Court Opinion

ID: 9709879
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 03:56:42.932853+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:52.301695
License: Public Domain

NEUMANN, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
I agree with everything this Court said in Blotske v. Leidholm, 487 N.W.2d 607 (N.D.1992), and Delzer v. Winn, 491 N.W.2d 741 (N.D.1992), regarding the importance of maintaining a stable relationship between a child and the custodial parent, and I agree that there should be a presumption in favor of maintaining such a relationship. Id. at 747-49 (special concurrence by J. Levine).
But, in this case, the custodial parent has elected to move to a new town with a new school system, and to acquire a new spouse, all at once. It is difficult to imagine what more could be done to destabilize the lives of her children. While I do not suggest that custodial parents cannot move or remarry, I certainly think that the presumption favoring stability can be largely offset when such destabilizing life choices are made.
Were these the only facts presented to the trial court, I probably would not dissent. At most, the destabilizing effect of the move and the remarriage can only cancel the presumption in favor of stability, and, as Justice Levine wrote in her concurrence in Delzer, “we ought to resolve close cases in favor of continuing the custody with the custodial parent in order to protect the desired continuity_” Id. at 747. But here we have the additional factor of expert testimony recommending the custodial change. While I still might not have reached the same conclusion as the trial court, that, I am told by my new colleagues, is not the standard of review in this Court. Applying the appropriate standard, once the presumption favoring stability is cancelled by Catherine’s destabilizing choices, and the expert testimony is considered, I cannot say that I am left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made. I would affirm.