Supreme Court of Georgia finds Italian court insufficient, and then is reversed. By: Jade D.

Link for opinion: http://www.lexisnexis.com.proxy.msbcollege.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/

In the case of Bellew v. Larese, 288 Ga. 495; 706 S.E.2d 78, (2011). The Supreme Court of Georgia held that the trial court erred in dismissing the complaint on the ground that jurisdiction was properly with the Italian court and that the Italian court did not consider the home state of the child or of any other factors under the UCCJEA (the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act), the jurisdictional inquiry entered into by the Italian court was insufficient and which the Supreme court reversed the Italian court judgment.

Robert Bellew and Silvia Larese were married in Italy, where they lived, in June of 2002. Larese is an Italian national and Bellew is a US citizen. The couple’s child, born in Italy in November of 2002 has dual Italian and US citizenship. The family moved to Georgia, USA in August of 2004 and resided there legally. In May of 2007, Silvia Larese and the child went to Italy on a vacation and never returned.

Silvia Larese filed divorce and custody proceedings in the Tribunale di Firenze, a court of general jurisdiction in Italy on August 1, 2007. The Tribunale di Firenze conducted a hearing at which Robert Bellew did not appear, and entered an order on February 29, 2008, exercising jurisdiction over the divorce and granting exclusive custody of the child to Silvia Larese.

Robert Bellew filed for divorce on September 17, 2007 in the Superior Court of Athens-Clarke County and was served from Italian courts on November 15, 2007. The trial court in Georgia conducted a hearing on November 27, 2007 and granted temporary, sole legal and physical custody of the child to Robert Bellew; the child remained in Italy.

On April 15, 2009 the Tribunale di Firenze issued an order reiterating that jurisdiction lay in that tribunal, accepting the application of Georgia law as to divorce, and allowing the case to proceed. The trial court corresponded with the Italian court, and on January 7, 2010, issued an order dismissing Bellew's complaint, stating that "the Italian Court is the proper forum for this action based upon the provisions of the UCCJEA. Georgia adopted the UCCJEA in 2001, replacing its prior child custody act.

The Supreme Court reversed the judgment stating the trial court erred in dismissing the complaint on the ground that jurisdiction properly lay with the Tribunale di Firenze for nothing in the record proves that Larese took the child from Georgia to Italy for the sole purpose to file divorce proceedings with the intention of seeking a forum that might be more in favor of her suit the jurisdictional finding by the Tribunale di Firenze in this case sufficed under the UCCJEA.

Labels for the post: child custody, conformity, convenient forum, divorce, home state, foreign country