Court Opinion

ID: 9522515
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:27:36.370693+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:03:07.003541
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SLATER, specially concurring: As this case illustrates, custody determinations are often extraordinarily difficult to make. While the primary concern of the courts must always be the best interests of the children, those interests are ill-served when parents are unwilling or unable to resolve their differences without anger and threats of violence. Sadly, the “best” interests of the children too often means “the best we can do” under the circumstances. I do not know whether Donnie and Timmy will ultimately be happier and healthier because their father has custody rather than their mother. I do not know, if I had been the trial judge, which version of the facts presented I would have believed. It is not, however, this court’s function to conduct de novo review. “[T]he question for the reviewing court is whether the trial court’s decision is contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence.” (In re Custody of Sussenbach (1985), 108 Ill. 2d 489, 499, 485 N.E.2d 367, 371.) Under the facts presented here, I am compelled to conclude that the court’s findings are sufficiently supported by the evidence.