lost rights in foreign court (ex, self, child all US)

[goose397177]

my wife/ex took me to german court while i was stationed there (wife was born in Oregon, i was born in illinois, son was born in germany but with soc card and us passport) under the reasons for divorce she claimed that my 15 month deployment constituted abandonment (lived in the house i payed rent on and had a joint checking account at the time, which she cleared out for her BF). it went to court with only a month for me to prep and i chose to argue jurisdiction (all americans and married in the state of ohio not to mention the SOFA agreement) my lawyer was told to shut and they agreed with my ex that i had abandoned them by serving in iraq and gave her sole custody. im now back in the us, she's in german and refusing to let me see my son.
does anyone know a way to fight this? does this divorce even count in american court? god i need help. i love my son. i dont care about my ex or revenge for all the pain she's caused, i just want him back here in the states where i can see him.

[MixedBag]

ok, we're not attorneys....just normal people who are parents.


Retired military here.


My british divorce was valid here in the US.


However, we were both Americans.


Hague Convention comes to mind.....look into that.

Actually, let me edit this .... wife born in Oregon.


did she immediately re-marry someone and is therefore a legal military dependent again?  And if all that is true -- when is she scheduled to return?


I wonder if you should register your order in your current state?


This really steps into stuff -- that's not been discussed in the upteen years I've been here.   Doesn't mean someone won't have some ideas though.


My first thought was that she is a german citizen, but that's not what you posted.

[goose397177]

ya im looking for idea's cuz im kinda feeling dazed by the whole thing.

she's not a german citizen but has "residence" supposedly which is like saying a green card with no work visa (she cant work and has no income). her fiance work's on a military post there with an aafes job at the px (he's actually wanted for child abandonment). her parents pay her bills, they live near by, both dod teachers at the high school.

according to the american bar association a foreign divorce is recognized at a courts discretion (which i cant imagine a us judge being happy that my iraq deployment was labeled as abandonment). but then ill have america saying im married and germany saying im divorced so. fuck idk maybe if the courts forced her to return for a divorce hearing? could they do that? i mean does anyone have any experience with being forced to appear in court for divorce?

[MixedBag]

no -- I think an American court would recognize the divorce too.


Then, what kind of time is outlined in the divorce?  Is there anything specific?


I think that's probably your course of action right now.


AND figure out if your state has anything in the state's code about serving in the military and stuff -- It's been a while, and each state has their own code/laws, BUT some states have included specific language about when a servicemember is deployed and stuff.


I think you register the decree here in the US.  Then start with filing motions for contempt in that she is not allowing you ANY time with the child (If that's true), and then asking for a specific period of time laid out, and then filing contempt when she doesn't send/allow the child to come, etc...


And when you go to court HERE, you can tell the judge what happened there....about being deployed etc.