Opinion ID: 1115388
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Substantial Change of Circumstances

Text: The superior court's oral statement of decision contains four factual findings to support the conclusion that Dennis had shown a substantial change of circumstances. Regina argues that none of these controlling factual findings can support a decision to modify custody. Regina asserts that the factual findings were clearly erroneous, and that the superior court's misconsideration of all four factual findings amounted to an abuse of discretion. We disagree. Initially, we consider Regina's assertions of clear error. Judge Carlson stated: I find that there is a substantial change in circumstances which has affected the children. The war has continued for another couple years. It's been waged by both parties. Each party knows how to pull the other's strings. (Emphasis added.) Regina notes that the bitter tenor of the custody dispute existed at the original custody hearing and entered into the trial court's decision there. Thus, she argues, the parties' acrimony two years later could not be a change of circumstances. This argument misses the point. Judge Carlson's finding correctly focuses on the children in the very first sentence quoted above. It is irrelevant that the parents' behavior patterns remained constantly contentious between 1987 and 1989. What is important is that the circumstances of the children worsened as a result of their parents' actions. See House v. House, 779 P.2d 1204, 1207 (Alaska 1989) (crucial inquiry was whether the child faced ... a potentially disturbing and upsetting change in circumstances). The guardian ad litem's report and the testimony of the parties and of witnesses at trial all indicate that the ongoing dispute between Dennis and Regina had harmed the children. Thus, Judge Carlson's factual finding on this point was not erroneous. Judge Carlson stated his second finding as follows: There's been additional change in circumstance. Each party has a new relationship in the nature of a marriage. The relationship between Mrs. Long and Mr. Turinsky, stormy. At least he moved out for awhile. He returned to marriage de facto. Mr. Long has remarried. Regina Long correctly points out that a recent remarriage  as an improvement in a noncustodial parent's position  is generally not sufficient to justify custody modification. See, e.g., Gratrix, 652 P.2d at 82; Nichols v. Nichols, 516 P.2d 732, 736 (Alaska 1973). Plainly, however, Judge Carlson found more than a mere improvement in Dennis Long's position due to remarriage. Judge Carlson's decision contrasted Regina's new household and found that her position, insofar as it affected the children, had deteriorated, while Dennis' position, gauged under the same criterion, had improved. The transcript of the hearing contains ample evidence to support such a finding. Of particular importance here is the guardian ad litem's report, which repeatedly noted problems in Regina's household related to Mr. Turinsky's assumption of disciplinary responsibility. Additionally, the guardian's report singled out as action particularly harmful to the children Regina and Turinsky's practice of taping and monitoring telephone calls between the children and their father. Judge Carlson's inclusion of the contrast between the new relationships as one factor in his changed circumstances analysis was not erroneous. As his third finding of changed circumstances, Judge Carlson noted that the oldest daughter, Virginia, was now in Dennis Long's custody. Regina Long argues that because Judge Michalski originally awarded custody of Virginia to Dennis, Virginia's presence in Dennis' home two years later cannot amount to a change. Again Regina's argument misses the point. Virginia's custody status changed continually between 1987 and 1989. Virginia's voluntary return to Dennis Long's custody after Dennis remarried and established a new household definitely represented a change in circumstances worthy of some consideration in Judge Carlson's analysis, especially in regard to Virginia's own custody status. Judge Carlson's fourth and final finding in support of his changed circumstances decision was Regina's intent to move from the Anchorage community. This court has held that a custodial parent's decision to move out of state may amount to a substantial change of circumstances as a matter of law. House, 779 P.2d at 1207-08. Certainly the custodial parent's decision to move six hundred miles from the noncustodial parent presents a factor that the court should include in its changed circumstances analysis. We turn now to Regina's argument that Judge Carlson committed an abuse of discretion in finding that the sum of the changed circumstances in this case amounted to a substantial change of circumstances. In the past, we have reviewed multiple changed circumstances to determine whether, in the aggregate, the changes were sufficient to justify a reevaluation of a custody decree. See Garding, 767 