Dimitris Papakosmas v. Yvette Papakosmas

We must decide whether the children of Dimitris and Yvette Papakosmas were habitual residents of Greece within the meaning of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and therefore wrongfully removed from that country to the United States by their mother.

I

A

The following facts emerged during an evidentiary hearing on November 23 and 24, 2004, before the district court, U.S. District Judge Margaret Morrow presiding. Dimitris and Yvette Papakosmas were married in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 20, 1994, and subsequently resided in the Los Angeles, California area. The couple have two children together, a son, born on March 6, 1995, and a daughter, born on December 29, 1997; both children were born in Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Papakosmas owned and operated two hotels in Hollywood, the Liberty Hotel and the Hollywood International Hotel, and leased and operated a third hotel, the Hollywood International Youth Hostel.

In December 2003, the Papakosmas family left California for Greece, the birthplace of Dimitris. At the evidentiary hearing, he testified that the couple had always discussed the possibility of moving to Greece, but had made the…