Atlanta, GA family & immigration law attorney Judith Delus Montgomery talks about her experience in handling international abduction cases. The individual has established a partnership with the State Department, who contacts them when an international abduction case arises. Cases from Jamaica, the UK, France, Mexico, and Brazil have been handled, marking them as exceptionally challenging and among the most difficult encountered. In such scenarios, the courts evaluate whether the involved country is a signatory of the Abduction Hague Convention law. If it is, the subsequent consideration is the existence of prevailing custody orders in that country, whether originating from the U.S. or the other nation involved.

When custody orders are already in place, the federal courts abstain from determining custody and, instead, respect the existing order. They facilitate the child’s return to the designated jurisdiction, potentially resulting in the child staying in the U.S. with the parent present or necessitating their return to the other country. These cases elicit strong emotions due to the separation of a child from a parent, contributing to their classification as some of the most challenging to handle. Despite the emotional complexity, federal courts expedite these cases, allowing a mere 60 days from the case’s receipt for resolution. This urgency has led to instances where clients from France and the UK attend hearings, and on the same day, the child is returned to their home country.