The following is from ABAJournal.com.
Please see related post, For the Purpose of Clarifying the Situation of the Spanish Minor.
Two New Jersey attorneys and their matrimonial firms are facing a looming trial in a high-profile family law case that centers on a client’s transport of her then-4-year-old child to her native Spain, in violation of a United States parenting agreement.
The agreement also called for the lawyer initially representing the child’s mother, Maria Jose Carrascosa, to hold the child’s U.S. passport. But when Carrascosa switched to new counsel, her former lawyer, solo Mitchell Liebowitz of West Caldwell, messengered the passport to attorney Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich of Hackensack, reports the New Jersey Law Journal in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer.
Now both are embroiled in civil litigation filed by the child’s father, Peter Innes.
Marzano-Lesnevich, who is represented by her husband and law partner, Walter Lesnevich, says she never agreed to hold the child’s passport and also had no knowledge of the passport provision, among other defense arguments, the article recounts.
Liebowitz, who is represented by William O’Connor of McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter in Morristown, says he acted properly by turning over the passport to Marzano-Lesnevich.
Meanwhile, a Spanish court has required, in a parallel action, that the now-10-year-old girl remain in Spain, where she is living with her maternal grandparents. And Carrascosa, following the denial of her habeas petition by the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is serving a 14-year contempt sentence in New Jersey for failing to turn the child over, which has been the subject of considerable criticism in Spain, the article recounts.
New Jersey and Spanish judges have met at the Hague in an attempt to resolve the international custody impasse, to no avail.
The child at the center of the dispute, Victoria Innes, is a named plaintiff in the case and is represented by solo Michael Casale, the legal publication reports. He describes the dispute as “a sad, tragic case that should never have happened.”
All of these cases are sad, tragic cases that should never have happened…
Family Court in America 
8:00 at night? That’s bedtime for most children. What kind therapist schedules appointments for children at 8:00 at night?
Its insane. Same thing happened to me, I refused to take child abuse psych test for same reason as woman above states, it would seal the deal and my child would have been taken away from me. To this day nobody understands the trauma and its lasting effects. When I think of all the people who were involved in trying to take me down, I never thought I wouldd be such a target of hate. My ex was taking my child to freaky reunification therapy sessions at 8 at night, and there was a strange urgency, as though if the therapy didn’t happen now, like right now….the father child relationship would have no chance of surviving. So very strange…
Things kept getting stranger, until my mama bear instinct kicked in and I did everything in my power to intervene or interrupt the brainwashing therapy they were doing to my child. Shrink wrote to judge ex part, and lied, saying I was sabotaging the “treatment”. (this happened before I was actually doing it). The judge forbid me to drive my child to sessions, to have anything to do with the sessions….This was my kid he was talking about. It became my worst nightmare; the feeling when you first realize this sob can turn my and my childs’ world upside down and inside out at the drop of a hat. Long story short, I refused all tests, was in violation of court order and I really didn’t give a damn. I was made to pay forensic fee (my ex instigated the evaluation without my knowing what the scope was and nobody prepared to tell me, he chose him, retained him solo and I had to pay for it on top of exs legal fees! Since I had no $$, it was taken off my alimony. As mad as that made me I was able to protect my child and spare her. It’s all about the green stuff. My ex has yet to exercise his parental rights to this day. He moved in with a woman who I believe is a female version of him, and rarely sees our child. Sperm does not make a father a father.
Leora,
If you can share it here, why didn’t you allow your daughter’s father to see her?
When going through my divorce my ex and his lawyer accused me of PAS, brainwashing, mental illness…of not allowing him to see our daughter who was 10 at the time. It was the craziest thing Ive lived through, my family and friends didn’t really believe the seriousness and consequences of these allegations. I was terrified that my daughter could be taken away from me. My lawyers were idiots who kept telling me to cooperate with the courts orders. The final straw was when I refused to take forensic psych tests for child abuse. I knew that taking such a test would seal the deal and give them enough ammunition to put me away and take my daughter. In my mind I managed to scrape up enough survival instinct and didn’t care. Horrible time and am still haunted. I read of so many mothers who lost custody and my heart breaks. Im also angered and want to fight the corruption.
I hope all the mothers and children will be together soon.
Dear MS,
You are not alone. It will help to find other mothers and advocates in New Jersey and in India for networking and emotional support.
It helps that your daughter is older.Just stay strong and keep going. That’s all you have to do.
Here’s a blog post about a mother with a similar case. It might help to find her to ask about her experiences in the family courts here and there.
I will say a prayer for you and your daughter.
Julia
https://juliafletcher.wordpress.com/family-law-practice-state-by-state/new-york-family-court/vijayasree-voora-albany-family-courtnew-york/
I lost custody. My child is under 7. The father has just been granted permission to take her to India without any restrictions by the New Jersey courts. I need help.