WASHINGTON – An order prohibiting the removal of a child from a country without the noncustodial parent’s consent is enforceable under an international child abduction treaty, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
In Abbott v. Abbott, 08-645, a dispute between the American mother and British father of a 15-year-old boy that has been closely watched by family and international law practitioners, the justices, voting 6-3, resolved a split among the federal circuits over the meaning of so-called ne exeat clauses in child custody orders.
