In re the Marriage of Juan Antonio Gonzalez Morales and Abril Dubbe Meixueiro/

Glenwood Springs, Colorado family law lawyers represented the husband and wife seeking a divorce.





This case requires a division of the court of appeals to address, for the first time in Colorado, the doctrine of patria potestas and its impact on a parent's ability to seek the return of a child to their habitual place of residence if the child was wrongly removed and transported to another country. In addressing this issue, the division sets forth the proper framework for determining whether a parent has sufficient custodial rights to invoke the protections of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. As relevant to the present dispute, because the parties' divorce decree did not eliminate father's patria potestas rights, the division concludes that he retained sufficient rights of custody to pursue an order in this jurisdiction - where the child is currently present - for the return of his daughter to Mexico. Because the trial court reached a contrary conclusion, the division reverses and remands the case for further proceedings.



In re Morales, 2024 COA 2, 22CA1867 (Colo. App. Jan 04, 2024)

Reversed and remanded.