Our Cases

Jeremy D. Morley

Mr. Morley and his team have handled many hundreds of international family law matters. Here are descriptions of just a few. Some facts may have been changed to preserve client privacy.

International Child Abduction Prevention

A client was worried that his ex-wife, originally from China, would take their son from New York to China and would not return. I recommended a series of measures to prevent the mother from removing the child and I presented expert evidence that China is a safe haven for international child abduction. Result: The child remained New York.

International Child Relocation
Jeremy Morley at Japanese Central Authority, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Our client in New York opposed a Japanese father's application for international relocation of his young children to Japan. Mr. Morley was the mother's expert witness concerning the laws and practices of Japan. Mr. Morley testified that if the children were relocated to Japan the mother would be unable to successfully assert her rights of custody and access to the children in Japan and would likely have no significant involvement in the lives of the children unless their father chose permit it.  The court accepted Mr. Morley's testimony in its entirety and denied the father's application.

Complex International Prenuptial Agreement and Advice

An extremely wealthy client who had been married previously was engaged to marry a far younger woman from Eastern Europe. It would be difficult for her to obtain a U.S. resident visa, for various reasons. The parties had significant connections with several U.S. states and many foreign countries. Mr. Morley established and coordinated an international team of family lawyers in multiple jurisdictions, which provided extensive and detailed advice to our client and his in-house counsel concerning a host of family law and related questions. The team also drafted a highly complex and carefully detailed prenuptial agreement under the law of one U.S. jurisdiction which included input from counsel in several U.S. states and many foreign countries. Mr. Morley oversaw a lengthy prenuptial execution ceremony, arranged for a marriage in one such foreign country with a selection of marital regime in that country, and handled a vast array of related and consequential issues.

INTERNATIONAL DIVORCE AND CUSTODY: MIDDLE EAST

An American woman went with her husband and their two young children to live in his country of origin in the Middle East for what was supposed to be a couple of years. Once back in his original home country, the husband became increasingly abusive and controlling. He barred his wife from leading an independent life, monitored all of her activities, berated her incessantly, hit her on a couple of occasions, and barred her from returning to the States with the children. The mother consulted with us at length. We created a plan based on her specific circumstances. With our assistance she collected evidence of his abuse, obtained information about her husband's financial resources, and secured his consent to travel on a short vacation in the United States. Once in the U.S., and working with local counsel, we initiated judicial protective measures. As we had anticipated, extensive litigation ensued concerning the children and financial matters ancillary to a divorce. Ultimately, the mother substantially prevailed. The U.S. court took jurisdiction not only of the divorce but also of the custody issues and gave custody to the mother, supervised visitation to the father and a financial award in favor of the mother. She told us, “You saved my life.”

    Providing wise and experienced legal counsel to international families for many years

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