Mark Ashton, a partner in our Exton (Chester County) office, and former editor of our Pennsylvania Family Law Blog, wrote on interesting post entitled "The Tangled World of International Custody; The Hague Convention" that was recently published on that blog.

Mark’s post discusses that the May 13 edition of the Wall Street Journal featured an article concerning the internationalization of the home buying market. Mark notes that as our global economy shrinks, people are buying homes in far off places as a matter of convenience and investment. Mark posits that easy access to international residences, however, can have unintended consequences as a May 13th interview with Mr. David Goldman demonstrates.

We have blogged in the past about Hague issues and the tragic story of the Goldman custody fight involving the abduction of his son, by David’s former wife, to Brazil, and the efforts ta ht she and her family took to prevent the return of the child.

As reported in the New Jersey Law Journal, two weeks ago, a New Jersey law firm was found liable to the ex-husband of a former client for giving her the child’s passport which was supposed to be held by her attorneys per a court order – allowing her to abscond with the child to Spain.  The jury awarded the father $950,000 with potentially more in legal fees to come.

In cases where there could be ties to other countries, some discussion should be had to determine whether safeguards need to be put into place. Safeguards are not required in every case, but where a client has some concern, discussions about passports and international travel may be warranted. 

In any event, as usual, Mark’s post provides some interesting food for thought.