I'm not too terribly surprised that it has been over a month since I last blogged. So much has happened with getting the boys through another semester of school, then Christmas, then New Years, then one of the boys' birthdays then Snowcalypse (although with the unexpected break caused by Snowcalypse I would have thought I'd blog more, not less) and finally, a presentation I delivered on the United Nations Agreements reached in Cancun in December.
Still, all of that is a poor excuse for neglecting my nightly blog duties. A pox upon me for loafing.
The Firm continues to do exceptionally well. Looking back at 2010 we actually helped more people than in 2009 which was an astonishing accomplishment in this economy. Of course, you are familiar with our successful battles in Cyprus in getting little girls returned under the Hague convention and preventing the departure of a boy to non-Hague country, Nigeria with only 24 hours' notice, and the location and rescue of a boy who had been abducted by his estranged and violent father.
You no doubt recall reports of the trials, now too numerous to mention, but capping off with that $500,000 alimony award when the opposing counsel had asked the jury for $3.2 million.
All in all, while 2010 could have been better for our nation and our clients, it was not a bad year for The Firm.
So, now I'm back at the late night keyboard, typing out a line, reaching out into cyberspace, and dropping a few observations about this curious profession and the practice I've chosen and so dearly love - Family Law.
Stay tuned...
Michael Manely
Showing posts with label Hague Convention. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hague Convention. Show all posts
Monday, January 17, 2011
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
A Very Happy Thanksgiving
Though Thanksgiving is now last week's news, I want to share events of that week with you as it relates to one 12 year old boy.
On the Friday before Thanksgiving, late in the afternoon, 4:31 to be precise, I was just starting to watch the premier of Harry Potter with my three boys when my cell phone buzzed. I usually will ignore such stimuli when engaged in family activities, but the movie hadn't yet grabbed me and I was out of the office early. So I pulled the phone from my pocket and checked.
An Opposing Counsel in a very contested divorce matter had emailed me an attachment. I opened the email then the attachment which was his letter. His letter informed me that his client, the opposing party in a divorce action, was high tailing it back to her homeland in Nigeria the next day, Saturday, with my client's and the opposing party's 12 year old son.
I immediately called The Firm. We sent a letter to Opposing Counsel; we called Opposing Counsel; I sent an email to Opposing Counsel, all to object in the strongest terms possible to the removal of this boy from the State of Georgia, not to mention the United States of America.
When you file a divorce, the Court grants an automatic Standing Order. The Standing Order sets some ground rules that all the Superior Court judges think are a good idea in every divorce. The first section of the Order says that children of the parties are not to be removed from the jurisdiction of the Court. This means you can't take kids out of the State of Georgia, absent approval from the opposite party or the Court itself.
And here the opposing party was taking off to Nigeria, which is quite outside the jurisdiction of the Court.
Further, Nigeria is not a signatory to the Hague Convention. This means that if the opposing party decided not to return, she could never be forced to return the child, even though he was born here, raised here and had never set foot in Nigeria.
The silence from Opposing Counsel was deafening. We had ample reason to worry that the opposing party was, in fact, running. My most excellent team sprung into action.
Associate Jeremy Abernathy drafted a quick Motion for an Emergency Hearing; Paralegal Robyn Midanaky checked every corner of the Courthouse for a judge at that late hour. Sadly, none could be found. All our judges had left for the day and would not return to the Courthouse until after the child had been successfuly spirited out of the country and into hostile territory, from the Hague's perspective. Opposing Counsel had timed his strike perfectly.
Next, paralegal Nora Stocks came on board. She, too had been spending a late afternoon/early evening with her family but left all of that aside and spent the next 18 hours working closely with the United States' State Department, Customs, Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Atlanta Police Department coordinating everyone's activity and obtaining and providing them with the necessary documents to stop the opposing party from fleeing the country with the boy the next day.
After dozens of calls and hours upon hours on the telephone, at 11:00 on Saturday night, United States and local officials intercepted the opposing party at the gate and explained to her in no uncertain terms that she was not stepping onto that airplane with that boy. The boy was saved.
The opposing party decided to fly on to Nigeria that night. She left the boy behind in the care of her 22 year old daughter from a prior relationship, who had also been booked on that Nigeria bound flight.
By Monday we had filed our Motion. By Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., the Judge assigned to the divorce case heard the weekend's history and Ordered Opposing Counsel to turn over the boy to my client.
That Thursday, in the middle of the afternoon, my client bowed his head with his son to pray, thankful that his boy was with him, feasting at the table in this most American holiday.
I want to express my sincere and deep thanks to my most excellent staff, and particularly Nora. Their hard work and dedication to our purpose saved this boy and provided our client with a very happy Thanksgiving.
