Child Abduction Legal Information

MAX BLITT, Q.C.

Max Blitt provides legal services in the areas of Real Estate, Family Law, Wills and Estates. Max Blitt has also had extensive experience dealing with the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abductions in additional to international property and support issues. He has personally been involved in assisting clients and legal counsel to recover children that have been abducted by parents and relatives to other Provinces in Canada, the United States, Poland, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Sweden, Italy, South Africa, Turkey, Bulgaria, China, Bangladesh, India, Australia, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon and the United Kingdom. Mr. Blitt holds a Bachelor of Arts (Pre-Law) degree from the University of Calgary, as well as a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Alberta.

Max Blitt has been a Senior Lawyer with Spier Harben since 1993 and has been involved in litigation involving all Court levels up to the Alberta Court of Appeal.

Legal Cases

1. Max Blitt KC Successful in Securing a Mother’s Relocation to Florida

   On November 29, 2022, Max Blitt KC was successful in securing permission from the Court of King’s Bench in Lethbridge, Alberta in M v I Action #4806-022768 (unreported-publication ban) to enable his client the mother (“I”) to permanently relocate her two children A (5 years of age) and S (2 ½ years of age) to Florida. The mother was originally from Florida and met the father at a fitness convention in Florida in 2016. The father resided in Alberta where he had numerous businesses. After travelling back and forth between Florida and Alberta, the mother settled in Alberta, and after signing a Prenuptial Agreement married the father in June 2019 in Alberta. The parties separated in May 2021. The marriage was tumultuous, with the mother feeling unsupported and emotionally abused by the father. The father had sponsored the mother to enable her to retain immigration status in Canada. That sponsorship ended abruptly when the father started divorce proceedings. Matters came to a head when the father asked the maternal grandmother whether she would take the mother and the children into their home in Florida, to which the response was yes. The mother left Alberta with the children for Florida with the consent of the father. There was conflicting evidence as to whether the move could be permanent or temporary. The mother and children remained in Florida for a year. Approximately 6 months after the mother left the father brought an application in Alberta to compel the return of the children. The Lethbridge court granted an order to that effect but allowed the mother and children to reside anywhere in Alberta she chose, which ended up being over a 1000 kms from where the father lived. Support was also ordered in favor of the children and the mother. The father also launched a Hague Convention application in Florida to compel the return of the children. Both parties also appealed the Lethbridge court order to the Alberta Court of Appeal, but before the appeal and the Florida Hague application could be heard the parties reached an agreement to secure the return of the children voluntarily to Alberta with both parties discontinuing their appeals. The matter then went to a trial in November 2022 to determine mobility. The trial court was tasked with interpreting the new Divorce Act, which involved determining who had the burden of proof on relocation, the primary parent the mother, or the access parent (he had extensive access), the father. The Court of King’s Bench analyzed the new sections 16 (3) and 16.92 (1) which set out the factors to determine the test of what is in the best interest of the children of the marriage. Much evidence was led by the mother about the father’s abusive conduct toward her and the children. An unsuccessful attempt by the mother to introduce similar fact evidence of physical abuse and threats to the life of a previous relationship partner of the father were denied. In the end the Court held that it was in the best interests of the children to be able to move to Florida. The father has appealed.

2. DY v. KY

   The Alberta Court of Appeal in the recent Hague case involving Connecticut upheld the objection of a 13-year-old child to being returned to her father in Connecticut. The case is unique, in that the step Grandmother was defending against the father’s application to return his 13-year-old daughter. The step Grandmother was successful in the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, and the father appealed. The facts were that the father at the beginning of the Pandemic was experiencing financial difficulties and was virtually homeless. The child had been placed with friends, who were exhibiting domestic violence. The child called her step grandmother for help. The father agreed to allow the child to come to live with the step grandmother for a few months in Alberta during COVID. This would enable the father to find suitable housing. After the child arrived, she disclosed physical and emotional abuse at the hands of the father, who was engaged in selling illegal drugs. As a result, the step grandmother sought sole guardianship of the child in Alberta. Expert evidence was provided to the court by a psychologist, by way of a Voice of the Child Report. It supported the maturity of the child, and that the child had a genuine objection to return, that had not been influenced by others. During the proceedings, the father threatened one of the step grandmother’s witnesses, who was deposed in Connecticut. Other witnesses provided corroborating evidence that the father sold drugs, was abusive to his daughter and had a history of using women for financial gain. The step grandmother had been married to the paternal grandfather in Connecticut, who died of cancer. The step grandmother had known the father since he was a child, and after the birth of the father’s child had taken care of the child on numerous ocassions. Counsel for the step Grandmother was Max Blitt QC.

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Education

• Bachelor of Arts (Pre-Law), University of Calgary, 1973.
• Bachelor of Laws, University of Alberta, 1974.

Certification

• Member of the Law Society of Alberta.
• Appointed Queen’s Counsel of Alberta.

