Gaëtan ESCUDEY will help you to resolve your conflict. His know-how and interpersonal skills will help you defend your interests and meet your real needs.
He puts his expertise and human values at the service of your concerns about your relationship, your children and your assets.
A Cross-disciplinary International Expertise
International family problems are becoming increasingly common and resolving them through the judicial Courts is often complex. You need to determine which judge can have jurisdiction, which law could apply and what the consequences would be for your situation.
Following this analysis, which will be explained in a legal consultation, Gaëtan ESCUDEY will propose you an international strategy to best serve your interests and ensure optimum legal security for your situation.
This could be done through enforceable agreements in France and abroad, or by initiating the necessary proceedings to protect your rights.
He will assist you in international family disputes arising from your nationality or that of your spouse, the place of your marriage, your place of residence or the location of your assets.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY will advise you and provide you with precise answers to all questions relating to the international nature of your family situation, such as :
- International mariage contracts / prenuptial agreements
- Divorce and International Separation
- International Abduction / Child Relocation
- International successions / Inheritance
Gaëtan ESCUDEY is also involved in the management and supervision of international family law disputes, including:
- International recognition and enforcement of French judgments
- Transcription requests for recognition of foreign judgments in France
- International Family Mediation
Are you thinking of getting married? Getting divorced? Gaëtan ESCUDEY can help you with any questions you may have, both before you decide to get married, as well as in the event of a break-up.
Whether you are cohabiting, in a civil partnership or married, Gaëtan ESCUDEY can help you with all your property and non-property matters.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY also advises same-sex couples on financial matters and children. He advises same-sex families on all aspects of family law and has developed particular expertise in advising international families looking to settle in France or abroad.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY will advise you on the recognition of your legal marital rights in France and abroad.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY will inform you of the scope of your property and matrimonial commitments, to help you understand the consequences of your choice and anticipate any difficulties that may arise.
He will advise you on choosing or changing your matrimonial property regime so that it matches your expectations perfectly.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY can advise you on the legal consequences of moving abroad. He provides you with clear and objective advice to ensure that your agreement is technically structured, legally binding and internationally recognized.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY also assists you in drafting cohabitation agreements and civil partnerships, whether between people of the same sex or not, particularly when they need to be executed abroad.
As regards your parental couple, we can help you draw up family convention or parental agreements.
His expertise: international marriage contracts
If your relationship has an international element, you need advice on drawing up an international marriage contract. Also known as a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, this contract enables you to anticipate the consequences of the international nature of your situation, by choosing the applicable laws and competent jurisdictions.
The aim of this agreement is to provide certainty for both parties in the event of the marriage breaking down, and to avoid the costs and delays that often accompany difficult legal proceedings involving several countries.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY assists you in drafting clauses relating to the choice of competent court and the applicable law to any dispute that may arise with your future spouse. He will also ensure that this contact is recognized internationally in the countries in which you plan to settle or with which you have a connection.
The breakdown of a relationship is a destabilizing and stressful time. Gaëtan ESCUDEY deals daily with national and international separations and divorces, where the financial stakes are sometimes very high, and where the human stakes are always important.
His emotional intelligence and understanding of the dynamics of the conflict enable him to provide you with the best strategy while respecting all family members.
After a full analysis of your personal and financial situation, he will suggest the solutions that are in your best interests.
He will help you deal with the changes facing your relationship and provide you with precise, quantified and pragmatic legal advice.
He will work with you to define the steps to be taken to anticipate and resolve your conflict while protecting your interests as effectively as possible. He will always listen to what is important to you.
He will advise you to find the best civil and tax solutions to ensure that your separation is as financially painless as possible. Where appropriate, he will work with tax lawyers and notaries to find global solutions for resolving all the consequences of your separation.
There may be disagreements about the children or claims for financial settlement or maintenance. In such cases, Gaëtan Escudey will work with you to negotiate the terms of your separation and reach an amicable agreement or size the Court.
Whether you are negotiating a settlement or going through a judicial divorce, he will always be at your side and support you throughout the divorce proceedings. He will advise you at every stage.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY can help you with all types of divorce: divorce by mutual consent, divorce on the grounds of acceptance of the principle of marriage breakdown, divorce on the grounds of definitive alteration of the marital bond, or divorce for fault.
