Morvillo Abramowitz Wins Hague Convention Case Involving 12-Year-Old

November 11, 2024

On October 31, 2024, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a 102-page decision by the trial court that sided with Morvillo Abramowitz’s client and denied a petition to return a 12-year-old boy to Chile pursuant to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.  The firm represented the American father in the dispute and tried the case in New York federal court in April 2024.  Over the course of the two-week trial, the firm presented evidence that the 12-year-old boy was mature enough that his strong desire to stay in the United States should be considered, and that because the mother failed to bring her Hague Convention claims within one-year, the courts can consider evidence of his settlement in New York.  The Second Circuit, in a per curiam opinion, rejected all of the mother’s arguments on appeal and agreed with the trial court’s finding that the mother had not consented to allowing the boy to remain in the United States for an additional two months in 2023 (which would reset the clock for the one-year time period), as evidenced by a police report she filed in Chile and her admission that she felt she had no choice and did not have a firm belief that the father would return the child.

The Morvillo Abramowitz team included partners Karen R. King and Kate Cassidy, associate Jordan Weatherwax, and former associates Abbe Ben-David and Megan Knepka, all of whom examined witnesses at trial.  The appeal was argued by Karen King. 

A copy of the trial court’s decision can be read here; a copy of the Second Circuit decision can be read here.