On Tuesday, March 27, 2012, divorce attorney John Griffith of Griffith & Young, a San Diego based divorce and family law firm, finally achieved victory in a complex child support case that has been ongoing for over two years and across two countries.
The case involved two Mexican citizens and parents of a child born in the United States. The parents were divorced in Mexico in 2006 and moved to San Diego during the pendency of the divorce. Part of their divorce decree in Mexico provided for a child support order. The decree also included a waiver of jurisdiction that stated that any modification to the child support order would be done in a Mexican court exclusively and forever.
Upon moving to San Diego, the mother of the child opened a child support enforcement case with the San Diego Department of Child Support Services (DCSS). She requested that the DCSS establish an initial order for child support. She did not inform the DCSS of the pending divorce in Mexico or that there was an active child support order in Mexico at that time.
The Department of Child Support Services opened the case and filed a Petition to establish a child support order against the father. Court records show that the father was served with the request and did not file a response. In 2007, the father's wages were garnished for child support based on the San Diego order requested by DCSS.
In 2010, the father hired attorney John Griffith to research the validity of the child support order in San Diego. He stated that he had never been served with the request to establish a child support order in San Diego and provided a copy of the Mexican divorce decree. Attorney Griffith immediately filed a motion to dismiss the entire case based on the fact that the court in San Diego lacked jurisdiction to ever enter the child support order in the first place.
The mother hired a
family law attorney of her own to contest the motion to dismiss. After a full trial including testimony from both parties and extensive legal argument from both divorce lawyers, the Court granted the motion to dismiss and issued a written decision agreeing with the legal argument presented by attorney Griffith.
Recently, the mother again tried to open another case through DCSS under a different case number requesting that San Diego DCSS enforce the Mexican child support order by garnishing the father's wages. On Tuesday, Attorney Griffith was again able to have the new case dismissed based on a clause in the Mexican Divorce decree preserving jurisdiction regarding enforcement of the order with the Mexican judicial system.
John Griffith of Griffith & Young has successfully handled several complex child support cases involving multiple jurisdictions. These cases can be highly complex and require knowledge of the law regarding inter-state and international recognition of orders for child support and child custody. In many cases, clients do not know their rights and if these rights are not asserted then they can be waived without the client ever realizing. If you have such a case call attorney Griffith for a free consultation at 858-345-1720.
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