Epperson Law Group Wins Supreme Court Case Involving International Custody

Epperson Law Group recently won a case at the US Supreme Court. The case was an international custody case involving the Hague Convention, which “provides for the return of a child to a petitioning parent in the child’s home country if a respondent parent has wrongfully removed a child to or retained her in the United States.”  We were able to successfully argue that the Hague Convention did not apply to our client’s case, because he did not wrongfully remove his children from a home which was being investigated by Sweden’s version of Child Protective Services.

Our client, who was never married to his co-parent, shared joint custody of his two children, who are Swedish citizens. In April 2021, he returned to America, bringing his children with him for a planned three month trip. On July 6^th, the Swedish courts reaffirmed the joint custody plan; on July 21^st, our client’s co-parent pursued relief under the Hague Convention in an attempt to have the children brought back to Sweden. Eventually, in March 2022, the Swedish court granted full custody of the children to our client.

For the past few years our client’s co-parent filed petitions and appeals, trying to take our client’s children away from him. She keeps claiming that the children rightfully live in Sweden, and that our client has violated international law by taking them to America. And each time she makes this claim, another court – in Sweden or in the U.S. – says she is wrong, and that the children legally and rightfully belong here.

Furthermore, all of her petitions and appeals glossed over a very important fact: the Swedish Social Welfare Committee believed that our client’s children would have been better off in temporary care than living with their mother. In fact, in a letter to both parties, the Committee said, “it is concluded that there are several serious risk factors for the children in their situation in Sweden.” This is one of the reasons why our client was granted sole custody in the first place: the Swedish court said our client’s ex was physically abusive to the children. Bringing them to America was what was best for them.

It was a very stressful time, and all our client ever wanted was to keep his children safe.

In April 2024, the case went to the United States Supreme Court, which denied the writ of certiorari from our client’s co-parent. As such, the Fourth Circuit decision remains in place, ensuring that our client keeps custody of his children.

The case was Brandt vs. Caracciolo, and you can read the documents and petitions here.

At Epperson Law Group, we fight for parents and their children. We are your advocates, and have the resources to handle complex family law cases here and abroad. For questions about any custody case, please call us in Charlotte or contact us today. We also maintain offices in Boone, Concord, and Weddington.