Court Opinion

ID: 9527069
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:27:10.267883+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:31.129748
License: Public Domain

Beasley, P. J
(concurring). I concur in the result.
However, I would add that, in the absence of compelling reasons to the contrary, permitting a child to be removed from the State of Michigan to *240a new, satisfactory location, should be routinely granted.1
We live in a transient society. With respect to the best interests of a child, state boundaries are artificial and meaningless; there is no presumption that bringing up a child in Michigan has any advantage (or disadvantage) over Missouri or Georgia, or any other state. To conclude otherwise would be a meaningless generalization. Restrictions upon where a custodial parent may live, in terms of geography, are not realistic. In every state there are good and bad places to bring up a child. To say that a custodial parent cannot move a child to any location in Florida, solely because it is outside of Michigan and in Florida, is patently arbitrary and capricious.
I do not anticipate that the filing of a petition for removal of a child from the state would be an automatic occasion for a full custody hearing. Only where there are additional facts that give rise to inquiry regarding the well-being and best interests of the child does a change of address indicate a need for anything more than a perfunctory hearing.2 This is not to say that the factor of distance has no effect on visitation rights of the noncustodial parent and, perhaps, on the amount of child support payable.3

 GCR 1963, 729.4(1) and (2) should be considered, together with GCR 1963, 727.2(3) and (4). Reference should also be had to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act which became- effective March 31, 1976, MCL 600.651 et seq.; MSA 27A.651 et seq., which recognizes the transience of our late 20th century society.

 As indicated, the application of the Child Custody Act (MCL 722.21 et seq.; MSA 25.312(1) et seq.) is not automatic, but there may be situations where change of residence or domicile will give rise to their application.

 E.g., a trial judge might consider the cost of visiting a child residing in Hawaii as justifying lesser child support. With respect to visitation, we take judicial notice that jet air travel reduces the time between the most distant locations in the United States under ten hours.