Opinion ID: 2975873
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Thomas and Alexis’ Habitual Residence

Text: Turning now to the merits of the case, we hold that even though the district court applied an incorrect legal standard in determining Thomas and Alexis’ habitual residence, it reached the correct No. 06-3889 Robert v. Tesson Page 13 result in holding that they were habitual residents of the United States at the time of their removal from France. The Third Circuit’s recent decision in Karkkainen v. Kovalchuk, 445 F.3d 280 (3d Cir. 2006) provides helpful guidance to courts determining whether a child has been acclimatized to a new country and whether their stay in that new country has a settled purpose. Karkkainen involved a child named Maria whose mother lived in Finland and whose father resided in the United States. Id. at 285. Maria was fluent in Finnish, English and Russian, and had extensive experience traveling in both Europe and the United States. After being told by her stepfather—in the presence of her mother—that she was free to move permanently to the United States if she chose, Maria left to live with her father and enrolled in an American school. Id. at 286. Maria had resided in the United States for three months when her mother filed a petition seeking her return under the Hague Convention. Id. The Third Circuit’s opinion denying this petition is instructive in several regards. First, it considers parental conduct in a manner which is consistent with this Court’s decision in Friedrich I. Rather than focusing on her mother’s subjective intentions regarding Maria’s nation of residence, the Third Circuit focused on how Maria’s mother and stepfather “colored her attitude” towards her stay in the United States by communicating to her that she would be “permitted to choose where she would live . . . .” Id. at 294. This focus on Maria’s experience is consistent with the Sixth Circuit’s dictate that a habitual residence inquiry must “focus on the child, not the parents, and examine past experience, not future intentions.” Friedrich I, 983 F.2d at 1401. Karkkainen also listed several factual circumstances which a court could consider in determining whether or not a child’s stay in a new country meets the tests of “acclimatization,” and “settled purpose.” Among these factual circumstances, the Third Circuit held that “academic activities are among ‘the most central . . . in a child’s life’ and therefore highly suggestive of acclimatization.” 445 F.3d at 293 (quoting Feder, 63 F.3d at 224). The court also noted that “social engagements,” “participation in sports programs and excursions,” and “meaningful connections with the people and places” in the child’s new country all point to the child being acclimatized. Id. at 294. Additionally, the court held that the fact that Maria “brought more personal belongings with her than usual, in anticipation that she would remain [in the United States]” was evidence of a settled purpose to reside in the United States. Id. Finally, the court considered Maria’s own stated desire to reside in the United States, combined with her parents’ communication to her that she was free to act on this desire, and held this to be a significant factor in determining that she had a settled purpose to reside in the United States. Many of the factors considered by the Third Circuit in Karkkainen are also present in the instant case. Admittedly, some of these factors cut in both directions. The magistrate judge, for example, found that the boys were fluent in both French and English at the time of their removal, and the boys attended both French and American schools during their time in both countries. Nevertheless, a preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that the boys were habitual residents of the United States at the time of their removal from France. Even assuming that the boys acquired an habitual residence in France during their 15 month stay in that country, the boys took up a new habitual residence in the United States during the period beginning December 2002 when they lived in Denver. While in Denver, the boys attended an American kindergarten. They vacationed with Respondent’s sister and family to Yellowstone National Park, and they visited their maternal grandmother in Baton Rouge. As the magistrate judge found, the children became “more and more socialized in the United States.” (J.A. 113.) They attended American schools, formed meaningful relationships with their American relatives, and participated in excursions throughout the United States. No. 06-3889 Robert v. Tesson Page 14 This America-centered experience contrasts dramatically with the boys’ contact with France during this period. As the magistrate judge found, the children had “scant contact with their father,” contact which could have helped them maintain a sense of French identity. (J.A. 113.) Similarly, the boys were “largely ignored” by their French relatives, and they celebrated holidays and birthdays almost exclusively with the American side of their family. In effect, the boys’ ties with France were cut while they lived in Denver, and all of these facts point to a finding that the boys were habitual residents of the United States. Having determined that the boys were habitual residents of the United States at the time they boarded their September 2003 flight to France, the remaining question is whether or not their habitual residence changed from the United States to France during their three week stay at Mas Verdoline. See Karkkainen, 445 F.3d at 294 (“[I]t does seem implicit in the concept of acquiring a new ‘habitual’ residence that the previous ‘habitual’ residence has been left behind or discarded.”). A preponderance of the evidence suggests that it did not. Admittedly, some evidence points to a conclusion that the boys did acquire a new habitual residence while in France. The boys were already fluent in French, and they were briefly enrolled in a French school. These facts, however are not sufficient to outweigh the volumes of evidence suggesting that the boys would have perceived their stay in France to be merely a temporary journey before they returned to a permanent residence in the United States. First, their French father did little to welcome them to France or communicate that they should expect a long stay. The magistrate judge found that the boys received a “cool reception from Petitioner at the airport” upon their arrival in France. (J.A. 115.) Moreover, according to Respondent’s testimony, Petitioner did not hug or even acknowledge the boys, and he even expressed surprise that they actually came to France in the first place. Second, unlike the child in Karkkainen who brought significant amounts of her possessions to her new residence in anticipation that she would remain there, Thomas and Alexis brought only “two seasons worth of clothing” to France, a fact that suggests a return to the United States when the weather became warmer. (J.A. 115.) Third, the actual length of the boys’ stay in France was only three weeks, hardly enough time for them to become “acclimatized” to a new residence, and far less than the ten months they had recently spent in the United States. Finally, the rough state of Mas Verdoline would suggest to any child that the French house was completely unlivable. The magistrate judge found that Mas Verdoline was “not in a condition for a primary caregiver and two young children.” (J.A. 116.) This finding was supported by the fact that the home had no interior walls, “primitive” bathroom facilities, an “open staircase” and that the floorboards were only “partially laid.” (Id.) If anything, this description of the house is too charitable. Pictures of Mas Verdoline which are included in the record depict a half-complete interior, strewn with power-tools, exposed wires and plumbing, wooden boards waiting to be attached to the house, and other objects including several bottles containing unknown liquids. The only access to the second floor was an aluminum ladder of the sort available at any hardware store, and the only access to one section of the upstairs was a makeshift bridge consisting of two wooden planks. No child, having lived in the relative safety and comfort of a Denver apartment, could believe that they had arrived at this hazard-riddled construction site with the settled purpose to leave the United States behind and make a new habitual residence in France. The twins’ final trip to France lasted only three short weeks. In that time, they had few experiences that would have acclimatized them to their new surroundings, or which would indicate a settled purpose to remain in France. Indeed, most of their experiences at Mas Verdoline suggest the opposite. Accordingly, we hold that the twins’ habitual residence at the time of their removal from France was the United States. No. 06-3889 Robert v. Tesson Page 15