An American father was recently arrested in Japan for taking his children. The father had tried for a year to persuade a family court in Tennessee that he thought his Japanese ex-wife would flee with the children. The father even tried to restrict his ex-wife’s ability to travel outside the country with their children, but to no avail. Tennessee Court records indicate that mother lived in Japan from 2001 to 2008 and that she obtained Japanese citizenship. Father asked the court to stop a possible child abduction attempt in October 2008 during divorce proceedings, wherein mother was ordered to turn over the children’s passports to the court clerk. The divorce was final in January 2009; however, father continued to seek the court’s assistance in securing his children’s residency in the United States by seeking primary custody or in the alternative assurance that his ex-wife would not flee with the children.
However, in April 2009 the court held that mother could take the children to Japan on a two week vacation. The court recognized father’s concern with the Japanese culture, however allowed mother to travel to Japan since she expressed to the court her desire to remain in Tennessee with the children. The passports were returned to mother and she took the children on a two week vacation to Japan. Mother did in fact return with the children; however, there was no court order that once she returned from Japan that she would have to return the passports to the court. As a result, mother shortly thereafter fled to Japan with the children and father was unable to stop her.
The father learned in August that his children failed to attend school and learned that they were in Japan. The father went to Japan, found his children and grabbed them as they walked to school. As a result, father was arrested and mother had the children. Divorced fathers in Japan are not provided much access to their children because of the cultural belief that small children should be with their mothers. In addition, Japan has declined to sign the 1980 Hague Convention which seeks to ensure that custody decisions are made by the appropriate courts and that the rights of access of both parents are protected. This has begun to raise concern since Japanese mothers are taking their children back to the country and refusing to let their foreign ex-husbands visit them. The United States, Canada, Britain and France have all requested that Japan address the problem.
It is important to make sure that you have a knowledgeable family law attorney on your side that can make sure all safeguards are in place to prevent such a thing from happening. Had father had a knowledgeable attorney, the attorney would have known to request that the passports be returned to the court immediately upon mother’s return, which would have prevented her from fleeing with the children. In addition, a knowledgeable attorney would have assisted father in properly obtaining the children from Japan so as to not get arrested.
Wallin & Klarich has more than 30 years of experience in family law. Our child custody attorneys know from long experience what works in a divorce case, and are prepared to fight to get you the best possible outcome. With 16 attorneys in 33 offices throughout Southern California, we can be there when you need us — wherever you are. If you’re thinking of hiring an attorney for a mediated divorce, call us today at 1-888-749-7428 for a consultation, or fill out the online case evaluation form to the right.