Rebecca McKelvey Castañeda
Rebecca McKelvey Castañeda is a Member of the firm in the Nashville and Franklin offices. She works exclusively in the practice known as Family Law with an emphasis in international family law, especially parental child abductions from country to country. She has significant experience with cases brought under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act. The United States has signed this particular Hague treaty along with about 73 other countries. You can find out more about this law and how it applies, by clicking here. Rebecca’s published work on the Hague Convention, An Overview of the International Parental Child Abduction Provisions of the Hague Convention, 7 ANKARA L. REV. 1, 65 (2010), is available upon request. Rebecca and her team have much experience in Hague Convention litigation and can help your family navigate these difficult international issues.
In addition to her international family law work, Rebecca also represents clients in Tennessee family law. Her practice includes many years of experience representing clients who must face divorce. Rebecca and her team can handle intellectual property matters in divorce. She helps clients with a variety of issues related to families, children, custody, grandparents and other family members, divorces, prenuptial agreements, and family relocations. Rebecca serves on the editorial committee of the Tennessee Bar Association that updates the Tennessee Alimony Benchbook each year.
With offices in Nashville and Williamson County, Rebecca is easily accessible.
Does the Outcome of In re Carrington change Tennessee Parental-Termination Law?
The 21st Century Family: International Family Law, Multi-Generational Families and the case of In re Baby
Where Family Law and International Issues Collide: Relocation and Child Abduction Issues
International Family Law Practice
Trends of Family Law in Tennessee: Relocations, Grandparent Visitation, and Adoptions
Grandparent Visitation Law
Family Law and Rights of Grandparents in Tennessee (or Not So Much)
International Parental Child Abductions: Treaty Provisions
Organizational Development in the Law Firm
Tennessee Child Relocation Law
Family Law: Tennessee Child Relocation Law
Common and Not So Common Family Law Issues
Family Law Round-Table Discussion
Walking Through a Lawsuit
Adoption Law Ethics
Adoption Law: How to Terminate a Parent's Rights
The U.S. Legal System
Belmont University Board of Trustees
Tennessee Justice Center, Board of Directors
International Child Abduction Attorney Network (ICAAN), Referral Attorney
Room in the Inn, a homeless services program in Nashville
Mercer University Walter F. George School Of Law
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Mercer Law Review, Lead Articles Editor; Casenote: "Blakely v. Washington: Criminal Sentencing and the Sixth Amendment Limitation on Judicial Factfinding," 56 Mercer L.Rev. 1079 (2005); Bootle Inn of Court, Macon, Ga., 2005-06; Moot Court 2005 Georgia Intrastate Competition Team, 2nd Place Oralist; Legal Writing Certificate Program; Christian Legal Society, President, 2005-06; Legal Aid Clinic, Vice President, 2004-05
summa cum laude
Political Economy & Broadcast Journalism
Belmont University
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Study Abroad in Australia, New Zealand and Kenya
- After a person’s divorce, there are often subsequent matters for which someone needs advice from a Family Law attorney, and Rebecca assists clients with those matters.
- She represents couples adopting children, both locally and internationally, including re-adoptions and adult adoptions.
- She represented a party in one of the few grandparent visitation cases to be decided by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Lovlace v. Copley, 418 S.W.3d 1 (Tenn. 2013).
- She advises parents who are relocating for work or a spouse’s job, or parents who are considering moving or whose child’s other parent is considering moving to be with a loved one.
- She provides consultations and full representation – all the way through trial – for parents involved in cases under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and International Child Abduction Remedies Act.
- In her Hague Convention practice, among other cases, she has assisted a parent in Sweden to be restored custody of his son, and she has represented a father in having his son returned to his home in Turkey.
Ms. Castaneda is past-chair of the the board of directors for the Tennessee Justice Center, served as a member of Belmont University Alumni Board of Directors (past president), and has been a member of the Belmont University College of Law American Inn of Court. She now serves on the Board of Trustees for Belmont University. Ms. Castaneda was awarded the Tennessee Bar Association's Harris Gilbert Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year Award (2015). In June 2011, she was chosen as a 2011 Nashville's Top 30 Under 30 by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. In addition to being involved in her church, Rebecca and her husband enjoy reading, travelling, the Nashville Symphony, riding bikes, and snowboarding. Rebecca participated in the FBI Citizens Academy.
Best Lawyers in America®, Family Law (2018-19)
Mid-South Super Lawyers®, Rising Star (2012-18)
Tennessee Bar Association, Harris Gilbert Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year Award (2015)
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Nashville's Top 30 Under 30 (2011)
Ten Stites & Harbison Attorneys Honored by 2018 Mid-South Super Lawyers
Best Lawyers in America honors 72 Stites & Harbison attorneys for 2019
Rebecca McKelvey Castañeda appointed to Post-Conviction Defender Oversight Commission
Eleven Stites & Harbison attorneys honored by 2017 Mid-South Super Lawyers
Best Lawyers in America honors 79 Stites & Harbison attorneys for 2018
Nine Stites & Harbison attorneys honored by 2016 Mid-South Super Lawyers
McKelvey Castañeda argues rare International Parental Child Abduction case to U.S. Court of Appeals
Ten Stites & Harbison Attorneys Honored by 2015 Mid-South Super Lawyers
Stites & Harbison promotes 15 attorneys in 2015
Lawyers with Big Hearts
Nashville office attorney Rebecca McKelvey Castañeda was awarded the Harris Gilbert Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year for 2014.
Tennessee Bar Association selects two Stites & Harbison attorneys for Leadership Law 2015
Rebecca McKelvey Castañeda to receive Tennessee Bar Association's Pro Bono Award