( CNN ) -- The chief justice of the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in favor of an American father in an international custody battle . The ruling by Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes will reunite a 9-year-old boy with his father , David Goldman , who has been locked in a custody battle with the family of the boy 's deceased mother . Last week , a lower court unanimously upheld a decision ordering that Sean Goldman be returned to his father in New Jersey . David Goldman arrived in Rio de Janeiro to reunite with his son , but one Supreme Court justice issued a stay , ordering Sean to remain with his Brazilian relatives until the high court could consider the case . Mendes ' decision lifted the stay , paving the way for Goldman to be reunited with his son . Sean 's grandmother , Silvana Bianchi , was expected to immediately file appeals to Tuesday 's ruling . In a letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva , Bianchi said that the legal process was overlooking the boy 's own desires . `` I feel threatened by losing my grandson Sean because of international pressures that do n't consider the interest of a 9-year-old child who passionately desires to remain among those that gave him comfort in the mother 's death , '' the letter states in part . `` They allege that the Hague Convention determined to hand him over immediately . I am not a lawyer . But what I know is that the Convention establishes as priority the interest of the child , and the child was n't heard . '' The custody battle began in 2004 , when Goldman 's wife , Bruna Bianchi , took their then-4-year-old son from their home in New Jersey to Rio de Janeiro for what was to have been a two-week vacation . She never returned , instead remarrying there and retaining custody of Sean . She died last year in childbirth . Goldman has argued that as the sole surviving parent , he should be granted custody . The Bianchi family argues it would traumatize Sean to remove him from what has been his home for five years . The custody battle garnered much media attention and spilled over into the political arena as well . U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg , D-New Jersey , had placed a hold on a trade bill that would have benefited Brazil to the tune of $ 2.75 billion , but he lifted it on the court 's ruling , spokesman Caley Gray said . The bill in question , which sailed through the Senate after the senator dropped the hold , would provide export tariff relief to 130 countries , of which Brazil would be the fifth largest recipient , Gray said . Lautenberg 's hold was designed to exert additional pressure on Brazilian authorities to abide by the court order to return Sean to his father , he said . While the chief justice was still studying the case , Brazilian Attorney General Luis Inacio Adams said the executive branch sides with Goldman . `` Once we stop cooperating and start breaking our treaties and international obligations , Brazil risks the chance of not having its own requests in the matters regarding international judicial help granted , based on the principle of international reciprocity , '' Adams said Monday . `` Not releasing the minor into the custody of his father could bring sanctions against Brazil , '' he added . `` It could damage Brazil 's image before the international community . '' CNN 's Mariano Castillo and Adam Reiss contributed to this report .
Supreme court lifts restraining order keeping boy in Brazil . Sean has been locked in a legal battle over his 9-year-old son , Sean . Goldman 's wife took Sean from Brazil to Brazil for two weeks , never returned . Goldman remarried , later died in childbirth ; Sean has lived with her family since two weeks .