Professional Affiliations

• Canadian Bar Association
• Calgary Bar Association
• Canada Family Mediation Society
• Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (International)
• Member of Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association
• Canadian Wildlife Federation Member.
• International Academy of Family Lawyers
• Member International Child Abduction Attorney Network (ICAAN)
• International Bar Association
• UK and Wales Bar Association (International)
• American Bar Association (International)
• UK Reunite Roster Lawyer

Professional Activities/Presentations

• • May/June 2007 Washington, D.C. Attended the 44th Annual Conference of Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC); “Judicial Officers Forum:

International Child Abduction” and “International Child Abduction: risk Factors and Prevention.”.

• • Panellist, CFCN TV Re: Child Abductions
  • Speaker, Child Find Alberta 1989 Conference, Legal Aspects of Child Abduction.
  • Canadian Bar Association, Mid-Winter Meeting, Organizing Committee – Legal Aspects of Child Abduction.
  • Article contained in Law Now, University of Alberta, International Child Abductions, October/November 2003.
  • Speaker, AMECO (Association of Missing and Exploited Children’s Organizations) Case Manager Training Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, December 2003.
  • Speaker, Northwest Coalition of Missing Children Investigators and Professionals Symposium, April 2005, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
  • Article contained in Law Now, University of Alberta, International Child Abductions, October/November 2003.
  • Speaker, AMECO (Association of Missing and Exploited Children’s Organizations) Case Manager Training Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, December 2003.
  • Speaker, Northwest Coalition of Missing Children Investigators and Professionals Symposium, April 2005, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
  • Speaker, Prairie Regional Our Missing Children Conference, Canada Border Services Agency, Calgary, Alberta, October 2005.
  • May/June 2007 Washington, D.C. Attended the 44th Annual Conference of Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC); “Judicial Officers

Forum:International Child Abduction” and “International Child Abduction: Risk Factors and Prevention.”.

• • Court Appointed Dispute Resolution Officer with the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta (2006 to present)
  • Negotiations / Advocacy Assessment Instructor for the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education 2008-Present (Bar Admission Course)
  • Ismailis International Mediation Training – Vancouver, BC., September 2009
  • Canadian Delegation Speaker (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade) on Missing and Abducted Children’s Issues in Tokyo, Japan 2009 / 2010
  • Vancouver, BC – International Bar Association, Presenter Mock Trial of a full Hague Convention International Child Abduction Case, October 2010
  • Law Now Article “Cross-Cultural Mediation,” University of Alberta, January 2011.
  • Appointed to the Family Law Advisory Committee of the Law Society of Alberta 2011
  • Speaker on Missing and Abducted Children’s Issues in Tokyo, Japan 2009 / 2010
  • Member of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) Roundtable Discussions on Developing an International Protocol for Mediating

Cross-Border Disputes

• • Article titled “Cross-Border Mediation” in Law Now, University of Alberta, January 2011
  • Faculty Member of the Federal / Provincial Canadian Judge’s Conference (National Judicial Institute) in February 2011
  • Lecturer in Cape Town, South Africa in March 2011-“Canadian Experience in International Child Abductions”
  • Invited to Present to the International Bar Association in Dubai, on the Canadian Perspective on Sharia Law and Enforcement of Orders from Non-Hague Convention

Countries, November 2011

• • Alberta Law Conference, Calgary, Alberta – Chair Person regarding the law relating to Internationally and Domestically Abducted Children, January 2012
  • Published Paper on the Voice of the Child In Hague Convention Child Abduction cases for the International Bar Association Newsletter, September 2012
  • 6th World Congress on Family Law and Children’s Rights, Sydney Australia- Presented on the Voice of the Child in the context of the Hague Convention on the

Civil Aspects of International Child Abductions, March 2013

• • Canadian Bar Association Annual Meeting, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-Presenter on the Hague Convention and the Rights of the Child to Legal Representation, August

2013

• Paper for the International Bar Association, Challenges Facing Counsel for Children in the Context of the Hague Convention, September 2013
• Canadian Bar Association Webinar on the Operation of the Hague Convention and the Role of the Child’s Lawyer, May 2014
• Canadian Bar Association Webinar on Child Abduction: Prevention of & Response to National & International Cases, October 2014 (new)
• October 2015 International Academy of Family Lawyer’s Conference in Quebec City, presented ‘Voice of Child’ in the context of the Hague Convention;
• September 2016 Canadian Bar Association and Agha Khan Ismailis Council, Calgary, Joint Presentation on Cultural and Religious Issues in Mediation, Chairperson;

Volunteer Work

• Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter, Director, Calgary.
• Alberta Mediation Society, Director, Calgary.
• Child Find Alberta, Past-President.
• Child Find Canada, Director.
• Calgary Zoo, Trustee.
• Calgary Zoo Foundation, Past-Chairman.
• Legal Aid Society of Alberta, Appeals Committee.
• Alberta Lawyers’ Assistance Society.
• Calgary Legal Guidance.