Long v. Ardestani

Lori Long (plaintiff), a native of the United States, and Mohammad Ardestani (defendant), a native of Iran, married and had four children. Long and Ardestani divorced and agreed to share custody. The custody agreement, formalized as a court order, required Ardestani to give Long 60 days’ notice of his intent to take the children abroad, and then Long had 30 days to move the court to prohibit the trip or require Ardestani to post bond. Ardestani notified Long that he intended to take the children to Iran for a visit. Long responded with a motion asking the court to prohibit the trip. At a hearing, Long submitted evidence that Ardestani had repeatedly told her that he would take the children to Iran and never allow them to return home. Long also submitted evidence that because of Iran’s culture and lack of diplomatic relations with the United States, she would be unable to force Ardestani to allow the children to return. Ardestani submitted evidence that he wanted the children to visit their Iranian family, he intended to return the children to the United States, and his threats were mere posturing. The trial court accepted Ardestani’s testimony as truthful. The court held that because Long was the movant, she had the burden of showing that Ardestani was likely to refuse to allow the children to return to the United States. After considering all the evidence, the court found that Long did not carry her burden and denied her motion to prohibit Ardestani from taking the children to Iran. Long appealed to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, arguing, among other things, that the trial court should not have placed the burden on her to show that Ardestani was likely to refuse to allow the children to return. Instead, Long argued, the court should have applied the best-interests-of-the-child standard and required an equal burden of each party.