P.2d at 185-86; Gratrix, 652 P.2d at 78-79. Hence, Judge Carlson's ruling that the four changes of circumstances in this case together amounted to a substantial change rests initially on solid precedent. Of Judge Carlson's four change of circumstances findings, the current status of the oldest daughter, Virginia, receives the least emphasis. Certainly the court did not abuse its discretion insofar as it considered this factor alone substantial for purposes of deciding Virginia's status. On the other hand, we do not find any language in Judge Carlson's decision to suggest that Virginia's current status carried significant weight in the analysis of the three younger children's changed circumstances. Accordingly, we are left with three changed circumstances factors to consider as support for Judge Carlson's decision to reevaluate and to change the custody status of the younger children: (1) the harm to the children resulting from the parties' continuing disputes; (2) the parties' new relationships, i.e., Dennis Long's improved position in contrast to Regina Long's somewhat less stable and less auspicious position; and (3) Regina's proposed relocation to Juneau. As noted, the record contains ample evidence to suggest that the first factor was of great significance. The parents' continuing feud had harmed the children and threatened to harm the children further unless some change occurred. Ordinarily, hostility and dispute between the parents, in and of itself, will not be considered a substantial change of circumstances unless the adverse impact on the child is extreme. E.g., Birge v. Birge, 34 Or. App. 581, 579 P.2d 297, 299 (1978). The effect of hostility between the parents, however, may combine with other significant changes in circumstance to amount, in the aggregate, to a substantial change sufficient to warrant change of custody. See id.; see also 2 H. Clark, The Law of Domestic Relations in the United States, § 20.9, at 560-61 (2d ed. 1987). The record also supports a finding that Dennis Long's remarriage amounted to a change potentially beneficial to the children's interests, while Regina Long's new relationship amounted to a change at least potentially detrimental to the children's interests. On review, great weight must be accorded to the trial judge's experience and to his evaluation of demeanor testimony. Sheridan v. Sheridan, 466 P.2d 821, 824 (Alaska 1970) (cited in Faro v. Faro, 579 P.2d 1377, 1379 (Alaska 1978)). In this case, Judge Carlson heard at length from all persons involved in the new relationships. Additionally, the guardian ad litem's report described the effect of the parties' new relationships on the children. The sum of these considerations convinces us that Judge Carlson reasonably could assign significant weight to the total impact that the parties' dissimilar new relationships had on the children. Finally, Judge Carlson found that Regina's intent to move from the Anchorage community ... will greatly inhibit what we know is necessary in this case, that the children have communication with their father. Regina argues that a six-hundred mile move from one city to another in Alaska is not a substantial change of circumstances. This argument fails to address Judge Carlson's concern for the children's continued communication with their father. Regina also invokes the following statement, made by Judge Carlson as he recessed the hearing at the end of the third day: I'm greatly concerned about the fact that I think this case is pretty much where Judge Michalski found it, where he left it and I don't see how it's changed very much from then. There's still all this emotional turmoil between the two parties and maybe the distance of six-hundred miles between here and Juneau will reduce some of that. I don't know. Regina argues that because only two witnesses testified after Judge Carlson made that statement, Judge Carlson reasonably could not have changed his mind about the impact of the proposed move to Juneau. We disagree. Regina's argument ignores the fact that Dennis Long spent the entire fourth day of the hearing on the stand, mainly under cross-examination by Regina's counsel. That protracted testimony must have added immeasurably to Judge Carlson's final estimation of Dennis Long. That testimony also must have added to Judge Carlson's sense of what impact the proposed move away from Dennis would have on the children. We conclude that in the aggregate, the factors affecting the three younger children  the continuing conflict between the parents, the combined effect of both new relationships, and Regina's proposed move to Juneau  can reasonably be held to constitute a substantial change of circumstances for purposes of the requisite preliminary showing. That is, taking the record as a whole, we cannot say that Judge Carlson erred in finding a substantial change of circumstances or in finding that the change in circumstances required modification of the original custody order. See AS 25.20.110; Lee, 790 P.2d at 1361.