Algeria and International Child Abduction

 Jeremy D. Morley

My expert evidence on the international family law aspects of the laws and procedures of Algeria has resulted in a highly favorable settlement for a parent who feared that the parties’ children might be taken out of the United States to Algeria. I explained that. in my opinion. if the other parent were to take the children to Algeria  and keep them there, then, notwithstanding the issuance of orders requiring the return of the children by the U.S. courts, it would be exceedingly difficult and probably impossible for the left-behind parent to secure the children’ s return home to the United States. I explained in detail the likely outcome of potential litigation in Algeria, and discussed the potential measures to prevent abduction out of the United States. 

In my opinion, when the country in question is a well- recognized safe haven for international child abduction, far less evidence that any specific parent is a potential international child abductor should be  required in order to justify –  and indeed to require –  that a court should take effective steps to prevent a potential child abduction than if the country in question is a compliant party to the Hague Abduction Convention. However, without expert evidence, there is no way for a court in the United States to make the necessary findings concerning the laws and practices of the foreign jurisdiction.