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. 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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2. R.V.W. v C.L.W. 2021

   The mother, a Canadian, married the father, a US citizen, in Texas where their son was born. The mother abducted the child from Texas to Alberta. The mother was unsuccessful in advancing two arguments:

   1. The child was now settled in Alberta, after being in that province for over a year and the father having filed his Hague Convention application for return more than one year after the wrongful removal.

   2. The court should vary the custody and return order from the Texas Court that the mother was appealing, based upon the absence of a ‘real and substantial connection’ and that the child would be at risk if returned to the father in Texas.

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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.