Legal Question in Family Law in California

I live in Boliva and so did my son who was also born here in Bolivia. His mother left to the US when he was only 1 year and a half, and came back in june this year when my son was 3 and a half. She came back saying she was on vacation and a week later she left with my son to the US. She left by paying off an officer, since the Bolivian law says a minor needs both parents authorization to get out of the country. Its been 4 months since the last time I talked to my son, she wont let me contact her in any way.

Today I was informed that the Interpol in Washington received the yellow notice to look for my son and the state gov department is currently doing that.

I am getting a custody order here in Bolivia that I want to enforce there, and for that I need to find an attorney.

Where should I go in order to make the custody be enforced there??

I read something about UCCJA


Asked on 10/24/12, 4:13 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

The UCCJA is primarily used between different states of the United States. Your situation comes under the Hague Convention. If Bolivia is a signatory to the Hague Convention treaties on child custody, the U.S. courts will enforce valid orders of the Bolivian courts. I have not done much work under the Hague Convention regarding child custody, but I have fairly extensive experience with the civil litigation provisions of the Hague Conventions on discovery and jurisdiction. I also have a colleague who is very experienced with international family law. The first step is to determine where the child is located, so that we can determine which U.S. court we would apply to for assistance. If you know or believe he is located anywhere in Northern California or as far south as Los Angeles, Orange County and San Bernardino County, I and/or my colleague would be happy to assist you. If the child is in San Diego, or Imperial County, then I would have to refer you to another attorney.

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Answered on 10/24/12, 4:31 pm


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