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R.V.W. v. C.L.W.

Application by the father for the return of the parties’ one-year-old child to Texas under the Hague Convention. The child was born in Texas, where the parties were married and lived together at the time. When the father lived in Canada, he was convicted of assaulting his former partner and refusing to provide a breath sample. The mother claimed the father and his family were emotionally and physically abusive to her and the father abused alcohol, both of which the father denied. When the mother was pregnant, they had an altercation during which she pushed her laptop into the father’s face and he pushed her off a chair. The father consumed alcohol and drove too quickly with the mother in the car. The father caused a kitchen fire after consuming alcohol and, in the aftermath, pushed and locked the mother outside. The parties had a verbal and physical altercation involving the father’s family members, the police came and the mother voluntarily left the house. After separation, the father kept the child from the mother over a three-week period because he was worried she would remove him from the U.S. The parties reconciled but again had an altercation. The police report noted neither was credible. The mother resisted the return of the child on the basis of the exception in Article 13(b).

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