Buscador de jurisprudencia

The parents married in Australia in 2018. The father was a Greek and Australian citizen, the mother a US citizen. They had a child in Australia in 2020 who had an Australian passport. The family lived in Australia until relocating to Greece in December 2021.

In late November 2022, the family travelled to the US, with round-trip tickets, to celebrate Christmas and stay on holiday for six or seven weeks. 

On 4 January 2023, the day before the family’s return flights to Greece, the mother informed the father that she and the child would not be returning with him to Greece. The following day, the father returned to Greece alone.

Between June and September 2023 the father made an application to the Greek Central Authority for the return of the child under the 1980 Hague Convention. In April 2024 the father filed a petition for return with the Maine District Court. 

At first instance, the Court held that the father had waited over a year to file a petition for the return of the child and that the child was now well-settled in the USA and refused to order a return to Greece. 

The father appealed this ruling.

First instance judgment affirmed, appeal denied. The wrongful retention began on 4 January 2023. The father did not successfully file a petition until April 2024 and the child was found to be well-settled in the USA. The lower court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to order the child’s return to Greece. 

Removal and Retention - Arts 3 and 12

When a parent originally consents to a child’s travel with a fixed return date, retention may be considered wrongful as of the date on which the child ought to have returned. In this case the father knew of should have known on 4 January 2023 that the mother intended to remain in the US with the child. 

Procedural Matters

The father also argued that even if wrongful retention of the child began in January 2023, he nonetheless commenced a proceeding for return of the child within one year, with the Greek Central Authority.  

However, in accordance with the US implementing legislation (International Child Abduction Remedies Act “ICARA”) in order to commence proceedings under the Hague Convention, a petition must be filed in a court where the child is located and not in the Central Authority of the country of habitual residence. 

Because the child was in the United States and not Greece, the father did not commence the proceedings until he filed his petition in a Maine court in April 2024.

Settlement of the Child - Art. 12(2)

The Court affirmed the first instance decision which had considered appropriate facts, including the mother’s conduct, the disruption in the child’s life should the court order her return to Greece, the importance of the child’s maintaining a relationship with her father, and the policies underlying the Convention. 

The first instance Court was correct to conclude that the child was well-settled in the USA.  The child had a stable routine and support from the mother’s family. The child was also receiving extensive speech and behavioural developmental services and liked her school.