Michael Manely
http://www.allfamilylaw.com/PracticeAreas/International-Family-Law.asp
On the Friday before Thanksgiving, late in the afternoon, 4:31 to be precise, I was just starting to watch the premier of Harry Potter with my three boys when my cell phone buzzed. I usually will ignore such stimuli when engaged in family activities, but the movie hadn't yet grabbed me and I was out of the office early. So I pulled the phone from my pocket and checked.
An Opposing Counsel in a very contested divorce matter had emailed me an attachment. I opened the email then the attachment which was his letter. His letter informed me that his client, the opposing party in a divorce action, was high tailing it back to her homeland in Nigeria the next day, Saturday, with my client's and the opposing party's 12 year old son.
I immediately called The Firm. We sent a letter to Opposing Counsel; we called Opposing Counsel; I sent an email to Opposing Counsel, all to object in the strongest terms possible to the removal of this boy from the State of Georgia, not to mention the United States of America.
When you file a divorce, the Court grants an automatic Standing Order. The Standing Order sets some ground rules that all the Superior Court judges think are a good idea in every divorce. The first section of the Order says that children of the parties are not to be removed from the jurisdiction of the Court. This means you can't take kids out of the State of Georgia, absent approval from the opposite party or the Court itself.
And here the opposing party was taking off to Nigeria, which is quite outside the jurisdiction of the Court.
Further, Nigeria is not a signatory to the Hague Convention. This means that if the opposing party decided not to return, she could never be forced to return the child, even though he was born here, raised here and had never set foot in Nigeria.
The silence from Opposing Counsel was deafening. We had ample reason to worry that the opposing party was, in fact, running. My most excellent team sprung into action.
Associate Jeremy Abernathy drafted a quick Motion for an Emergency Hearing; Paralegal Robyn Midanaky checked every corner of the Courthouse for a judge at that late hour. Sadly, none could be found. All our judges had left for the day and would not return to the Courthouse until after the child had been successfuly spirited out of the country and into hostile territory, from the Hague's perspective. Opposing Counsel had timed his strike perfectly.
Next, paralegal Nora Stocks came on board. She, too had been spending a late afternoon/early evening with her family but left all of that aside and spent the next 18 hours working closely with the United States' State Department, Customs, Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Atlanta Police Department coordinating everyone's activity and obtaining and providing them with the necessary documents to stop the opposing party from fleeing the country with the boy the next day.
After dozens of calls and hours upon hours on the telephone, at 11:00 on Saturday night, United States and local officials intercepted the opposing party at the gate and explained to her in no uncertain terms that she was not stepping onto that airplane with that boy. The boy was saved.
The opposing party decided to fly on to Nigeria that night. She left the boy behind in the care of her 22 year old daughter from a prior relationship, who had also been booked on that Nigeria bound flight.
By Monday we had filed our Motion. By Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., the Judge assigned to the divorce case heard the weekend's history and Ordered Opposing Counsel to turn over the boy to my client.
That Thursday, in the middle of the afternoon, my client bowed his head with his son to pray, thankful that his boy was with him, feasting at the table in this most American holiday.
I want to express my sincere and deep thanks to my most excellent staff, and particularly Nora. Their hard work and dedication to our purpose saved this boy and provided our client with a very happy Thanksgiving.
Michael Manely
http://www.allfamilylaw.com/PracticeAreas/International-Family-Law.asp
Monday, May 17, 2010
Welcome home, girls.
As you may have noticed, we handle many international cases and many of those cases are custody cases invoking the Hague Convention.
The Hague Convention I'm referring to pertains to international jurisdiction over children in custody disputes. It most often is used when a spouse flees with the children to another country. Nation states that are signatories to the Hague have treaty obligations to each other to accept pre-determined standards to confer jurisdiction.
My firm has a wonderful track record on Hague cases. We have excellent working relationships with other attorneys across the globe and probably more international family law experience than any other Atlanta firm.
The case I'm writing about tonight just had a major development today.
We represent the father, who is American born but his parents are originally from Greece. The mother is from Cyprus. The parties take an annual vacation to Cyprus to visit the mother's parents and siblings. In the summer of 2008, the parties had their second daughter. Their oldest daughter was then four. In September, as in year's past, the parties flew to Cyprus.
When it came time to return, the mother said that neither she nor the girls were coming home. The mother stated that it had nothing to do with the father, she just hated Georgia in general and Cherokee County in particular. The father tried to run with the girls a few days later, but was physically stopped by the mother's brothers at the airport.
When the father returned home, he hired us. We filed a divorce and Hague action in Cherokee County before the Honorable Jackson Harris. The mother went to ground in Cyprus and hid out for months. We pursued the Hague action internationally, getting the State Department on board and then getting the action moving in Cyprus. The mother was finally found and served in Cyprus about a year after she had fled.
