Lops custody battle could be decided next week

Web posted January 17, 1998

By Kathy Steele
South Carolina Bureau

AIKEN -- Two little German girls embroiled in an international custody dispute should be returned from Atlanta, along with their mother, and made to live in South Carolina until the courts finally decide which parent gets to keep them.

That's one of the demands made at a hearing Friday by attorney John Harte, who represents Michael Lops of North Augusta in his fight to gain custody of his daughters, ages 6 and 7.

Family Court Judge Peter Nuessle said he wouldn't rule until next week or the week after.

The girls, Carmen and Claire, currently are with their mother, Christine Lops, at an undisclosed location near Atlanta. Ms. Lops is awaiting the outcome of a stay imposed by a federal appeals court that blocked her on Dec. 23 from taking her daughters back to Germany.

Mr. Harte was in Family Court in Aiken County for a hearing on visitation rights, sanctions against Ms. Lops' attorneys and a challenge to whether South Carolina or Georgia has jurisdiction.

In asking for sanctions, Mr. Harte cited what he said were improper communications with court officials by Ms. Lops' attorneys and conflicting sworn testimony from Ms. Lops about the date she claims her husband physically abused her.

He urged Judge Nuessle to assert South Carolina's jurisdiction over the case, rather than leave it to Georgia and federal courts to control the outcome.

Attorney Dan Butler, who represents Ms. Lops, denied any misconduct by himself or his partner, John Creson.

Mr. Butler turned thumbs down on the offer by Mr. Harte for Ms. Lops and her daughters to move into Mr. Lops' home in North Augusta. Mr. Harte said his client would vacate the residence or, because he is a rental agent, find another suitable home for Ms. Lops.

Mr. Harte said,``We'll leave it to your (Judge Nuessle) good judgment what sort of visitations should occur by Mr. Lops.''

Visitations except under very controlled circumstances wouldn't be acceptable to Ms. Lops, and she won't voluntarily move into her husband's home, Mr. Butler responded.

``I suggest we're extremely uneasy about Mr. Lops and his mother having access to the children,'' he said.

Ms. Lops was set to board a flight from Atlanta back to Germany when she learned her husband had filed an appeal of a decision by U.S. District Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. that the German courts should resolve the custody issue.

Judge Bowen ruled that Mr. Lops and his mother, Anne Harrington, had unlawfully abducted the girls from Germany in 1995 and concealed their whereabouts.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation found the girls on Nov. 5 at Mrs. Harrington's home in Martinez. Ms. Lops sought the return of her daughters under the Hague Convention, an international treaty adopted by the United States in 1988. The treaty is a guide for legal procedures in cases of parental kidnapping across national borders.