Vasquez v. Acevedo

Summary

Vasquez v. Acevedo, 931 F.3d 519 (6th Cir. 2019). In a Hague Convention on International Child Abduction petition, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the denial of the father’s claim of wrongful retention, holding that the United States was the child’s habitual residence. For a very young child (two years and four months old), the court applied the parental-intent standard, looking to the parents’ last shared mutual intent for the child’s residence, rather than the acclimatization standard. Clear error review applies to the district court’s habitual-residence findings, and the court found no clear error in the conclusion that the father knew the mother intended to remain in the United States with the child and acquiesced in that plan. The case clarifies the choice between acclimatization and parental-intent standards for infants and toddlers lacking cognizance to acclimatize.

Holdings

1. The district court's choice of the parental-intent standard was not erroneous under either de novo or deferential review.
2. The district court's finding of habitual residence based on parental intent was not clearly erroneous.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court erred in choosing the parental-intent standard over the acclimatization standard to determine habitual residence.
2. Whether the district court clearly erred in finding that the parents' last shared intent was for the child to live in the United States.

Disposition

affirmed