Court Opinion

ID: 9700254
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 21:17:27.016787+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:06.026857
License: Public Domain

Morse, J.,
dissenting. I agree with Justice Dooley that the parents’ existing legal relationship to the children is the “worst outcome possible.” On this record, I cannot imagine any good coming from continued shared legal rights and responsibilities.
I am dismayed also that we are creating a rule of law that there cannot be a “significant change of circumstances” if the custodial arrangement was bad from the start. If these parents made a mistake *81— a colossal one it seems from the facts — by agreeing to shared legal custody, we ought not fall victim to the illusion that perpetuating the wrong will somehow make it right.
In a related area of juvenile law, the concept of “stagnation,” denoting a continuation of the status quo, is deemed a “change of circumstances” to allow termination of parental rights. See In re J.R., 164 Vt. 267, 271, 668 A.2d 670, 673 (1995) (continuing risk supports finding of material change of circumstances).
In truth, stagnation is not a change in the facts, but the failure of anticipated improvement in the parent-child relationship. See In re D.B., 161 Vt. 217, 219, 635 A.2d 1207, 1209 (1993) (change of circumstances is “failure of. . . expectation”). Should not the failure of the expectation that parents with shared custody will cooperate in the future likewise be a change in circumstances?
This case, it seems to me, is evidence that my dissent in Gazo v. Gazo, 166 Vt. 434, 450-52, 697 A.2d 342, 351-52 (1997), proposing that the present two-pronged test required to modify custody should become an integrated standard, makes sense. Had this Court allowed the circumstances to be considered together with the their effect on the children’s best interests, this case would be in an entirely different, and I venture brighter, light.
I would reverse.
On Motion for Reargument
Plaintiff’s motion to reargue, filed April 10, 1998, fails to identify points of law or fact overlooked or misapprehended by this Court. The motion is therefore denied. See V.R.A.E 40.