Case Update (5 Dec 2025): Na v. Na; abstention was not appropriate; Hague return petition remains in federal court

The parties are parents to two children, both born in Korea, and both dual U.S.-Korean nationals. The children had been residing with their Petitioner Father in Korea when their Respondent Mother allegedly removed them from Korea and took them to California, under the guise that she wanted to take them on a pre-academic year trip to Japan. The Respondent purportedly left South Korea with the children on July 31, 2025. On August 7, 2025, the Petitioner signed an application under the Hague Abduction Convention for the return of his children. On September 3, 2025, he filed for custody and divorce in South Korea. On October 13, 2025, the District Attorney of Orange County, California filed an action against the Respondent in the Superior Court of the State of California for the children’s return. As a note, the U.S. Central Authority, which is the U.S. Department of State - Office of Children’s Issues - accepts applications for the return of children who are “abducted” to the United States, but it does not prosecute them. California, however, is a little different. It has what can be called a mini-Central Authority (a state designated Central Authority). It is the only state that has such a sub-Central Authority within the United States. It is housed in the California Office of Attorney General, and it will send out cases to prosecutors in the relevant county for filing a lawsuit within the state court system under the Hague Abduction Convention. Again, this is very different and distinct from other U.S. states, where private counsel and a private lawsuit must be filed. In this case, it appears that the Office of Attorney General outsourced the case to the prosecutor in Orange County, who filed the case in state court.

However, as is also common, when the Respondent is served, they may make a special appearance and request that the case be removed to federal court. There are a wide range of reasons to do this, but the same prosecutor who filed the state court case will no longer argue the case in the federal suit if the case is removed. The Petitioner will need to get their own private attorney or represent themselves. This was the case here - the case was removed at the request of Respondent Mother. The Father then filed, in the federal court, a request to remand the case back to the State Court. The federal court examined whether it must abstain from handling the case, and concluded that it need not abstain. While the case had been filed in state court, nothing substantive had yet happened. The case can proceed in the federal court.