A Quebec father who lives in Costa Rica claims to be deprived of justice in this Central American country, while his ex-spouse who also lives there has prevented him from seeing their two children for almost two years.
Maxime (fictitious first name in order to protect the identity of the two children) has not seen his two boys – who are minors – since July 2020. He agrees to share his story, in order to avoid this sad fate to other relatives.
Several years ago, when both parents were still a couple, they decided to move to Costa Rica with their family and spend most of their time there.
They separated in 2017 and executed the judgment in Quebec, including ordering joint custody. They subsequently returned to live separately in Costa Rica, but the Quebec judgment was not applied, specify the father and his lawyer, Mr.and Justin Roberge, specialized in international family law.
This situation is explained in particular because this judgment is not recognized in Costa Rica.
In July 2020, when he had to pick up his sons for his care week, the mother refused to let them go. The father indicates – with supporting evidence – that the mother made several allegations in court in Costa Rica against him, but that they were all invalidated.
Despite everything, it is still impossible for him to assert his rights of custody. After an intervention by the father with a judge in Costa Rica – when he had not seen his children for a year – the latter met the mother and the little ones.
Both children mentioned not being comfortable seeing him again. The judge had them complete and sign a statement to that effect. This ruined the father’s hopes of reconnecting with his little ones in the short term.
“All of this was done without expertise, without lawyers,” laments Me Roberge, who considers this way of doing things more than questionable.
Procedures
The lawyer would like to re-establish short-term contacts – for the moment virtual – between the father and the children. “Until now, the mother does not want to know anything and is not talkable”, adds Mand Roberge.
Maxime is convinced that his children have been exposed to parental alienation.
Despite their disagreement, the father would never have believed that the mother could “snatch” her children from him.
” Never [j’aurais cru]. She teaches the complete opposite. [dans son travail], he argues. The relationship with my sons was great! Children could not wish for better”.
Since then, the man says he “survives” this heavy absence every day and comforts himself with a photo album of his sons. “I am demolished, destroyed, empty of this love! Every day, I have to dig deep within myself to get to sleep and get through my days, ”he drops.
A “terrible” story
The lawyer for the father of the family describes the story of his client as “appalling”. He specifies that the place of residence of the children determines the country of jurisdiction, which is Costa Rica in this case. He intends to demonstrate that his client is deprived of justice there and that the case must be heard here.
He questions several maneuvers of the justice system there. For the time being, the file is on the ice the time to collect all that is necessary to be heard.
The newspaper contacted the mother and her lawyer, but they declined our interview requests.
Living with family abroad requires precautions
Going to live abroad with your family can be a great adventure, but it is necessary to make legal arrangements before leaving, if you want to avoid heartbreaking situations like that of Maxime (see other text), warns a specialized lawyer .
Maxime’s story is not common, but not unique either, says Daniel Romano, a specialist in international family law.
Without wanting to comment directly on the case, he admits that parents can be deprived of justice and deprived of recourse.
“There are situations that are quite aberrant. And surprising. It happens here too, but much more often in other jurisdictions,” observes Me Romano.
The lawyer believes that international family law will gain momentum, as more and more families choose to go abroad for the long term. It then becomes important to make legal arrangements before departure.
“When people choose a country where they want to go, they could also find out about the legal system, in addition to the climate and the political system”, argues Mr. Romano.
Another important point is to establish the place of residence of the children, because it is this element that most of the time determines the country of jurisdiction.
“They must determine that the move is temporary and that they keep their domicile in Quebec”, specifies the lawyer.
He indicates that the justice system in other countries can be very different from that in Quebec and thus make it difficult to defend one’s rights.
“Here, the decisions tend as much as possible not to disadvantage one of the two parents”, explains Mr. Romano.
Children hostage
Unfortunately, in many of these types of cases, Me Romano observes that children are often used as bargaining chips and are exposed to parental alienation, “which is a form of defamation”.
“Any benefit a parent wants to get from playing this game would be harmful to the child,” he insists. And no matter the level of hate, parents need to remember that their child has only two parents. Wanting to deprive them of their relationship with the other deprives them of something irreplaceable and which cannot be bought,” he concludes.