The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Cases Involving Battered Respondents: Model Bench Guide

The Hague Domestic Violence Project has developed bench guides for the states of California, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. These Bench Guides were developed in partnership with committees of local experts, including state and federal court judges, public interest and private practice attorneys, administrative court staff, and academic scholars. There are no dedicated Hague Convention courts in the United States and these cases may be filed in either state or federal court, thus these bench guides have been essential to ensuring that judges have access to basic information about the intersection of the Convention and domestic violence. The Hague Domestic Violence Project has now created a Model Bench Guide so that other jurisdictions around the country can create their own bench guides. The purpose of this Model Guide is to serve as a template covering a broad range of topics relevant to the intersection of Hague Convention jurisprudence and domestic violence in cases in which the respondent (the taking parent) alleges abuse by the petitioner (the left-behind parent). A jurisdiction can use this resource as a starting point to create its own state-specific bench guide. This document contains the following: The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Cases Involving Battered Respondents: How to Adapt the Model Bench Guide for Your State, The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Cases Involving Battered Respondents: State Bench Guide Template, and the State Bench Guide Appendices. For a copy of the CA, NJ, NY, or TX bench guide, go to go to http://gspp.berkeley.edu/global/the-hague-domestic-violence-project/judges/bench-guide or contact the Hague Domestic Violence Project at haguedv@berkeley.edu.

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