she marries him and what she thinks of him a year afterward, and you will have the truth about him.

- H. L. Mencken

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About Marilyn

Marilyn Stowe is the senior partner in Stowe Family Law, which has offices in Yorkshire, Cheshire and London. With more than 30 years’ experience handling divorce cases and family law proceedings she is regarded as one of the most formidable and sought after divorce lawyers in the UK. In 2012, Marilyn became one of the first solicitors to qualify as a family law arbitrator.

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Note

All persons mentioned in the scenarios are fictitious: details have been deliberately changed in order to protect identities and other confidential circumstances of my clients. All advice and information on this blog including posts written by guest authors, is given only as a general guide to the operation of the law on the date of publication. Readers must place no reliance whatsoever on the content of this blog and must always obtain their own legal advice. Marilyn Stowe, Stowe Family Law LLP and guest authors accept no liability whatsoever arising as a result of reliance upon its content.

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