Court Opinion

ID: 9513429
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:35:30.975461+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:05:51.535424
License: Public Domain

SANDSTROM, Justice,
dissenting.
[¶ 31] The district court fairly and reasonably applied the so-called Stout factors. See Stout v. Stout, 1997 ND 61, ¶ 34, 560 N.W.2d 903.
I
[¶ 32] The first Stout factor is the “prospective advantages of the move in improving the custodial parent’s and child’s quality of life.” Stout, 1997 ND 61, ¶ 34, 560 N.W.2d 903. The district court reasonably analyzed this factor as requiring an advantage over the current location. What is available in the proposed new location must be compared with what is available in the present location. To establish an advantage in the proposed new location over the present one, there must be a good-faith effort to pursue equal or better opportunities in the present location.
[¶ 33] The district court found as a matter of fact Vicki Goffs lack of good-faith effort to pursue equal or better opportunities in the present location.
[¶ 34] We will not set aside a trial court’s finding of fact unless it is clearly erroneous. Ternes v. Ternes, 555 N.W.2d 355, 357 (N.D.1996). “ ‘A finding of fact is clearly erroneous if, although there is some evidence to support it, a reviewing court, on the entire record, is left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made, or if it was induced by an erroneous view of the law.’ ” Quamme v. Bellino, 540 N.W.2d 142, 145 (N.D.1995) (quoting Mahoney v. Mahoney, 516 N.W.2d 656, 661 (N.D.Ct.App.1994)). We give great deference to the trial court’s opportunity to observe the witnesses and determine credibility. Urlaub v. Urlaub, 325 N.W.2d 234, 236 (N.D.1982).
[¶35] The district court’s finding is supported by substantial evidence, including the nature of Vicki Goffs job search and her statement to another that it was not in her interest to be employed.
II
[¶ 36] The majority states at ¶ 16:
The trial court found under the fourth Stout factor “[i]f Vicki’s request to remove the children to Michigan were to be granted at this time, in light of the extended and frequent visitation now accorded John as the noncustodial parent, there simply is no practical manner in which John’s visitation could be re-fashioned to allow the amount of contact there presently is with his children to continue.” This interpretation of the fourth Stout factor is dearly erroneous.
[¶ 37] Contrary to the assertion by the majority in the last sentence of the paragraph, the first sentence is not an “interpretation” of Stout, but a finding of fact — one that is undeniably correct, not “clearly erroneous.”
III
[¶38] This Court said in Hawkinson v. Hawkinson, 1999 ND 58, ¶ 8, 591 N.W.2d 144, “A trial court must balance the prospective advantages of a proposed move in improving the custodial parent’s and the child’s quality of life with the potential negative impact on the relationship between the noncustodial parent and the child.” Here the district court reasonably found no advantage under the former and disadvantage under the latter.
[¶ 39] The decision of the district court is supported by the law and the evidence, and should be affirmed.
[¶ 40] Dale V. Sandstrom, J.