Antonio Felipe Terra Pinto de Queiroz v. Bruna Pires Schuenck

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts considers a petition under the Hague Convention and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act seeking the return of a child to Brazil. The Court finds that Brazil was the child’s country of habitual residence, that the father had and exercised custody rights, and that the mother wrongfully retained the child in Massachusetts. The Court rejects the asserted grave-risk defense and grants the petition for return.

Holdings

1. Petitioner established by a preponderance of the evidence that Respondent wrongfully retained the child in the United States because Brazil was the child's country of habitual residence, Petitioner had custody rights immediately before the retention, and he was exercising those rights.
2. Respondent failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that returning the child to Brazil would expose the child to a grave risk of physical or psychological harm or place the child in an intolerable situation.
3. A Hague Convention return proceeding determines the appropriate forum for adjudicating custody and does not resolve the parents' underlying custody dispute or the child's best interests.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Petitioner established that Respondent wrongfully retained the child in the United States under the Hague Convention and ICARA.
2. Whether Petitioner had custody rights immediately before the child's removal and was exercising those rights.
3. Whether Respondent established the Hague Convention article 13(b) grave-risk affirmative defense by clear and convincing evidence.
4. Whether the court's Hague Convention jurisdiction permitted it to decide the parents' underlying custody dispute or the child's best interests.

Disposition

other