Canada’s habitual-residence finding keeps children out of Texas

A cross-border custody fight in the federal Fifth Circuit ended with the children ordered back to Canada, not left in Texas with Andrew Christopher White. The panel said the district court was right to treat Canada as the children’s habitual residence under the Hague Convention, the treaty that helps decide where international custody disputes belong.

That finding mattered because Sarah S.C. Moreau’s rights were tied to where the children were supposed to live. Once the court accepted Canada as their home base, White’s continued retention of the children in Texas became the problem the treaty is designed to fix.

Canada was the home base

The district court had already reached that conclusion after a bench trial, and the Fifth Circuit did not disturb it. Habitual residence is not just a mailing address or a temporary stop. It is the place the court looks to when deciding where the child’s settled life really is.

Here, the judges said the totality of the circumstances pointed to Canada rather than Texas. That meant the return order could stand, and the custody battle would not be allowed to harden around White’s decision to keep the children in Texas.

Why White’s defenses failed

White argued that the children should not have to go back, but the panel rejected his consent defense. The court also refused to let judicial estoppel block the Hague Convention remedy, keeping the focus on the children’s residence and Moreau’s right to determine it.

One fact the district court relied on was White’s statement that the children would start school in Texas on Aug. 5, 2024. Instead, the judges treated his continued retention of the children in Texas as a breach of Moreau’s recognized custody rights, which left the return order intact.