If you are not married, he can also assist you in cases of separation, dissolution of French and foreign civil partnerships, and wrongful termination of cohabitation.
Finally, Gaetan ESCUDEY will advise you on the financial consequences of your separation. He will use all his skills to ensure that the terms of your separation respect your rights and meet your concerns regarding compensatory allowance and alimony.
He will advise you on your rights regarding the liquidation of your assets and your matrimonial property regime.
His expertise: international divorces
Does your divorce have an international element? Do you have links with different countries?
Divorce can be a difficult decision, especially if you have children, and the international nature of a separation can make the situation even more complex.
If you have links with other countries, when your relationship breaks down you could file for divorce in more than one country.
In the event of an international divorce, Gaëtan ESCUDEY will assist and advise you in choosing the competent jurisdiction whose applicable law will best protect your interests. He has developed a real expertise in complex international cases.
It is important to consider the likely outcomes in these countries and assess in which country it is best for you and your family for the divorce to take place. The jurisdiction sized for the divorce can have a significant impact on the consequences of the divorce, particularly the financial consequences. In addition to the financial results, there are many other things to consider, such as time limits, costs, conditions of recognition and international enforcement.
This needs to be identified at an early stage, as your rights vary from country to country. Where other countries are involved, it is necessary to act very quickly. In Europe, the general rule (lis pendens) is that the country in which the divorce proceedings are first brought has jurisdiction. It is a jurisdictional race.
The first thing to check is whether the French Court has jurisdiction to grant the divorce, rule on financial measures, on measures relating to the children and on the liquidation of assets. Once the jurisdiction of the French court has been established, the law applicable to these different aspects of the divorce must be analyzed by applying a combination of European regulations and international conventions.
To provide you with the best possible assistance in your international divorce proceedings, Gaetan ESCUDEY relies on a solid network of correspondents abroad. He works closely with numerous lawyers specializing in International Family Law in other countries to enable you to obtain the best advice and to act quickly in several countries if necessary.
With a view to reaching an amicable agreement, he will help you set up international parenting agreements and ensure that a divorce by mutual consent can be recognized abroad before advising you to go to Court.
Are you thinking of adopting a child abroad? Using a surrogate mother? Dispute or establish your parentage? Do you want your parentage to be registered in France?
Gaëtan ESCUDEY can advise you on all matters relating to parentage and filiation.
He can assist you to establish or contest paternity and to determine the terms and conditions for exercising parental authority and the amount of the child support.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY can also assist you with your adoption process, including when your child is born from a medically assisted procreation or surrogate motherhood.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY will advise you on international adoption to ensure compliance with the 1993 Hague Convention. He will also advise you on the legal recognition of a medically assisted procreation procedure carried out abroad. International adoption is a particularly complex area, and the advice and assistance of a legal expert is essential from the very start of the process.
Finally, he will assist you in transcribing the foreign adoption judgment into French civil status registers and have a foreign adoption recognized and enforced in France.
Do you want to organize the terms of parental authority? Fix the conditions of your children’s residence or visiting rights? Request for alimony or child support?
Gaëtan ESCUDEY will advise you on the arrangements that best meet your children’s needs, either amicably or through the Courts.
Because every family is different, he always offers individual solutions tailored to your family’s specific needs. He helps parents find lasting and viable agreements for their child’s specific needs and in their best interests.
Gaetan ESCUDEY assists you in the various children proceedings, particularly when it relates to:
- The exercise of parental responsibility / care and control of the child
- The residence of the child and visitation rights
- The child support or other arrangements for financial support
He can assist you regarding the implementation of an educational assistance measure to protect the minor child if his or her health or safety is compromised, or if he or she finds himself or herself in a situation of danger or obvious suffering.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY strives to protect children’s interests, always acting responsively and proportionately. Because he understands the relational and psychological roots of the problems encountered by your children, he deals with them in respect for their best interests. His aim is to minimize the impact of you separation on your children.
These issues require human support and constant availability. He puts his empathy and benevolence at your service to help you set up a co-parenting arrangement that is in the best interests of your child.
