Opinion ID: 1738407
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: whether the chancellor erred and abused his discretion in denying full custody to lackey and awarding full custody to fuller by disregarding the tender years doctrine and failing to undertake the albright analysis.

Text: ¶ 24. In any custody case the polestar consideration is always the best interest of the child. Rushing, 724 So.2d at 916. In order to modify child custody, it must be proven that a material change in circumstances has occurred that adversely affects the welfare of the child and that the best interest of the child would be served in modifying custody. Brocato, 731 So.2d at 1141; see also Wright v. Stanley, 700 So.2d 274, 280 (Miss.1997). However, this Court has also noted that the totality of the circumstances must be considered in modifying child custody. Id. ¶ 25. In the order granting custody to Fuller, the chancellor specifically found that both parents were fit to care for the children and that both were able to financially provide for the children. He also found that Lackey's pending move to New York was a material change in circumstances and that it was in the children's best interest to place them in the custody of Fuller. ¶ 26. The chancellor technically erred in applying the test for modification of child custody. This Court has repeatedly held that relocation of a parent does not necessarily result in a material change in circumstances. Cheek, 431 So.2d at 1144, Brocato, 220 So.2d at 344. Assuming arguendo that the move was a material change in circumstances, the chancellor did not find that there was an adverse affect on the children. However, the circumstances in this case do require a modification of child custody. ¶ 27. At the time of the modification hearing, the children were in the joint custody of their parents. The children spent two week intervals with each parent. Given the fact that Lackey was moving to New York, it would seem that the material change (the move to New York) would have an adverse affect on the children. Rachel was four and Chase 16 months at the time of the hearing. It is inconceivable that the children would be driven or flown back and forth between New York and Mississippi every two weeks! ¶ 28. The Court of Appeals has recently decided a case very similar to the one here. In McRee v. McRee , the parents were given joint custody of the child. The child lived with each parent for a period of one month at a time. When the mother relocated, she petitioned the court to grant her primary custody. The chancellor noted that it would be impractical to not modify custody. He also noted that the traditional standard for modification would not allow him to change what was an impractical custody agreement. The chancellor used the Albright factors that are traditionally used in an original custody order to determine the proper custody. McRee v. McRee, 723 So.2d 1217, 1219 (Miss.Ct.App.1998). The Court of Appeals approved the chancellor's handling of the case, noting that the chancellor looked to the best interest of the child in reaching his decision. McRee, 723 So.2d at 1220. ¶ 29. In this case, it would be impractical to leave custody as it stood at the time of the hearing. It is surely in the children's best interest NOT to be shuttled back and forth between New York and Mississippi every two weeks. As this Court has said: The test we have devised for custody modification need not be applied so rigidly, nor in such a formalistic manner so as to preclude the chancellor from rendering a decision appropriate to the facts of an individual case. In particular, it should not thwart the chancellor from transferring custody of a child from one parent to another when, in the chancellor's judgment, the child's welfare would be best served by such transfer. Riley v. Doerner, 677 So.2d 740, 745 (Miss. 1996). ¶ 30. Lackey alleges that the chancellor should have used the tender years doctrine in his analysis. However, the tender years doctrine has all but been subsumed into the Albright analysis. Mercier v. Mercier, 717 So.2d 304, 307 (Miss.1998). As this Court said in Mercier, [t]he age of a child is simply one of the factors that we consider in determining the best interests of the child. Id. (citing Albright, 437 So.2d at 1005).