The Hague Convention is not especially large, as international agreements go. Nor is it especially complicated, as international agreements go. You probably would need a lawyer to interpret certain sections for you, but for a lawyer the Hague Convention is not an especially esoteric or a complicated document. The Hague Convention consists of 45 sections, or “Articles.” These articles lay out in detail just what is expected of countries that are signatories, or “Contracting States,” as they are called in the Convention.

Actually, no country will just rubber stamp another country’s orders. Even the United States, or rather, the appropriate state, for example, will hold a hearing to determine if the other custody order is valid. The court will do this under the common law doctrine of “comity,” which is “the principle by which the courts of one jurisdiction may accede or give effect to the laws or decisions of another.”