Morgan Receives Passport, Can Go to New Zealand
WASHINGTON — An appeals court Friday returned to Dr. Elizabeth Morgan the passport it had seized 3 1/2 years ago, allowing her to travel to New Zealand to participate in an international custody fight for her daughter.
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals turned over the passport to Morgan a day after a lower court judge, who had jailed Morgan for more than two years for contempt of court, ruled that releasing the passport “is in the best interests of the minor child.â€
Morgan, a plastic surgeon, was not available for comment. Her attorney, Adrian Roe, refused to comment.
But Morgan had said earlier that, if her passport were returned, she would immediately travel to Christchurch, New Zealand, for the next phase of a custody fight for her daughter, Hilary, 7.
Hilary’s father, Eric Foretich, 47, a Virginia oral surgeon, is already in New Zealand trying to gain custody of the child.
Morgan, 42, contends that Foretich sexually abused Hilary, a charge he has repeatedly denied.
Hilary surfaced last week in New Zealand, where she has been living in Christchurch since 1988 with her maternal grandparents, William and Antonia Morgan.
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