Court Opinion

ID: 9819366
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 06:23:38.254259+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:38:30.287565
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HOLDRIDGE, dissenting: Subsection 610(b) of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act states: “The court shall not modify a prior custody judgment unless it finds by clear and convincing evidence, upon the basis of facts that have arisen since the prior judgment or that were unknown to the court at the time of entry of the prior judgment, *** that a change has occurred in the circumstances of the child or either or both parties having custody, and that the modification is necessary to serve the best interest of the child.” 750 ILCS 5/610(b) (West 2000). This provision outlines two requirements that must be satisfied before a court can modify a custody arrangement. First, there must be clear and convincing evidence that circumstances have changed in a way not foreseen when the arrangement was made. Second, modification must be necessary to serve the child’s best interest. In the instant case, the first requirement is clearly not satisfied. Although the parents did not know precisely where Kirsten would attend school when they made the custody arrangement, they obviously knew it would happen in either Ottawa or Granville. This knowledge renders the majority’s analysis disingenuous. The court’s order directing Kirsten to attend school in Ottawa simply did not create an unforseen change of circumstances (by any standard, let alone by clear and convincing evidence). In finding otherwise, the majority seems to be influenced by a conviction that a custody modification would serve Kirsten’s best interest. This type of analysis commingles two requirements that the statute keeps distinct. I thus respectfully dissent.