Case Update (2020): In re MVU; Hague Abduction Convention and Article 13(b) grave risk due to domestic violence towards the taking parent
In the recent case of In re MVU , the Appellate Court of Illinois affirmed an order refusing return of a minor child to its habitual residence of Mexico because that would present a grave risk of harm to the child based on the father's domestic violence of the mother. The court in opining on the grave risk acknowledged that most jurisprudence on the Hague Abduction Convention arises from federal courts. This particular case was brought in a state court where there was a parentage case pending over the same child (which was stayed when this Hague Abduction return petition was filed). At trial, the taking-parent mother, presented evidence about several situations she argued formed the basis of a grave risk of harm to returning the child. The situations included: an altercation where she says the father choked her while she was holding the child; another where the father threatened her that if she took the child, he would kill her; and another where the father...