Attorney Charles Jerome Ware is renowned and consistently ranked among the best attorneys and legal counsellors in the United States. [GQ Magazine, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Columbia Flier, The Howard County Sun, The Anniston Star, The New York Times, et al.]
Jeffrey Lee Chafin, Petitioner v. Lynne Hales Chafin, Docket No. 11-1347, Supreme Court of the United States, OT 2012, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (Case Nos. 11-15355-CC)
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Summary: In this case (Chafin), the Supreme Court is presented with a test of federal court power to resolve issues under the "Hague Convention" treaty on abduction of children to a foreign country (in this case, Scotland, United Kingdom) from the United States.
The specific question is: Whether a federal appeal in a Hague case becomes moot if the child involved has returned to his or her home country ("country of habitual residence").
U.S. Soldier Jeffrey Lee Chafin and his Scottish wife Lynne Hales Chafin had a daughter born in 2007 in Germany where the family was stationed. Subsequently, in 2009, the family of three moved to Alabama, but the marriage began to disintegrate; and, the parents' dispute eventually involved the care of their five-year old daughter.
The father was a U.S. citizen, the mother a United Kingdom citizen, and the daughter was a dual-U.S. and U.K. citizen (dual citizenship). During this period of marital discord, the mother's visa expired, rendering her subject to deportation. Mrs. Chafin was in fact deported back to Scotland in February 2011 after she was arrested for domestic violence and her unlawful immigration status was discovered by the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service). After her deportation, the domestic violence case against her was dropped.
On May 2, 2011, Mrs. Chafin initiated proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama (11th Circuit) seeking an order directing their daughter's (aka "E.C.'s") prompt return to Scotland under the "Hague Convention" treaty and the International Child Abduction Act (ICARA).
Eventually, Mrs. Chafin returned to Scotland with the child, after gaining a federal court order under the Hague Convention declaring that Scotland was the girl’s normal residence. Sgt. Chafin appealed that decision to the Eleventh Circuit, but that court dismissed the case as moot because of the child’s return to Scotland.
In taking the case on to the Supreme Court, Sgt. Chafin argued that the federal appeals courts are split on the mootness issue under the Hague Convention. The Fourth Circuit Court, the petition said, had ruled that an appeals court should retain jurisdiction over such a case to resolve the parents’ competing legal rights. Presumably, it was that conflict that led the Supreme Court to take on the case.
Under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, a child is to be returned to the country of “habitual residence” if the child has been taken to another country in violation of that treaty. One part of the treaty specifies that, until a court has decided that the child is not to be returned to the homeland, a court is not to decide the merits of the rights of custody. Both the U.S. and the United Kingdom are parties to that treaty. There is a dispute in the Chafin case over where the daughter’s country of habitual residence was.
Oral argument before SCOTUS occurred on December 5th, 2012. The Court's decision will come in 2013.
[www.scotusblog.com/ chafin v. chafin/ 12-5-2012; legalnews.findlaw.com/ 12-5-2012/article/Jsutices Struggled With Internation Custody Law; Associated Press/ Wednesday December 5th, 2012]
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