Cyprus held its trial over the course of a month in March and April of this year. Our office was fortunate enough to be a part of the Cyprus trial team each day as the strategy was developed and the questions were prepared.
On May 4, Cyprus gave us her ruling. The mother must return with the children to Woodstock, Georgia, by Friday, May 7.
On May 7, the children arrived at Hartsfield and the father met the plane. The mother was still acting as though she could control the courts so she quickly hurried the children off. We soon got beyond that barrier and, after an afternoon long visitation yesterday, the father got to take the girls home today.
Fortunately for me, the father was kind enough to stop by my office so that the staff and I could see the girls and weep for joy at their safe return. Seeing those girls beem at their daddy was one of the most satisfying moments I have had in my career. And I'm here to tell you I've had many satisfying moments in my career.
There are still some battles to be fought in this matter, all safely here at home. But for now, all is right with the world.
Welcome home, girls.
Michael Manely
The Hague Convention I'm referring to pertains to international jurisdiction over children in custody disputes. It most often is used when a spouse flees with the children to another country. Nation states that are signatories to the Hague have treaty obligations to each other to accept pre-determined standards to confer jurisdiction.
My firm has a wonderful track record on Hague cases. We have excellent working relationships with other attorneys across the globe and probably more international family law experience than any other Atlanta firm.
The case I'm writing about tonight just had a major development today.
We represent the father, who is American born but his parents are originally from Greece. The mother is from Cyprus. The parties take an annual vacation to Cyprus to visit the mother's parents and siblings. In the summer of 2008, the parties had their second daughter. Their oldest daughter was then four. In September, as in year's past, the parties flew to Cyprus.
When it came time to return, the mother said that neither she nor the girls were coming home. The mother stated that it had nothing to do with the father, she just hated Georgia in general and Cherokee County in particular. The father tried to run with the girls a few days later, but was physically stopped by the mother's brothers at the airport.
When the father returned home, he hired us. We filed a divorce and Hague action in Cherokee County before the Honorable Jackson Harris. The mother went to ground in Cyprus and hid out for months. We pursued the Hague action internationally, getting the State Department on board and then getting the action moving in Cyprus. The mother was finally found and served in Cyprus about a year after she had fled.
Cyprus held its trial over the course of a month in March and April of this year. Our office was fortunate enough to be a part of the Cyprus trial team each day as the strategy was developed and the questions were prepared.
On May 4, Cyprus gave us her ruling. The mother must return with the children to Woodstock, Georgia, by Friday, May 7.
On May 7, the children arrived at Hartsfield and the father met the plane. The mother was still acting as though she could control the courts so she quickly hurried the children off. We soon got beyond that barrier and, after an afternoon long visitation yesterday, the father got to take the girls home today.
Fortunately for me, the father was kind enough to stop by my office so that the staff and I could see the girls and weep for joy at their safe return. Seeing those girls beem at their daddy was one of the most satisfying moments I have had in my career. And I'm here to tell you I've had many satisfying moments in my career.
There are still some battles to be fought in this matter, all safely here at home. But for now, all is right with the world.
Welcome home, girls.
Michael Manely
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Other tasks
It has been a while since I ventured here to leave a reflection or two.
Since my last entry, I've spent the better part of a week in Continuing Legal Education classes studying general trial techniques. Considering that successful family law attorneys are in court second only to prosecutors, averaging four to five hearings a week, I knew this was an excellent CLE to attend, and the General Practice and Trial Section of the State Bar did not disapoint.
After that, I have been researching and writing a paper I delivered today on International Custody for the Family Law bar. I was quite privileged to be asked to deliver this paper. It is always an honor to speak before such distinguished attorneys.
I lectured on what we call the Hague Convention, also known as the International Convention on Child Abduction. I have handled perhaps more cases than most other attorneys so I have become fairly fluent in Hague actions, procedures and strategies. It was a great pleasure to bring my skills to the service of the Family Law bar.
I'll get back in the throws tomorrow. I already look forward to it.
Since my last entry, I've spent the better part of a week in Continuing Legal Education classes studying general trial techniques. Considering that successful family law attorneys are in court second only to prosecutors, averaging four to five hearings a week, I knew this was an excellent CLE to attend, and the General Practice and Trial Section of the State Bar did not disapoint.
After that, I have been researching and writing a paper I delivered today on International Custody for the Family Law bar. I was quite privileged to be asked to deliver this paper. It is always an honor to speak before such distinguished attorneys.
I lectured on what we call the Hague Convention, also known as the International Convention on Child Abduction. I have handled perhaps more cases than most other attorneys so I have become fairly fluent in Hague actions, procedures and strategies. It was a great pleasure to bring my skills to the service of the Family Law bar.
I'll get back in the throws tomorrow. I already look forward to it.
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