Child Abduction

• Author: International Law Group
• Pages: 62-63

Page 62

Petitioner Sarah Claudia Aragon Cantor and Respondent Andrew Cohen married in April 1990 in Israel. During the marriage the couple had four children, R.C., A.C., I.C., and Y.C. On July 16, 1998, the couple divorced in an Israeli Rabbinical Court; it also decreed that respondent would take custody of A.C. and I.C. and petitioner would retain custody of Y.C. and R.C. Petitioner and respondent later agreed on placing the girls, R.C. and A.C., with the petitioner and the boys, I.C. and Y.C. with the respondent. On January 2, 2000, the Rabbinical Court handed down a modified divorce degree conforming to this agreement.

On July 9, 2002, the Court issued a third divorce decree providing that petitioner would retain custody over the two girls and respondent over the two boys. This decree also ruled that the two boys and A.C. should live with the respondent in Germany, where the U.S. Air Force had stationed him at the time. In December 2002, petitioner and respondent had talks about R.C.'s situation in Israel. As a result, the parties agreed that R.C. would move to Germany to live with respondent. The parties, however, could not agree on when R.C. should return to Israel.

On March 2, 2004, the USAF assigned respondent briefly to Qatar and then back to the U.S. At the end of his tour, respondent and the four children continued to live in the U.S. Petitioner, who was still living in Israel, filed with the Maryland federal court asking for the return of, and/or access to, the children. The court found that it lacked jurisdiction to hear petitioner's access claims and dismissed that prong of the petition. The court then granted petitioner's motion for final judgment and petitioner noted a timely appeal. Reviewing the case de novo, the Fourth Circuit affirms.

The petitioner argued that the plain language of 42 U.S.C. ß 11603(b) of the ICARA, which implements the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction [T.I.A.S. 11670; in force for U.S. July 1, 1988], confers jurisdiction on federal courts to hear access claims. It states that: "[a]ny person seeking to initiate judicial proceedings under the Convention for the return of a child or for arrangements for organizing or securing the effective exercise of rights of access to a child may do so by commencing a civil action by filing a petition for relief sought in any court which has jurisdiction of such action and which is authorized to exercise its jurisdiction in the...