Court Opinion

ID: 9572089
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:38:20.338692+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:31:30.615460
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
concurring.
A final judgment was entered in California conclusively denying guardianship to Lois Pincock and directing the return of the child to the parent and natural guardian, Mitchell. In proceedings in the Idaho courts, Pincock does not attack the California judgment, contending instead that the California “custody decree being modifiable lacks the requisite finality of most judgments.” Claiming a change of circumstances since the entry of the California decree, Pincock claims the right to relitigate the custody issue in Idaho. At oral argument, however, Pincock conceded that the California judgment was not modifiable in the very action in which it had been entered. Respondent herself thus recognizes the dis*60tinction between a custody decree entered as a usual incident to a divorce action, between the two parents on the one hand, and, on the other, a contest between a parent and a stranger.
The full faith and credit clause of the United States Constitution requires that California’s final judgment be accorded full effect upon principles of res judicata and collateral estoppel. This is essentially the holding of the Court’s opinion and I concur. However, I do not see the necessity for any discussion of the “clean hands” doctrine, or the Uniform Child Custody Act — both of which propositions have to do only with modification controversies.
Observing that a relationship of over 6 years’ duration is coming to an end, I think it appropriate to suggest to Judge Schwartzman that he discuss with the litigants the possibility of some voluntary arrangement whereby Pincock would not be deprived of all future contact with the child.