The child had been born in Poland. She traveled with her mother to the United States on several occasions with the father’s consent. The final time that the mother traveled to the United States with the child, however, the father did not consent to it.
The father then filed a petition for dissolution of marriage in Poland. The mother filed a competing petition in the circuit court of Cook County.
The father then filed a petition in Cook County to return the minor child to Poland. This was under the Hague Convention. The trial court granted his request.
Then the mother filed a petition to voluntarily dismiss her petition for dissolution of marriage in the U.S.
For three years she failed to appear for specific court appearances. She was finally sentenced to jail under a body attachment order.
She was released after posting a partial bond. She had to show evidence of travel arrangements to return the child to Poland.
The mother then attempted to argue that the order for the child to return to Poland was wrong. Mother argued that she had filed for divorce in the U.S. Father had filed his motion for return of the child to Poland in the U.S. in conjunction with her petition.
Mother argued that her petition for divorce had been dismissed at her request. Therefore, everything should have been dismissed with it. Including father’s request to return the child to Poland. The trial court disagreed with mother.
The appellate court disagreed with mother also. It said that the Hague Convention case was like a petition for order of protection. It is filed independently of a petition for dissolution of marriage. The fact that the mother had filed a petition for divorce in Cook County should not determine the fate of a Hague Petition that could stand on its own.
In re Marriage of Krol, 2015 IL App (1st) 140976
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