Father in One State, Mother in Another State, Child is Overseas
My question involves a child custody case from the State of: West Virginia
Hi All,
I need legal advices and here is my case:
In July 2012, I brought my wife and our 3 month old daughter from the country of Vietnam to my home state of West Virginia. In December of 2012, my wife took our daughter back to Vietnam and in March of 2013, she left our daughter in Vietnam and flied back to the states and has since resided in state of Massachussett. I filed for divorce and in October of 2013, a temporary order was issued which gave full custody of my daughter to me. The final hearing will be next month. I don't expect my wife to be at the hearing at all because she did not attend the initial hearing. She was properly served the court paper, but she has no interest in attending the trial because our daughter was left in Vietnam by her. She has been trying to hide from me and from being brought to Family court.
I am a US citizen. My daughter was born in Vietnam, has dual citizenship (US and Vietnam) My wife does not have US citizenship yet. She does have green card which will expire in 2 years. Both my wife and my daughter have SSN's. Vietnam is not a member of Hague Convention. The final hearing will be on 12/18/2013. Please advice best approaches for my case to get my daughter back. Thanks all for the input!
Re: Father in One State, Mother in Another State, Child is Left Oversea
Honestly? I'm not sure a US court order is going to matter at all. If you're to have any chance at all, you're going to need (and not necessarily in this order) :
1. Money. A lot.
2. An attorney experienced with non-Hague parental custody issues
You may end up needing to go to Vietnam and try to get a court order from the Vietnamese courts.
This is not something a message board can really help you with, unfortunately.
Re: Father in One State, Mother in Another State, Child is Left Oversea
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Dogmatique
Honestly? I'm not sure a US court order is going to matter at all. If you're to have any chance at all, you're going to need (and not necessarily in this order) :
1. Money. A lot.
2. An attorney experienced with non-Hague parental custody issues
You may end up needing to go to Vietnam and try to get a court order from the Vietnamese courts.
This is not something a message board can really help you with, unfortunately.
Even if Vietnam was a Hague Convention country I think dad is basically screwed. The child was born in Vietnam, establishing jurisdiction there. The child resided in the US less than 6 months before returning to Vietnam. Sometime in July to sometime in December is not 6 months, its 5 at least, but not 6, so WV wouldn't have jurisdiction based on its own laws. I don't think that the US courts ever had any jurisdiction over the child. Mom never showed for any of the hearings so she never ceded jurisdiction to the US. I think that the US custody order could very well be worthless.
Re: Father in One State, Mother in Another State, Child is Left Oversea
The uccjea clearly outlines the law favoring Vietnam for custody issues based on the facts. I think your order is not worth the paper it is written on if appealed.
Re: Father in One State, Mother in Another State, Child is Left Oversea
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Disagreeable
The uccjea clearly outlines the law favoring Vietnam for custody issues based on the facts. I think your order is not worth the paper it is written on if appealed.
Its worthless appealed or not. It cannot be enforced without Vietnam's cooperation and they are NOT going to cooperate. Even if the UCCJEA favored dad the UCCJEA is not a world-wide law its a US law. Under international standards Vietnam has jurisdiction...and certainly Vietnam will claim jurisdiction.
Re: Father in One State, Mother in Another State, Child is Left Oversea
Thanks for all your input! Base on the UCCJEA and the circumstances, the significant connection is Dad's state of West Virginia, as the Judge had agreed with us. Once I have the final order from the Judge, will the US Embassy in Vietnam be any help in my case? Remember the daughter is left in Vietnam by her mother. And daughter is a US citizen. Mother is not there with her.
If some time in the future, the mother brings the daughter to the state of Massachusetts. Will the West Virginia court order be enforceable? Thanks,
Re: Father in One State, Mother in Another State, Child is Left Oversea
No, it won't help.
At all. A US judge has decided that jurisdiction remains in the US? How so?
Even if that's the case (and how exactly you managed to get a judge and a decision overnight is beyond me), Vietnam WILL NOT honor a US court order. The Embassy doesn't have that power, either.
Daughter is ALSO a Vietnamese citizen.
Re: Father in One State, Mother in Another State, Child is Left Oversea
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kngo12
Thanks for all your input! Base on the UCCJEA and the circumstances, the significant connection is Dad's state of West Virginia, as the Judge had agreed with us. Once I have the final order from the Judge, will the US Embassy in Vietnam be any help in my case? Remember the daughter is left in Vietnam by her mother. And daughter is a US citizen. Mother is not there with her.
If some time in the future, the mother brings the daughter to the state of Massachusetts. Will the West Virginia court order be enforceable? Thanks,
In my opinion, even if she brings your mutual daughter to the US sometime in the future its highly questionable whether or not the WV order would be enforceable. WV never had jurisdiction to make the order in the first place.
And I agree with the other poster that the US Embassy in Vietnam cannot help you at all.
Re: Father in One State, Mother in Another State, Child is Left Oversea
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llworking
In my opinion, even if she brings your mutual daughter to the US sometime in the future its highly questionable whether or not the WV order would be enforceable. WV never had jurisdiction to make the order in the first place.
And I agree with the other poster that the US Embassy in Vietnam cannot help you at all.
Yeap. And jurisdiction is an issue here. This is a child born in Vietnam who is no longer living in the US. Vietnam holds jurisdiction, it appears.
(And Vietnam is not going to relinquish that easily)
Re: Father in One State, Mother in Another State, Child is Left Oversea
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Dogmatique
Yeap. And jurisdiction is an issue here. This is a child born in Vietnam who is no longer living in the US. Vietnam holds jurisdiction, it appears.
(And Vietnam is not going to relinquish that easily)
Heck, I don't think that will relinquish it AT ALL.