Interstate and international custody
When the parents live in different states, or one parent has ties to another country, the first question a court answers is not who should have custody. It is whether this court is the one that decides. Getting that question wrong can cost a year. Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. handles cross-border custody matters in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey and New York.
Which state decides
Every state in which the firm practices has adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. Its purpose is to make one state the home state for custody purposes and to stop parallel proceedings in two states at once. In practice the fight is about where the child lived during the six months before the case was filed, whether an emergency justifies temporary jurisdiction elsewhere, and whether the original state has kept exclusive continuing jurisdiction. These are factual questions decided on a record.
International matters
The 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction provides a return mechanism between contracting states. It is not universal. India, for example, is not a contracting party to the 1980 Convention, and the Convention’s return mechanism does not apply to a child wrongfully removed to or retained in India. Where the Convention does not apply, relief depends on the other country’s own courts, on US orders that anticipate the risk, and on practical restrictions imposed before travel happens.
Service and documents abroad
India is a contracting party to the 1965 Hague Service Convention but has objected to Article 10, so service there must go through India’s designated Central Authority; postal and private process service is not permitted. India is also a party to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention. An apostille authenticates a document’s origin; it does not by itself make a foreign order valid or recognized here.
Pages in this section
- Diplomat and foreign service custody matters
- Hague Convention child abduction
- Passport holds and travel restrictions
- UCCJEA jurisdiction disputes
Speak with Mr. Sris
Mr. Sris is a former prosecutor and the owner and founder of Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C., which has practiced since 1997. He is admitted in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey and New York. Of Counsel attorneys handle matters alongside him. To request a confidential consultation, reach our location at (888) 437-7747. Consultations are by appointment.
Last reviewed: August 21, 2026.
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