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There is “clear
and convincing evidence that Egyptian child custody laws violate fundamental
principles of human rights.” Therefore, Washington State should not treat Egypt
as a “state” for purposes of the Uniform Child Custody & Jurisdiction Act.
So ruled the Superior Court of Washington for King County yesterday
based on the expert evidence of international family lawyer Jeremy D. Morley
and another expert.
The
Washington court found, inter alia, that Egyptian family courts apply specific
Sharia law rules to child custody cases, under which a Muslim mother is
disqualified from custody if she does not raise the child as a Muslim and / or
if she does not comply with Muslim religious requirements or if she remarries
or moves away from the father’s domicile. It also found that Sharia child
custody law in Egypt does not adequately take into account acts of domestic
violence perpetrated by the husband against his wife and that a husband is
entitled there to use physical force against a “disobedient” wife.
For this
reason the Washington court found that the Egyptian courts had no child custody
jurisdiction, even though the parties and their son had lived in Egypt at all relevant
times until the mother, without the husband’s consent, left for the United
States with the child, and even though the husband filed a case for custody in
Egypt within six months thereafter.
The so-called “escape clause” in the UCCJEA has not been much
used thus far. A key reason for this is
that there has often been a failure to offer effective expert evidence
concerning the laws and procedures of the foreign country. The new Washington
case demonstrates the value that such evidence may provide.
