Catherine Jane Von Kennel Gaudin v. John R. Remis, Jr.

Catherine Jane Yon Kennel Gaudin appeals from the district court’s dismissal of her petition for the return of her two children from the United States to Canada under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, October 25, 1980, T.I.A.S. No. 11670, 19 I.L.M. 1501 (“Hague Convention” or “Convention”). In Gaudin v. Remis, 282 F.3d 1178 (9th Cir.2002) (“Gaudin I”), this court directed the district court to conduct an evidentiary hearing to determine whether Gaudin had moved permanently to Hawaii and, if the court determined that she had relocated, to dismiss her petition as moot. After conducting the hearing, the district court concluded that Gaudin had indeed moved permanently to Hawaii and accordingly dismissed the petition as moot. Gaudin appeals. We conclude that the district court correctly chose to apply the federal common law of domicile, but that the court erred in applying that law. We therefore reverse.

I.

We revisit the facts and procedural history, previously set forth in Gaudin I, 282 F.3d at 1181 . Catherine Gaudin and John Remis lived in Hawaii as a couple from 1988 until 1992. During that time, they had two sons, John (born in 1990)…