Ilyse Deravil v. Julmise Jean

── Ilyse Deravil v. Julmise Jean ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Date: May 08, 2026 Category: General NOT RECOMMENED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 26a0181n.06 Case No. 25-3636 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED April 21, 2026 KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk ) ILYSE DERAVIL; LEGRAND DERAVIL, ) ON APPEAL FROM THE Petitioners - Appellants ) UNITED STATES DISTRICT ) COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN ) DISTRICT OF OHIO v. ) ) JULMISE JEAN; JOHNNY JEAN-LOUIS, ) UNSEALED OPINION* ) Respondents - Appellees. ) Before: McKEAGUE, GRIFFIN, and THAPAR, Circuit Judges. McKEAGUE, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which THAPAR, J., concurred. GRIFFIN, J. (pp. 17–29), delivered a separate dissenting opinion. McKEAGUE, Circuit Judge. This case, brought under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the “Hague Convention”) and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (“ICARA”), involves a complicated dispute between two couples who are fighting over A.D., a minor. Petitioners—Ilyse and Legrand Deravil—are A.D.’s grandaunt and granduncle. Respondents—Julmise Jean and Johnny Jean-Louis (together referred to as the “Jean-Louises”)—are A.D.’s mother and father. * On April 21, 2026, the court filed the opinion and judgment in this case under a temporary seal and granted the parties 14 days to file motion(s) to redact privileged information. With no timely motions to redact having been filed as of May 8, 2026, the court unsealed the opinion and judgment bearing the original file date. No. 25-3636, Deravil et al. v. Jean, et al. A.D. was living in Martinique with the Deravils. In 2023, she went to visit the Jean-Louises in the United States. But what was supposed to be a temporary visit turned into an indefinite stay. The Deravils claim the Jean-Louises improperly retained A.D. in the United States in violation of their custody rights. So the Deravils filed this petition under the Hague Convention, seeking A.D.’s return to Martinique. The district court determined that the Deravils established a prima facie case for wrongful removal or retention, but it nonetheless denied the petition due to the Hague Convention’s age-and-maturity exception, finding that A.D. objected to repatriation. The Deravils appealed. Because we find no clear error or abuse of discretion in the district court’s decision, we AFFIRM. I. BACKGROUND 1. Factual Background A.D. was born in Haiti around the start of 2012.1 From 2012 to 2015, the Deravils and the Jean-Louises lived in close proximity in Haiti. But in 2015, the Deravils took A.D. to Martinique, where A.D. would live for the next eight years. The Jean-Louises did not see A.D. over that eight- year span, but they did have monthly phone calls with her. Meanwhile, the Jean-Louises also left Haiti. They lived in Chile and Mexico before moving to the United States in 2021 and settling in Ohio.2 1 The Jean-Louises claim A.D. was born in December 2011; the Deravils claim it was January 2012. A.D.’s precise birthday is irrelevant for purpose