BarbriSFCourseDetails
  • videocam Live Online with Live Q&A
  • calendar_month November 19, 2025 @ 1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
  • signal_cellular_alt Intermediate
  • card_travel Family Law
  • schedule 90 minutes

Immigration Challenges in Family Law: Custody, Visas, and Cross-Border Conflict

$297.00

This course is $0 with these passes:

CLE
ALL
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Description

Immigration enforcement and constitutional limitations are reshaping how family law practitioners support clients. Clients increasingly face deportation, detention, or separation from their children and spouses. The panel will discuss how immigration status affects custody determinations, protective strategies available to undocumented or detained parents, and the protective frameworks for domestic violence survivors under VAWA and U visa programs.

The panel will discuss the evolving landscape of international custody disputes under the Hague Convention, including return proceedings, habitual residence determinations, and U.S. Supreme Court rulings that define legal standards for cross-border family separation. The program concludes with ethical and strategic guidance for attorneys advising immigrant clients in family matters. 

Listen as our expert panel guides attendees through legal standards, key cases, and evolving strategies at the intersection of immigration and family law, including custody risks during removal, protections for immigrant survivors of violence, cross-border abduction claims under the Hague Convention, and constitutional arguments related to family unification. 

Presented By

Flavio Carvalho
Attorney
Flavio Carvalho Law

Mr. Carvalho focuses his practice on Family Law and Immigration. He is the president of the Immigration Law Section for the Contra Costa County Bar Association and a member of the American Immigration Law Association (AILA). Mr. Carvalho has successfully represented clients in family court in seven of the nine Bay Area counties and acquired visas for hundreds of clients over the years.

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Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

Date + Time

  • event

    Wednesday, November 19, 2025

  • schedule

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

I. Introduction: interplay of family and immigration law

II. Custody, detention, and risk of removal

A. Custody risks and protective strategies

B. Judicial balance of parental rights and immigration status

III. Domestic violence, VAWA, and immigration relief

A. Available legal protections: VAWA self-petitions, U visas, protective orders

B. Supporting survivors in family and immigration courts

IV. International custody disputes and the Hague Convention

A. International child custody cases involving immigrant parents

B. The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction

C. Relevant U.S. Supreme Court decisions affecting habitual residence and return orders

V. Spousal visas, deportation, and the right to marry

A. Department of State v. Muñoz: courts' approach to liberty interests

B. Constitutional arguments and factors affecting deportation

VI. Ethical and strategic considerations

A. Dual representation, conflict checks, client capacity, and communication

B. Trauma-informed advocacy and resources for non-citizen clients

VII. Conclusion

The panel will review these and other important issues:

  • Relevance of immigration status in family court proceedings
  • Assess custody risks and protective strategies for clients facing immigration enforcement
  • Evaluate how courts balance parental rights and immigration status in custody decisions
  • Eligibility requirements for VAWA and U visa relief
  • Integrating family court protective orders with immigration advocacy
  • Hague Convention principles and their application in U.S. courts
  • Recognize ethical pitfalls when advising on overlapping family and immigration matters
  • Develop trauma-informed strategies for interviewing and advocacy