please help reunite my partner with his daughter in france
July 8, 2010 6:54 PM   Subscribe

my partner hasn't seen his daughter in 6 years. when he and his ex split up, he was in the states as an undocumented immigrant, and she was a french citizen. she went back to france with their 6-month-old daughter, and he agreed to this with the understanding she would bring her back for visits. she hasn't. 2 years, ago, she sued him in french court. we hired a lawyer. the court ordered him to pay child support (but less than than he was already paying), and ordered her to send his daughter to the U.S. during all school breaks. she disobeyed the order. he then got his green card through our marriage, and bought a plane ticket to france to visit his daughter. when he applied for a visa, he showed the french consulate (in ny) the court order, and they nonetheless said he would only be able to get a visa if the mom provided an invitation letter - which she of course refused to do - so he was turned down. we got most of the french ticket refunded (it's a requirement to buy a ticket before applying for a visa) but he also had to fly to new york to apply so that money and time was lost. we are thinking about trying again (we live in NM, so he would have to apply in LA), but we have had an incredibly draining 2 years, because of this and a pretty stiff list of other really bad luck. we're broke, have about $6000 credit card debt (we had good reasons, it's not our normal MO), he is unemployed, we pay not only child support but monthly money for his very poor family in his country, and i am a legal aid lawyer whose organization is threatening to lay off recently hired people like me by october. i'm completely exhausted and we're both demoralized. if we are going to spend more money and energy trying to reunite him with his daughter, it would be nice to have some kind of assurance we're not going to get slapped in the face again. any thoughts?
posted by thefreakyoube to Law & Government (2 answers total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: I am sorry for this mess. However this is a total "SEE A LAWYER" situation and there's no real question and no real punctuation. Maybe post next week when you can write it out properly and pose a real question? -- jessamyn

 
I know that you're a lawyer, so you understand the importance of specialized legal advice in an area as complex as this. There are lawyers who specialize in international family and custody law. You should be able to find one who can give you specific advice about how to proceed, as well as a realistic assessment of your chances of success. I'd invest money in legal advice before you invest any more in travel or other gambits. Best of luck to you!
posted by decathecting at 7:00 PM on July 8, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'm sorry for you being entangled in this situation, but I don't understand what the question is that you are asking here. Chatfilter, however, is generally discouraged on AskMe.
posted by Back to you, Jim. at 7:01 PM on July 8, 2010


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