International family law focuses on two discrete areas of international practice: (1) private international law, and (2) comparative family law. Key topics include marriage, divorce, custody and movement of children, child support, spousal support, and financial rights and remedies. In addition, there are some areas of developing law, such as parentage and family formation (for example, through adoption or surrogacy) and unmarried partnership rights.
A Primer on International Family Law
[This post is one in a series of primers on different topics in transnational litigation. To access other primers, please click on the “Topics” drop-down menu above.] International family law focuses on two discrete areas of international practice: (1) private international law, and (2) comparative family law. This area of practice is traditionally broken down…
Continue ReadingConfusion in the Recognition of Foreign Country Judgments
There are at least three different legal regimes in the United States that govern the recognition of foreign judgments. While the distinctions between these regimes is clear to me—and, I suspect, to many readers of this blog—the same is not necessarily true for many judges and practicing attorneys. In this post, I first discuss a…
Continue ReadingUtah: A Virtual Gretna Green?
In Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, Lydia Bennet plans to elope to the village of Gretna Green, Scotland with Mr. Wickham. As she explains in a letter: You will laugh when you know where I am gone, and I cannot help laughing myself at your surprise tomorrow morning, as soon as I am missed….
Continue ReadingNorth Carolina Court Recognizes Ghanaian Proxy Marriage
A marriage celebrated outside the United States will generally be recognized by a court within the United States if two requirements are met. First, the couple must have satisfied all of the legal requirements of the place of celebration. Second, the marriage cannot be contrary to the public policy of the recognizing state. The North…
Continue ReadingInternational Child Abduction Remedies Act
Golan v. Saada, 142 S. Ct. 1880 (2022)
Abbott v. Abbott, 560 U.S. 1 (2010)
Hague Convention on Celebration and Recognition of the Validity of Marriages (1974)
Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (1980)
Hague Convention on the Recognition of Divorces and Legal Separation (1970)