July 27th, 2017

​US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Opinions
Cartes v. Phillips

Docket: 17-20154
Opinion Date: July 25, 2017
Judge: Higginbotham
Areas of Law: Family Law, International Law

Father petitioned the district court to order mother to return their three-year-old daughter to Paraguay, where she lived with both parents from October 2014 to October 2016. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's determination that Paraguay was the daughter's habitual residence and that mother had wrongfully removed her to the United States. The court held that the district court did not legally err in assessing the parties' shared intent about their child's habitual residence; nor did the district court clearly err in finding that they agreed that their daughter would habitually reside in Paraguay; and any purported evidentiary error was harmless.