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What is the International Hague Treaty and how does Oxalis Garcia handle those cases?
The International Hague Treaty deals specifically with international child abductions — situations where a parent takes a child out of one country and retains them in another. Attorney Oxalis Garcia helps the left-behind parent navigate the legal process to get their child returned, working across borders and frequently with Spanish-speaking clients.
A niche she entered by chance — and never left
Garcia did not set out to specialize in international Hague cases. As she explains in From Courtroom to Carline: A Legal Parenting Podcast, the work came to her by chance through a single client — and from there, it became one of the defining pillars of her practice.
Her profile makes her unusually well-suited for this area of law. Garcia is licensed in three jurisdictions — Puerto Rico, Florida, and Maryland — and has approximately 20 years of total legal experience. She handles cases in both directions: parents trying to retrieve a child brought into the United States, and parents trying to recover a child taken abroad.
The cross-border nature of these cases requires navigating multiple legal systems simultaneously, a challenge Garcia addresses through her multi-jurisdictional background. Her work often involves Spanish-speaking clients, an area where her Puerto Rican roots and bilingual fluency give her a direct practical advantage — a point she develops further in this episode.
From family law specialist to candidate for the bench — with the same caseload in view
Garcia is primarily known for family law, with a particular focus on complicated jurisdictional matters. International Hague cases sit at the intersection of both: they require family law expertise and the ability to reason across multiple legal frameworks at once.
This dual expertise informs her candidacy for Pinellas County Circuit Judge Group 44 in the Sixth Judicial Circuit. As she notes in the episode, she brings a multicultural and multi-jurisdictional perspective that she believes no other judge currently offers in that circuit.
"I bring a multicultural and multi-jurisdictional perspective to the bench, which is something that I don't believe any other judge has at this moment in time in the Sixth Judicial Circuit."
Oxalis Garcia — Attorney & Candidate for Circuit Judge Group 44, Pinellas County.
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Garcia spent part of her teen years in Ohio before returning to the island to complete high school, college, and law school. Her first bar license dates to 2006; she has been practicing in Florida since 2012. Licensed in three jurisdictions — Puerto Rico, Florida, and Maryland — she specializes in family law, complex jurisdictional matters, and international Hague child abduction cases. She merged her practice with law partner Michael Berry and has also appeared as a legal consultant on the reality TV show 90 Day Fiance. At the time of this episode, she is running for Pinellas County Circuit Judge Group 44 in the Sixth Judicial Circuit.
Garcia's trajectory — from a bilingual attorney navigating three bar licenses to a circuit judge candidate — is explored in full in From Courtroom to Carline: A Legal Parenting Podcast, hosted by Jenna Fletcher and Rick Fletcher.
See also
Who is Oxalis Garcia and what is her legal background?
Oxalis Garcia is an attorney born and raised in Puerto Rico who is licensed in three jurisdictions: Puerto Rico, Florida, and Maryland. She has been practicing law since 2006 and in Florida since 2012, accumulating approximately 20 years of total legal experience, with a specialization in family law and complex jurisdictional matters including international Hague child abduction cases.
Key takeaways
- The International Hague Treaty applies to cross-border child abductions in both directions — children taken into or out of the United States by a parent.
- Garcia entered this niche by chance through a single client and built it into a core area of her family law practice over roughly 20 years.
- Her three-jurisdiction license (Puerto Rico, Florida, Maryland) and bilingual background give her a structural edge in these inherently cross-border cases.
- This expertise directly informs her candidacy for Pinellas County Circuit Judge Group 44, where she argues no sitting judge currently holds a comparable multi-jurisdictional profile.
Oxalis Garcia explains this in her own words — including how she got into international Hague cases by accident.
Listen to the episode on Listenly