Opinion ID: 1669471
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Application of the Substantial Change Test to the Facts

Text: The substantial change test articulated herein applies to the modification of a divorce decree providing for the custody and care of a child. A decree for purposes of the substantial change test includes both a decree that has incorporated a stipulated agreement concerning child custody and a decree awarding custody after an adversarial hearing. See Frazier, 147 So. at 466. In other words, a party seeking to modify a final decree adopting an agreement to rotate custody must satisfy the identical substantial change test that applies in cases involving the modification of custody orders after an adversarial hearing on the issue of custody. In either circumstance, satisfaction of the substantial change test is necessary in order to overcome the res judicata effect of the final judgment. [12] We disapprove of the test to modify existing rotating custody agreements as announced by the Fifth District in Wade. That test simply requires proof that the rotating custody plan has failed and then applies the best interest standard of section 61.13 as used in an initial determination of custody. We disapprove because the Fifth District did not hold that failure of a rotating custody agreement is tantamount to a substantial change in circumstances and did not otherwise indicate how it overcomes the res judicata effect of the original decree. In its original final judgment, the trial court in Wade made an initial custody determination when it found that shared parental responsibility with rotating custody was in the best interest of the child. Res judicata attached to that determination and that determination cannot be modified without satisfying the substantial change test. See, e.g., Belford v. Belford, 159 Fla. 547, 32 So.2d 312 (1947); Newsom v. Newsom, 759 So.2d 718, 719 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000); Zediker v. Zediker, 444 So.2d 1034 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).