Part of divorce decree reversed

Spokane County resident Kristi Tsarbopoulos’ international legal odyssey continued this week when the Washington Court of Appeals took back part of a victory it gave her last August.

“It’s just the latest in the never-ending story,” Tsarbopoulos’ attorney, Mary Schultz, said of the court’s decision to reverse itself partially in a divorce case of Homerian proportions.

The Court of Appeals action may cost Tsarbopoulos more than $73,500. Still, Schultz said, Tsarbopoulos is pleased the court didn’t tamper with her sole custody over three children she smuggled out of Athens in December 1999 because Greek law failed to protect them from an allegedly abusive father.

“She has no intentions of appealing,” Schultz said. “She accomplished a dramatic result by being able to come out of Greece and being able to stay here in the state of Washington with her children.”

Allen Gauper, attorney for Tsarbopoulos’ husband, Anthony Tsarbopoulos, was not immediately available for comment.

Greek law required Anthony Tsarbopoulos to give his approval for the couple’s three young children to leave the country with his wife when she fled what she said was physical and psychological abuse.

The couple married in the United States in 1986 while Anthony Tsarbopoulos was earning a doctoral degree in chemistry. He was a naturalized American, but he retained his Greek citizenship, as well, and the couple’s children had joint U.S. and Greek citizenship.

The family moved to Athens in September 1997 for what Kristi Tsarbopoulos thought was to be a temporary job to advance her husband’s career. She said he decided to remain in Greece permanently and became increasingly abusive.

Kristi Tsarbopolous and her parents, Colbert-area residents Ron and Kathy McHaney, sneaked the children out of Greece. A few months later, though, in April 2000, U.S. District Judge Alan McDonald ordered the children back to Greece under a treaty governing international custody disputes.

That set off a legal battle that established a precedent that U.S. citizens are entitled to a trial by an American judge before being transferred to a foreign court, Schultz said. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court said McDonald was wrong to rely on written statements without taking testimony.

After taking testimony, U.S. District Judge Edward Shea refused to send the children back to Greece on grounds that the Greek legal system failed to protect them and their mother, Schultz said.

Kristi Tsarbopoulos filed for divorce in Spokane County Superior Court, but was twice frustrated by procedural and jurisdictional disputes.

On her second try, Tsarbopoulos won a default divorce in September 2002 when her husband failed to answer a summons. But the court reversed itself in July 2003 after Anthony Tsarbopoulos objected that he wasn’t given adequate notice under Greek or Washington law.

The Court of Appeals in Spokane disagreed and restored the divorce decree, which included orders dividing community property and requiring Anthony Tsarbopoulos to pay child support and attorney fees.

Anthony Tsarbopoulos was ordered to pay $63,500 as half of a joint investment account and $10,000 in attorney fees. He also was required to pay $10,397 in back child support and to pay $2,599 a month in the future.

The appellate court ruled last August that Anthony Tsarbopoulos was properly notified of the divorce proceedings. Subsequently, he asked for reconsideration on grounds that Washington courts lacked jurisdiction over him.

The Court of Appeals agreed this week that Washington courts lack jurisdiction over Tsarbopoulos’ property, and erased the trial court’s property and child-support awards.

However, the court stood by its ruling that Washington courts have jurisdiction over divorce and custody issues if one of the parties lives in the state.

Schultz said Kristi Tsarbopoulos is pursuing her child-support claim in a Greek court.

“The property division can also be done in Greece if Kristi chooses to go that route, but for her I think that’s really a big ‘if,’ ” Schultz said. “She’s accomplished what she wanted to accomplish.”