The three children, two boys and a girl, were aged 7, 4, and 2 at the date of the alleged wrongful removal. The parents were married and had joint rights of custody. The family had lived in the United States until late September 1997. The family then moved to Greece where the father, a Greek citizen, took up a new job. The marriage was a difficult one.
In January 2000, after several incidents of domestic violence in which both she and the children were attacked, the mother, an American citizen, took the children for the United States.
On 10 March the father filed a petition for the return of the children to Greece under the Hague Convention. On 5 May the court granted summary judgment ordering the return of the children at the father’s expense. The mother appealed this decision. On 13 November 2000 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the appeal and remitted the case to the District Court.
