Monday, December 16, 2013

Korea's Legislation Concerning Hague Convention



The Republic of Korea is a signatory to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. On November 1, 2013, the Hague Convention entered into force between the United States and the Republic of Korea. The United States now has 72 partners under the Convention.

The Convention is the primary civil law mechanism for parents seeking the return of children who have been abducted from or wrongfully retained outside their country of habitual residence by another parent or family member. Parents seeking access to children residing in treaty partner countries may also invoke the Convention. The Convention is critically important because it establishes an internationally recognized legal framework to resolve parental abduction cases. The Convention does not address who should have custody of the child; rather it addresses where issues of child custody should be heard.

Korea has become the 89th signatory to the Convention, and as is custom for countries joining the Convention, they have penned legislation necessary to ensure compliance with the Convention.  The text of that legislation can be found here on my website:




Monday, December 09, 2013

The Impact of Foreign Law on Child Custody Determinations

My article, The Impact of Foreign Law on Child Custody Determinations, has been published this week by The Journal of Child Custody.

Abstract: The author asserts that in contested cases concerning a child's proposed visit to a foreign country or a child's international relocation, it is essential for decision makers to appreciate the impact that the laws and procedures of the foreign country may have on the child's future well-being. Such cases require an adequate consideration, often with expert testimony, of whether the terms of a proposed custody order will in fact be recognized and effectively enforced in the foreign country, and for how long, since there may otherwise be serious adverse consequences for the child and a left-behind parent and foreign courts will generally have jurisdiction under their own laws to modify custody orders issued by a U.S. court.
To cite this article: Jeremy D. Morley (2013) The Impact of Foreign Law on Child Custody Determinations, Journal of Child Custody, 10:3-4, 209-235, DOI:

10.1080/15379418.2013.833833

To link to this article:

http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/yPwEVvQNxqAXgJvmB5fg/full#.UqXUvCefkdQ