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Japan urged to solve global child custody disputes
Japan urged to solve global child custody disputes
By MARI YAMAGUCHI (AP) – 6 days ago
TOKYO — Ambassadors from the U.S. and seven other countries urged Japan on Friday to quickly resolve a growing number of international child custody disputes, a day after Japanese police freed an American man accused of snatching his own children.
Japanese law allows only one divorced parent as custodian — almost always the mother — leaving many fathers without access to their children until they are grown.
In a growing number of custody cases, Japanese mothers bring their children back to Japan and refuse to let their foreign ex-husbands visit.
U.S. Ambassador John Roos and ambassadors from Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand and Spain told Justice Minister Keiko Chiba that Japan should sign an international convention on child abduction and set up ways to allow foreign parents to visit their children.
"We place the highest priority on the welfare of children who have been the victims of international parental child abduction and believe that our children should grow up with access to both parents," they said in a joint statement after the meeting.
Japanese police on Thursday released Christopher Savoie, who was arrested Sept. 28 after his Japanese ex-wife told police he grabbed their two children, ages 8 and 6, as she was walking them to school, forced them into a car and drove away.
In an e-mail Friday to The Associated Press, Christopher Savoie's wife, Amy, wrote, "Christopher's case definitely helped to shine a light on the situation! It is a step in the right direction..."
Prosecutors have not pressed charges against Christopher Savoie, but they haven't yet dropped the case, authorities said. Kidnapping minors in Japan carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
Savoie was allowed to leave Japan on the condition he not take the children with him. He also promised to settle the dispute with his ex-wife through negotiations, according to the office of his Japanese lawyer, Tadashi Yoshino. Amy Savoie said he is recuperating at an undisclosed location.
"After suffering the loss of the most significant part of his family, Christopher will be nurturing the family that is left," she wrote. "He learned that kids can be taken from you in an instant. Enjoy them every moment."---------------------------------
Child custody for fathers Child custody laws for dads and husbands. Custody Warriors is a members only site for fathers that want to fight and win equal rights to raise their children. Learn child custody laws, share your child custody experiences with other fathers across the United States & around the World. Learn to prepare for the child custody battle ahead and receive feedback from dads who have shared your experiences. There are hundreds of private members only sites devoted to women and mothers seeking child support and custody. Child custody laws and courts around the world discriminate against fathers in child custody cases. It is time for fathers to unite. There is strength in numbers.
By MARI YAMAGUCHI (AP) – 6 days ago
TOKYO — Ambassadors from the U.S. and seven other countries urged Japan on Friday to quickly resolve a growing number of international child custody disputes, a day after Japanese police freed an American man accused of snatching his own children.
Japanese law allows only one divorced parent as custodian — almost always the mother — leaving many fathers without access to their children until they are grown.
In a growing number of custody cases, Japanese mothers bring their children back to Japan and refuse to let their foreign ex-husbands visit.
U.S. Ambassador John Roos and ambassadors from Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand and Spain told Justice Minister Keiko Chiba that Japan should sign an international convention on child abduction and set up ways to allow foreign parents to visit their children.
"We place the highest priority on the welfare of children who have been the victims of international parental child abduction and believe that our children should grow up with access to both parents," they said in a joint statement after the meeting.
Japanese police on Thursday released Christopher Savoie, who was arrested Sept. 28 after his Japanese ex-wife told police he grabbed their two children, ages 8 and 6, as she was walking them to school, forced them into a car and drove away.
In an e-mail Friday to The Associated Press, Christopher Savoie's wife, Amy, wrote, "Christopher's case definitely helped to shine a light on the situation! It is a step in the right direction..."
Prosecutors have not pressed charges against Christopher Savoie, but they haven't yet dropped the case, authorities said. Kidnapping minors in Japan carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
Savoie was allowed to leave Japan on the condition he not take the children with him. He also promised to settle the dispute with his ex-wife through negotiations, according to the office of his Japanese lawyer, Tadashi Yoshino. Amy Savoie said he is recuperating at an undisclosed location.
"After suffering the loss of the most significant part of his family, Christopher will be nurturing the family that is left," she wrote. "He learned that kids can be taken from you in an instant. Enjoy them every moment."---------------------------------
Child custody for fathers Child custody laws for dads and husbands. Custody Warriors is a members only site for fathers that want to fight and win equal rights to raise their children. Learn child custody laws, share your child custody experiences with other fathers across the United States & around the World. Learn to prepare for the child custody battle ahead and receive feedback from dads who have shared your experiences. There are hundreds of private members only sites devoted to women and mothers seeking child support and custody. Child custody laws and courts around the world discriminate against fathers in child custody cases. It is time for fathers to unite. There is strength in numbers.
Court to decide constitutionality of bad advice
Court to decide constitutionality of bad advice
By JESSE J. HOLLAND (AP) – October 13, 2009
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices on Tuesday questioned whether defendants should expect their lawyers to correctly advise them on all the possible consequences of a guilty plea, including on important issues like deportation.
