Can my ex-spouse use a Red Notice against me in a divorce or custody dispute?

A hostile ex-spouse who files a criminal complaint abroad — over shared assets, alleged “abduction” of a child during a custody dispute, or unpaid support framed as fraud — can trigger a request that eventually reaches INTERPOL’s system. It rarely starts with a Red Notice itself; it starts with a local prosecutor’s file that a determined party keeps pushing.

If you suspect this is happening: don’t contact the other party or their counsel directly, and don’t assume family courts in your country of residence will automatically shield you from a foreign criminal filing — the two systems don’t talk to each other. Document the custody or divorce proceedings themselves (court orders, mediation records, communications showing the dispute is civil, not criminal), since that record is exactly what later shows a Red Notice stems from a private dispute rather than a genuine offence. Get ahead of it by having counsel monitor the situation before a warrant is issued, not after.