Updated

A Brazilian federal court is hearing arguments on whether a 9-year-old boy living in Brazil should be returned to his father in New Jersey.

Lawyers say that whoever loses the ruling expected Wednesday is likely to make a final appeal to another court in Brasilia.

The supreme court in June ruled the case should be heard by the federal court in Rio.

The case began in 2004, when David Goldman's wife Bruna Bianchi took their then-4-year-old son Sean to her native Brazil.

Goldman says it was to be a two-week vacation. But she stayed and so did the boy. She eventually was divorced there and remarried. She died last year, but her new husband's family is seeking to keep Sean.