Jose Padilla, who was born in Honduras, wants the high court to throw out his 2001 guilty plea to drug charges in Kentucky.
Padilla, who has lived in the United States for more than 40 years as a legal permanent resident, said he asked his lawyer at the time whether a guilty plea would affect his immigration status and was told it wouldn't. Padilla's trial lawyer was wrong, and he now faces deportation.
His lawyer for the appeal told the Supreme Court that the incorrect information that was given to Padilla was a violation of the Sixth Amendment right to "effective assistance of counsel."
Attorney Stephen Kinnaird said it is the constitutional duty of the lawyer to explain not only the direct consequences of a guilty plea but any collateral consequences as well. "His duty is to inform the client of the legal risk," he said.
Congress tightened the rules in the mid-1990s to make deportation automatic for many crimes. Immigrants often don't know the deportation consequences of the guilty plea, Kinnaird said, and have a right to that information in criminal cases before making a decision.
But Kentucky Assistant Attorney General WM Robert Long Jr. said criminal attorneys' only constitutional duty is to advise defendants on guilt, innocence and sentencing when it comes to pleas, not what may happen in the future because of the plea.
The purpose of a criminal defense attorney "is not to advise" on immigration matters, Long said.
A binding requirement to advise clients correctly on areas outside their expertise would encourage lawyers "to be silent" when some defendants might not be able to afford a second immigration lawyer, Long said.
If Padilla wins, Justice Antonin Scalia questioned whether the courts would also have to make exceptions for other consequences of guilty pleas, like loss of child custody, loss of property through seizure, loss of voting rights or loss of the right to own a weapon.
"We have to decide whether we're opening Pandora's box here," Scalia said.
Justice Anthony Kennedy suggested telling judges, when they ask defendants whether they are voluntarily pleading guilty, to include a disclaimer telling defendants they would have to accept any collateral consequences of their decision.
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Child custody for fathers Child custody laws for dads and husbands. Custody Warriors is a members only site for fathers that want to fight and win equal rights to raise their children. Learn child custody laws, share your child custody experiences with other fathers across the United States & around the World. Learn to prepare for the child custody battle ahead and receive feedback from dads who have shared your experiences. There are hundreds of private members only sites devoted to women and mothers seeking child support and custody. Child custody laws and courts around the world discriminate against fathers in child custody cases. It is time for fathers to unite. There is strength in numbers.
By JESSE J. HOLLAND (AP) – October 13, 2009
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices on Tuesday questioned whether defendants should expect their lawyers to correctly advise them on all the possible consequences of a guilty plea, including on important issues like deportation.
Jose Padilla, who was born in Honduras, wants the high court to throw out his 2001 guilty plea to drug charges in Kentucky.
Padilla, who has lived in the United States for more than 40 years as a legal permanent resident, said he asked his lawyer at the time whether a guilty plea would affect his immigration status and was told it wouldn't. Padilla's trial lawyer was wrong, and he now faces deportation.
His lawyer for the appeal told the Supreme Court that the incorrect information that was given to Padilla was a violation of the Sixth Amendment right to "effective assistance of counsel."
Attorney Stephen Kinnaird said it is the constitutional duty of the lawyer to explain not only the direct consequences of a guilty plea but any collateral consequences as well. "His duty is to inform the client of the legal risk," he said.
Congress tightened the rules in the mid-1990s to make deportation automatic for many crimes. Immigrants often don't know the deportation consequences of the guilty plea, Kinnaird said, and have a right to that information in criminal cases before making a decision.
But Kentucky Assistant Attorney General WM Robert Long Jr. said criminal attorneys' only constitutional duty is to advise defendants on guilt, innocence and sentencing when it comes to pleas, not what may happen in the future because of the plea.
The purpose of a criminal defense attorney "is not to advise" on immigration matters, Long said.
A binding requirement to advise clients correctly on areas outside their expertise would encourage lawyers "to be silent" when some defendants might not be able to afford a second immigration lawyer, Long said.
If Padilla wins, Justice Antonin Scalia questioned whether the courts would also have to make exceptions for other consequences of guilty pleas, like loss of child custody, loss of property through seizure, loss of voting rights or loss of the right to own a weapon.
"We have to decide whether we're opening Pandora's box here," Scalia said.
Justice Anthony Kennedy suggested telling judges, when they ask defendants whether they are voluntarily pleading guilty, to include a disclaimer telling defendants they would have to accept any collateral consequences of their decision.
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Child custody for fathers Child custody laws for dads and husbands. Custody Warriors is a members only site for fathers that want to fight and win equal rights to raise their children. Learn child custody laws, share your child custody experiences with other fathers across the United States & around the World. Learn to prepare for the child custody battle ahead and receive feedback from dads who have shared your experiences. There are hundreds of private members only sites devoted to women and mothers seeking child support and custody. Child custody laws and courts around the world discriminate against fathers in child custody cases. It is time for fathers to unite. There is strength in numbers.
