Efthymiou

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

COSTAS EFTHYMIOU, Case No. 22-cv-04694-VC

Plaintiff,

FINDINGS OF FACT AND

v. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

HEATHER LABONTE,

Defendant.

N.E. is the twelve-year-old son of Costas Efthymiou and Heather LaBonte. He has lived almost his entire life in Cyprus, where his father has had full custody of him since his parents’ separation in 2014. Last summer, N.E. came to the United States for a six-week visit with LaBonte in California. At the end of the visit, Efthymiou came to collect N.E. but was unsuccessful: N.E., who has autism, had become determined not to return to Cyprus, and LaBonte refused to turn him over. Efthymiou promptly asserted his custody rights by bringing a petition under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Hague Convention provides for the speedy return of children who are wrongfully removed or retained across international borders. Signatory nations—including the United States and Cyprus—agree to return children to their country of habitual residence so that the underlying custody dispute can play out in that country’s courts.…