Legal Question in Family Law in California

Hi, here is my situation. I would like to hear your rates and schedule a time so we can go over this.

I am a US citizen and Singapore PR, having lived in Singapore since 2010.

I was legally married in the state of California in 2005 and was divorced in California in 2009. I have a 7 year old son.

I have just remarried with a Singapore citizen in Singapore.

My 7 year old son is a US citizen.

The separation was amicable. I have a 50-50 joint custody agreement with regards to my son, except that he had been living with his mom since Jan 2009. His mom brought him over to Singapore in August 2013 where he has been enrolled at a local international school.

We have agreed to not have to deal with alimony and she did get 50% proceeds from the sale of our house. In either case, she would have been making more money than me in the past several years as income levels in Singapore is lower and I have been working on starting up a business of my own.

For the past year that he has been in Singapore, he has been staying with me, and I have been responsible for all of his living and educational costs.

I have also been paying for my son�s educational fees (school fees, daycare fees, swimming classes) all the way even when he was living in California.

While I was in Singapore and he was living in California (from 2010 to 2013), he would visit and live in Singapore for up to 5 weeks each year, and I would visit him in the US for about 2 weeks.

I intend to stay long term in Singapore, and I would like my son to do so, and apply for permanent residency for him so as to reduce educational costs and increase his education options.

My son is happily settled in Singapore. He had wanted to be in Singapore to be with me, although he also wants his mom to be around.

I would like to clarify the following points.

Can my ex-wife legally force to have him brought back to the US or a 3rd country (she is from Taiwan)? And if so, what kind of legal options do I have?

What would be the process if we were to negotiate new custody arrangements in Singapore?

How would I make his ex-mom contribute a larger percentage (preferably 50-50) towards my son�s education?


Asked on 7/16/14, 11:15 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Singapore is a signatory to the Hague Convention treaty on child custody. What this means is that Singapore will enforce properly issued U.S. court orders regarding child custody issued while the child lived in the U.S., and recognizes continuing U.S. jurisdiction over the matter. The good/bad news then is that you will get to deal with this under California law, but you also have to deal with it in California courts.

To answer your specific questions: My rate is $300/hr., which is slightly low for California. I have junior attorneys and paralegals who assist me at lower rates. You will find similar rates/arrangements with most family law attorneys in California.

Yes she can force you to return him to California, but not to another location, and only pending further orders of the court. She would have to file a motion with the court here in California for an order that he be returned. You could oppose it based on the facts you have outlined that he is settled in with you. The court would probably deny the motion, pending a final decision on changes to the custody order to reflect the new realities. Whether or not the court would rule that he stays with you or returns to mom for the long term would turn on too many issues even to guess at a result in an internet Q&A.

The better solution by far, however, would be a negotiated new arrangement, as you mention. You can legally work out pretty much any new arrangement you can agree on as far as whom he spends time with and when. Child support is then calculated by a pretty much automatic formula from there, although you can also agree to deviate from it if you both agree. Once you reach agreement, you would have an attorney such as myself prepare a stipulated order modifying the existing custody order and submit it to the court. Unless you were trying to agree to something highly irregular, the court will accept the stipulation and issue the new order. All of this can be done by email/fax/.pdf etc.

Let me know if you have further questions.

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Answered on 7/17/14, 9:19 am


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