Child Custody laws force parents to extremes
Child Custody laws force parents to extremes
By MINORU MATSUTANI
Staff writer for the Japan Times - posted at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20091010f1.html
The high-profile case of Christopher Savoie, a Tennessee man who was arrested in Fukuoka Prefecture for snatching his two children from his Japanese former wife and now faces kidnapping charges, illustrates the extremes a partner in a broken international marriage will resort to for child custody.
Fighting the system: Masahiro Yoshida, who is trying to win visitation rights to see his 4-year-old daughter, is interviewed in Tokyo on Tuesday. Below, Christopher Savoie poses with his children, Isaac and Rebecca. Savoie was recently arrested for allegedly kidnapping them in Fukuoka Prefecture. AP PHOTO
The case, which made a splash in U.S. media, especially on CNN, also highlights the uniqueness of Japan's culture and judicial system regarding the custody of children in cases of divorce, and its lack of regard for custody rulings by courts overseas where divorces took place, such as the one in the U.S. favoring Savoie.
The fact that Japan has not signed the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which secures the prompt return of a child wrongfully removed to or retained in any signatory countries, complicates the problem even further.
Following are some questions and answers regarding a child's custody in international marriages that end in divorce in Japan:
How do family courts usually rule on custody, regardless of a parent's nationality?
Family courts normally grant sole custody to the ex-spouse who is able to spend more time with the child, which in Japan is usually the mother. This contrasts with the United States and many other developed nations, where joint custody is the norm.
The parent who wins custody, almost always the mother, is able to control how much, or how little, the other parent can see the child. They can even bar all contact.
In short, a divorced mother in Japan gets sole custody of the child and decides the visitation terms of the father.
Why is shared custody out of the question?
Article 819 of the Civil Code stipulates that "shinken," or parental rights, reside with only one of the divorced spouses. The legal term refers to the general rights and duties of parents in raising their child. An exact term in English probably does not exist, according to lawyer Takao Tanase.---------------------------------
Child custody for fathers Child custody laws for dads and husbands. Custody Warriors is a members only site for fathers that want to fight and win equal rights to raise their children. Learn child custody laws, share your child custody experiences with other fathers across the United States & around the World. Learn to prepare for the child custody battle ahead and receive feedback from dads who have shared your experiences. There are hundreds of private members only sites devoted to women and mothers seeking child support and custody. Child custody laws and courts around the world discriminate against fathers in child custody cases. It is time for fathers to unite. There is strength in numbers.
By MINORU MATSUTANI
Staff writer for the Japan Times - posted at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20091010f1.html
The high-profile case of Christopher Savoie, a Tennessee man who was arrested in Fukuoka Prefecture for snatching his two children from his Japanese former wife and now faces kidnapping charges, illustrates the extremes a partner in a broken international marriage will resort to for child custody.
Fighting the system: Masahiro Yoshida, who is trying to win visitation rights to see his 4-year-old daughter, is interviewed in Tokyo on Tuesday. Below, Christopher Savoie poses with his children, Isaac and Rebecca. Savoie was recently arrested for allegedly kidnapping them in Fukuoka Prefecture. AP PHOTO
The case, which made a splash in U.S. media, especially on CNN, also highlights the uniqueness of Japan's culture and judicial system regarding the custody of children in cases of divorce, and its lack of regard for custody rulings by courts overseas where divorces took place, such as the one in the U.S. favoring Savoie.
The fact that Japan has not signed the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which secures the prompt return of a child wrongfully removed to or retained in any signatory countries, complicates the problem even further.
Following are some questions and answers regarding a child's custody in international marriages that end in divorce in Japan:
How do family courts usually rule on custody, regardless of a parent's nationality?
Family courts normally grant sole custody to the ex-spouse who is able to spend more time with the child, which in Japan is usually the mother. This contrasts with the United States and many other developed nations, where joint custody is the norm.
The parent who wins custody, almost always the mother, is able to control how much, or how little, the other parent can see the child. They can even bar all contact.
In short, a divorced mother in Japan gets sole custody of the child and decides the visitation terms of the father.
Why is shared custody out of the question?
Article 819 of the Civil Code stipulates that "shinken," or parental rights, reside with only one of the divorced spouses. The legal term refers to the general rights and duties of parents in raising their child. An exact term in English probably does not exist, according to lawyer Takao Tanase.---------------------------------
Child custody for fathers Child custody laws for dads and husbands. Custody Warriors is a members only site for fathers that want to fight and win equal rights to raise their children. Learn child custody laws, share your child custody experiences with other fathers across the United States & around the World. Learn to prepare for the child custody battle ahead and receive feedback from dads who have shared your experiences. There are hundreds of private members only sites devoted to women and mothers seeking child support and custody. Child custody laws and courts around the world discriminate against fathers in child custody cases. It is time for fathers to unite. There is strength in numbers.