International Family Law Attorneys

Key Takeaways:

• A Hague petition filed within one year generally requires the child’s prompt return.
• A Hague case decides where custody is heard, not who gets custody.
• The Manely Firm, P.C. won a unanimous Supreme Court decision in a Hague case.

A parent takes the children overseas for a summer visit, and the return flight goes unused. From that day, the parent left behind is working against a treaty deadline, a foreign legal system, and sometimes a foreign custody order entered thousands of miles away.

Our founding partner, Michael E. Manely, won a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in Chafin v. Chafin, a Hague Convention case. The Manely Firm, P.C. has handled family law matters on nearly every continent, and our international family law attorneys work from offices across Georgia and in London, alongside local counsel in the countries where our clients’ cases land.

Schedule a free case evaluation with The Manely Firm, P.C. today.

What Has to Be True to Bring a Hague Return Case

The Hague Abduction Convention, carried out in the United States by the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (22 U.S.C. §§ 9001–9011), applies when:

• The child is under 16. The Convention stops applying at the child’s 16th birthday.
• The child was taken from, or kept out of, the country of habitual residence. Under Monasky v. Taglieri, 589 U.S. 68 (2020), habitual residence depends on the totality of the circumstances, with no requirement that the parents agreed on where the child would live.
• The removal breached custody rights the parent was exercising. Those rights are measured under the law of the country where the child lived.
• Both countries are treaty partners. The Convention applies only between countries that have accepted each other.

Hague petitions can be filed in a Georgia superior court or a federal district court, which share jurisdiction under 22 U.S.C. § 9003(a).

There is no government fee to apply through the U.S. Central Authority (22 U.S.C. § 9007(a)), and when a court orders a child returned, the parent who took the child is generally ordered to pay the other parent’s costs unless that would be clearly inappropriate (22 U.S.C. § 9007(b)(3)).

What Can Defeat a Hague Return Petition

A court must order the child’s prompt return when the petition is filed within a year of the wrongful removal, unless the parent opposing return proves an exception.

Time and settlement. After a year has passed, return can be refused if the child is now settled in the new environment.

Consent or acquiescence. Return is not required if the parent seeking it agreed to the move or later accepted it.

Grave risk of harm. A court can refuse return if it would expose the child to a grave risk of physical or psychological harm.

The child’s objection. A child old enough and mature enough to have views may object to return, and the court can take that objection into account.

Our Hague abduction attorneys file and defend these petitions, and we pursue other remedies when a child is taken to a country that has not joined the Convention.

Foreign Custody Orders Are a Separate Track

Recognizing a foreign custody order is a different legal question from a Hague return case. Under O.C.G.A. § 19-9-44, Georgia courts treat a foreign country as if it were another U.S. state, and a foreign custody order made under similar jurisdictional standards must be recognized and enforced here.

Our international family law attorneys also handle international relocation requests, travel provisions in parenting plans, enforcement of support orders abroad, and prenuptial agreements signed in another country.

Why Families Bring International Cases to The Manely Firm, P.C.

In Chafin v. Chafin, 568 U.S. 165 (2013), Michael E. Manely represented the father, and the Court held unanimously that a child’s return to another country does not end a parent’s right to appeal the return order. The decision is a matter of public record, and it shapes how we prepare every international matter: build the record carefully, preserve every issue, and plan for review in more than one court system.

Our London office gives clients with ties to the United Kingdom a team on both sides of the Atlantic, and our team works with families in languages including Spanish, Russian, German, Japanese, and Ukrainian. Local Hague abduction teams serve Atlanta, Marietta, Lawrenceville, Savannah, Columbus, Cumming, Smyrna, Alpharetta, and Sandy Springs.

Talk With Our International Family Law Attorneys Early

Time works against a parent in an international case, from the one-year Hague window to the pace of foreign courts. Our experienced international family law attorneys will identify which country’s courts have authority and what to file first.

Schedule a free case evaluation with The Manely Firm, P.C. today.

International Family Law FAQs

Does the Hague Convention apply to every country?

No. It applies only between countries that have both joined the Convention and accepted each other as partners. Many countries in Europe and the Americas are U.S. partners, while a number of countries in the Middle East and Asia are not. When a child is taken to a non-partner country, the remedies shift to custody proceedings in that country and diplomatic channels.

Can I take my child out of the country without the other parent’s consent?

It depends on your custody order. Many Georgia parenting plans require notice or written consent for international travel, and removing a child in breach of the other parent’s custody rights can lead to a Hague petition.

Federal law also makes it a crime to remove a child under 16 from the United States with intent to obstruct the other parent’s rights.

Will a Georgia court enforce a custody order from another country?

Usually, yes. A foreign custody order made under standards similar to Georgia’s must be recognized and enforced here, unless the foreign country’s custody law violates fundamental principles of human rights.

Does a Hague case decide who gets custody?

No. A Hague case decides where the custody case should be heard, generally by returning the child to the country of habitual residence. The custody dispute itself then proceeds in that country’s courts.