International Parental Kidnapping

1. International Parental Kidnapping Gordon Rea www.gordonrealaw.com

2. THREE CONCURRENT PROCESSES

3. Letters Rogatory Local MotionsIn Missouri • Police/FBI reports. • Default docket. • Establish no defense exists to the absconding. • Initial Motion to Modify • PDL Motion • Declaring Jx of MO Court. • Establishing right of custody. • Motion to Quash Withholding Order

4. Letters Rogatory Process Central Authority U.S.A. Central Authority Peru Letters Rogatory Letters Rogatory

5. Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Central Authority U.S.A. Central Authority Peru Hague Convention Application Hague Convention Application

6. Local MotionsIn Foreign Jx Letters Rogatory • Handle Hague Convention Appeals • Handle Appeals to US Motions. • Service of Process • Local police • Local attorney • Prevent Collateral Attack • Work with Central Authority • Establish Child Support and Demand Visitation

7. PEOPLE RESOURCES • Local Attorney • Certified Translator • Local Attorney in Foreign Jurisdiction • Certified Letters Rogatory Agency • Local Police – here and in foreign Jx. • FBI • Foreign Process Server • Director of “Central Authority”

8. Getting the Police Involved Parental Kidnapping; § 565.153 RSMo Interference With Custody; § 565.150 RSMo The crime of interference with custody is committed if the defendant, knowing he has no legal right to do so, takes or entices from legal custody any person entrusted by order of a court to the custody of another person or an institution. This offense can be committed by refusing to return a child at the conclusion of court-authorized temporary custody or visitation, as the statute's purpose is to protect all court-ordered custody against unlawful interference. Interference with custody can be a lesser included offense of child abduction. Parental kidnapping is committed in the absence of a court order determining rights of custody or visitation to a child, when a person having a right of custody of the child removes, takes, detains, conceals, or entices away that child within or without the state, without good cause, and with the intent to deprive the custody right of another person or a public agency also having a custody right to that child. A person may be prosecuted under the statute even though he subsequently obtains a court order for custody or visitation.

9. Service of Process • Learn what service is “best” in foreign Jx. • Personal service with • Pictures • Police statement. • Service required at least three times: • Beginning • Pre trial • At conclusion of local motions.

10. Translation • Translation is not simply trading languages. • Must convey legal concepts in local legal language.

11. Child Support • Child support can be quashed in Missouri. • Child support should be submitted in foreign jurisdiction.

12. References • Missouri’s Parental Kidnapping Statute (§ 565.153 R.S.Mo.) http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/c500-599/5650000153.htm • Federal Bureau of Investigation http://www.fbi.gov/ • State Department - Regarding Child Abduction http://travel.state.gov/family/abduction/abduction_580.html • State Department Country Specific Information http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1765.html • American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law http://www.abanet.org/child/abduction.shtml • American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law http://www.abanet.org/child/abduction.shtml • Hague Conference on International Protection of Children, Family and Property Relations http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=text.display&tid=10#family • National Criminal Justice Reference Service (USDOJ) Resources for Kidnapping http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Topics/Topic.aspx?Topicid=89 • The Hague Domestic Violence Project http://www.haguedv.org/ • Places to look for reviews on current GPS technology : • ZD Net Magazine http://www.zdnet.com/ • GPS Magazine www.gpsmagazine.com