His expertise: international child abduction
Did your partner go to another country with your child? Act quickly!
Gaëtan ESCUDEY has developed an expertise in international child abduction and unlawful retention of children. International child abductions, often by a parent or grandparent, increases as more and more people travel and live abroad.
In an international context, after a separation, one of the parents may wish to return to his or her country of origin, raising the question of his or her rights with regard to the children.
The procedure for returning a child who has been unlawfully removed to another country is complex and requires quick and effective action. That’s why it’s important to have the right lawyer. Gaëtan Escudey is regularly called upon to defend a parent whose children have been unlawfully removed, or a parent whose ex-spouse is seeking the return of the children in his or her country of origin.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY will help you to determine whether the mechanism provided for in the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction is applicable to your case. This Convention provides for a immediate return of the child to the State of his or her habitual residence. He will prepare your application for the return of the child, coordinate with the central authorities and put you in touch with a local lawyer to help you locate and see your child.
He works closely with the Ministry of Justice to ensure the return of a child unlawfully removed to another country. He also assists you in setting up cross-border visiting rights, using international family mediation where appropriate.
He understands the extreme anxiety that any parent feels in these cases, and the urgency that it requires. It is crucial to act quickly and efficiently and obtain prompt advice from a lawyer with expertise in this complex area.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY will advise you if you wish to move with a child to an other country or prevent the other parent from doing so. One parent cannot decide to do so alone without the consent of the other parent, or the authorization of the Court. The chances of obtaining the judge’s authorization to change the child’s residence are considerably increased by a careful planning and preparation of your case.
More broadly, his experience in assisting international families enables him to advise you on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgment orders in France.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY will advise you on the management and administration of your assets, and on optimizing your estate and inheritance planning.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY will advise you on all the mechanisms available to optimize your estate.
He will advise you on the liquidation of your assets. He acts in cases involving the division and liquidation of joint or undivided property, where the stakes are high, and the income complex.
Family businesses are often vulnerable in the event of divorce, which can sometimes lead to the liquidation of the entire business. He will advise you on the status of the collaborating spouse and on how to minimize the commercial risk associated with divorce to ensure that family assets and governance are protected.
For international couples, the liquidation of the matrimonial property regime first involves determining the law applicable to the spouses’ matrimonial property regime, which depends on the date of their marriage.
Family mobility and the acquisition of assets abroad give rise to many uncertainties for the spouses, which a choice of applicable law can reduce.
The death of a loved one and the opening of an estate is always a difficult ordeal. Gaëtan ESCUDEY will advise you, whatever the inheritance difficulties you may encounter.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY will assist you throughout the process of settling the estate and during appointments with the French public notary in charge of the estate regarding the management of the undivided estate. Negotiations and amicable settlement are encouraged. If this fails, he can represent you in a judicial property division proceedings.
Depending on whether you are a reserved heir, a surviving spouse, a universal legatee, or the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, he will inform you of the options available to you.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY can also advise you if you wish to pass on part of your estate or acquire movable or immovable property through estate or company structures. He will inform you about the various techniques for anticipating inheritance (wills, gifts, shared gifts, bequests, changes of matrimonial property regime, life insurance, etc.).
His expertise: international successions
Are you moving abroad and need to draw up a will? Has a relative died in France and left assets abroad? Would you like to organize your international estate?
Living abroad can have major consequences for the devolution of an estate. It is becoming increasingly common for people to die abroad or, on their death, to leave assets in a country other than their country of nationality or residence.
In an international context, this matter presents characteristics linked to the diversity of Tax Law and rules that may be applicable. The issue is made even more complex when the deceased, or his or her spouse, had financial interests abroad.
Gaëtan ESCUDEY will explain the rules applicable to your situation, depending on your family circumstances and the arrangements made by the deceased.
He will assist you in negotiations to reach an amicable agreement on the settlement of your international estate, or represent you in the event of a judicial claim, which may sometimes involve several jurisdictions.
If you reside in a country other than your nationality or if some of your assets are located abroad, Gaëtan ESCUDEY can help you plan your estate using several legal tools including the possibility of choosing the law applicable to your estate and the competent jurisdiction. He can advise you on drafting international wills tailored to your situation.