With it becoming increasingly easy to travel to many foreign countries and the influx of technology making it possible to connect with people all across the globe, the potential for marriages or relationships between people from different countries is rising as well.
However, these situations can get extremely complicated if the marriage results in children and then ends in divorce. This can result in significant custody issues and ongoing legal proceedings, however, if the two parents are permanently residing in two different countries. Such has been the case for actress Kelly Rutherford and her ex-husband Daniel Giersch.
While Giersch was born in Germany, he relocated to Monaco shortly after the couple’s 2008 divorce when there was an issue with his visa. At the time, the courts decided that the couple’s children would live with their father in Monaco and Rutherford would travel to the country to visit. Earlier this year, Rutherford was able to get the court’s permission to bring the children to the United States for the summer, but when it came time to return them to their father, Rutherford refused.
Rutherford did eventually produce the children and send them back to Monaco. The next court date for the case is set for Sept. 3, and Rutherford will need to travel to the foreign court to continue her battle. When dealing with these kinds of custody disputes, it’s important to have legal representation that is well versed in international custody battles and able to advise you on how to deal with the case in both the U.S. and foreign courts.
Source: US Weekly, “Kelly Rutherford Opens Up About Heartbreaking Custody Battle: “It Was a Done Deal”,” Esther Lee, Aug. 14, 2015
