Court Opinion

ID: 9581665
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:17:19.698253+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:10.278275
License: Public Domain

BURKE; Justice,
dissenting.
Today, we elevate the requirement of changed circumstances to a wholly undeserved level of importance. As a result the Garding children now find themselves trapped in a custody arrangement which was determined to be contrary to to the children's best interests by the only court to consider the question, the Alaska Superi- or Court. Such callous indifference to the welfare of these and other children in like circumstances compels me to dissent.
More than a decade ago, the Idaho Supreme Court observed:
While the material, permanent and substantial change standard is a sound legal principle, care must be exercised in its application. The tendency is to search for some greatly altered circumstance in an attempt to pinpoint the change called for by the rule. Thus, the emphasis is placed on defining some change, and making that change appear, in itself, to be material, permanent and substantial. This focus is misleading. The important portion of the standard is that which relates the change in conditions to the best interest of the child. The changed circumstance standard was designed, as a matter of policy, to prevent continuous re-litigation of custody matters. That policy goal, however, is of secondary importance when compared to the best interest of the child, which is the controlling consideration in all custody proceedings. The court must look not only for changes of condition or circumstance which are material, permanent and substantial, but also must thoroughly explore the ramifications, vis-a-vis the best interest of the child, of any change which is evident. What may appear by itself to be a small and insignificant change in circumstances may have significant effects insofar as children are concerned.
Care must also be taken to avoid “compartmentalizing” consideration of a child’s best interest in successive attempts at custody modification. The best interest of a child, like its growth, is a matter of development. An emerging pattern which is not apparent in a first consideration may come into focus at some later time. The court should allow and consider all evidence relevant to a child’s interest, not just that evidence which has emerged since previous orders.
Poesy v. Bunney, 98 Idaho 258, 261-262, 561 P.2d 400, 403-404 (1977) (citations omitted; emphasis in the original). This, in my judgment, is the correct view. Our decision today provides a good example of what happens when a court succumbs to the unfortunate “tendency” noted by the Idaho court. In our misguided search for a particular kind of change, we have lost sight of what should be our primary goal: a decision which promotes the best interests of the Garding children.1
*187There has, in fact, been a substantial change in circumstances. Indeed, one is hard pressed to find any circumstance bearing on the children’s well-being which remains the same as when the Montana decree was entered. This being the case, the only question that should concern us is whether the trial court erred in determining that the decree no longer serves the Garding children’s best interests. Sadly, the majority ignores this most important question.

. The Idaho standard requires "a material, permanent and substantial change in conditions and circumstances subsequent to entry of the original decree which would indicate to the court’s satisfaction that modification would be for the best interests of the child.” Poesy v. Bunney, 98 Idaho at 261, 561 P.2d at 403 (quoting Tomlinson v. Tomlinson, 93 Idaho 42, 47, 454 P.2d 756, 761 (1969)). Thus, it is more *187demanding than the standard set forth in AS 25.20.110.