Court Opinion

ID: 9580131
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:02:11.440599+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:03.376242
License: Public Domain

NEUMANN, Justice,
concurring.
I agree with most of the majority opinion. I write separately only to point out that there is more than the parents’ stipulation in this ease to obviate the normal requirement of a two-step analysis for change of custody.
We require the two-step analysis for change of custody in order to protect and encourage stability in children’s lives. That is a purpose which I fully support. But here the trial court specifically found that “neither parent has had any permanence as a family unit due to the constant shifting of the child since the date of the original divorce.” I see no point in requiring a two-step analysis to protect stability when, as in this case, there is no stability to protect. I would make the lack of stability, rather than the parents’ stipulation, the basis for omitting the usual two-step analysis in a ease such as this.