News

The law surrounding a determination of habitual residence, continues to evolve post OCL v. Balev 2018 (Supreme Court of Canada). 

In the recent Alberta Court of Appeal decision in MacDermid v. Aqunio, 2024 ABCA 202, the court upheld the trial judge’s ruling, dismissing the father’s application seeking a ruling under the Hague Convention on Child Abduction that the children’s habitual residence was the Dominican Republic, and that the mother had wrongfully removed or wrongfully retained the children in Canada....

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Successful Hague Convention Application

On December 22, 2023, the writer was successful in securing a costs award of 60% of my client’s legal fees. Our client, the left behind father in Denmark, brought a successful Hague Convention Application for the return of his two children to Copenhagen. The mother has remained in Alberta, no doubt because there is a...

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Valenzuela-Sone v. Barnachea, 2023 ABKB 495

Valenzuela-Sone v. Barnachea, 2023 ABKB 495, held that the Court has jurisdiction, where appropriate, to grant an interim return-child order where habitually-resident-in-Alberta children have been relocated out of Canada in breach of the Divorce Act’s relocation provisions. By way of background, the parties were married in 1999. They have twin 16-year-old daughters. They physically separated in January 2023....

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Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario Conference

Max Blitt QC- Alberta and Prof. Nicholas Bala-Queen’s University, Ontario will be presenting at the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario Conference June 16-17, 2022, on International Cross-Border Mediation Training. They will provide an Overview of International Law for Children: Child Abduction & Relocation Law, The Fundamentals of the Hague Abduction Convention. See – FDRIO...

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Year in Review

Year in Review Update on International Family Law by James Netto & Melissa Kucinski: March 2020. Listen to Webinar View Powerpoint...

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International Child Abduction

Relationships between individuals from different countries are much more common in our world today. If the relationship breaks down and there are children involved, we can have an issue spanning countries! What happens if one parent takes the child to another country without the other parent’s consent? This is international child...

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