The child was approximately 3 at the date of the alleged wrongful retention. It was disputed whether the parents were legally married. They stopped cohabiting in 1997. Thereafter the child lived with the mother. In 1999 the mother took the child to the United States. In June 2000 the father applied to the Canadian Central Authority for assistance. The father subsequently filed a return application in a Minnesota district court. That court awarded him immediate custody in preparation for a custody hearing in Canada. Two days later, the mother sought an emergency order re-awarding custody to her alleging that the parties had never married and that the husband had been physically violent to her, had not visited the child in two years and had threatened the mother’s life. On 7 November 2000 the district court awarded temporary custody to the mother and scheduled a full custody hearing for 30 November. On 16 November the father applied to dismiss the custody hearing arguing that the district court lacked jurisdiction to address custody issues where a Convention had been made. The district court denied the father’s motion. The father appealed.
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