The Law Office of Jeremy D. Morley
handles many international family law cases that concern India or Non-Resident Indians.
We always act with Indian or other local counsel whenever appropriate or necessary.
We have enormous experience in counselling clients concerning such matters, especially as to international divorce jurisdiction; international child custody; & international child abduction.
Jeremy Morley has served as an expert witness on Indian family law and international child abduction to India. See our article at:
Canadian Court Accepts Morley Expert Opinion on India
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Abducted Children Returned From India The results were not accomplished through the Indian legal system, which is generally not helpful in this area. Instead we used less formal means of applying appropriate pressure to achieve the desired result. The outcomes are evident from our clients’ unsolicited testimonials. In one case: "Simple words cannot describe how Mr. Morley's experience and thorough knowledge in the subject of international law helped me get back my children to the U.S.A. Now I am a very happy father enjoying every moment with my kids. Guess what? Now my wife and I are in the path of complete reconciliation with kids around both of us!" In the other case: “Thank you for informing me. …You made it possible for me…You saved my children from suffering very promptly. We can have a wonderful Christmas which I have been asking God every minute.” It must be stressed that these positive results do not mean that a return of abducted children from India can be accomplished in most cases. There were special circumstances in both cases that made our task very much easier. As we have frequently argued, the best way to handle international abductions to India is to prevent them from occurring in the first place. When parents argue that a child’s proposed visit to India might lead to the child being wrongfully retained there, such concerns should be given great respect. 12/18/10 By Jeremy D. Morley
We have succeeded twice in recent weeks in securing the return to their homes in the United States of children who were abducted by a parent to India.
INDIA AS SAFE HAVEN FOR INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION
For several reasons, India has become a safe haven for child abductors. First, India is not a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Convention is the fundamental international treaty that protects the rights of abducted children and serves to have them returned promptly to the country of their habitual residence.
Second, the court system in India is extremely slow so that an abductor has ample time to create facts on the ground in terms of getting the child sufficiently settled into life in India as to justify an Indian court in ultimately deeming that it is best to keep the child in India.
Third, the law in India was previously settled that foreign children taken by a parent to India without the consent of the other parent would normally be returned to their country of residence or nationality. However recent decisions of courts in India have changed that rule and have held that foreign custody orders are merely items to consider as part of an overall custody review. Thus in a decision dated March 3, 2006 the Bombay High Court at Goa refused to issue a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a British mother from Ireland whose eight-year-old daughter had allegedly been abducted to Goa by the childs American father. The High Court dismissed the mothers application on the ground that normal custody hearings should be undertaken and completed in Goa.
Fourth, no Indian legislation sets forth helpful law on this issue.
As a consequence, courts outside India should be extremely wary about allowing parents to take children for temporary visits to India over the objections of the other parents since there is a great likelihood that parents who wrongfully retain children in India will get away with their wrongful conduct scot-free in India.
Thus in Katare v. Katare, 125 Wn. App. 813, 105 P.3d 44 (Wash. 2004) the Court of Appeals in Washington State upheld in relevant part the trial courts ruling in a case involving an American mother and an Indian father. The trial court held that it was not convinced that there was a serious threat that the father would abduct their children to India. However, the potential consequences of any abduction to India were severe and irreversible. Accordingly the court was warranted in imposing severe limitations on the husband's residential time with the children, including strict restrictions on the locations of such visitation, surrender of his passport, notification of any change of his citizenship status, and prohibition of his holding or obtaining certain documents (i.e. passports, birth certificates) for the children.
