Court Opinion

ID: 9523093
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:36:02.231215+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:04:33.605062
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE TURNER, specially concurring: I agree with the result reached by the majority and thus concur in its affirmation of the trial court’s judgment. I write separately, however, because I disagree with the majority’s holding “that section 610’s two-year proscription on motions to modify custody, absent affidavits showing serious endangerment, starts to run when the trial court enters a permanent custody order, regardless of whether such order is entered contemporaneously to the final judgment of dissolution or earlier in the dissolution proceedings.” 343 Ill. App. 3d at 1243. Because of the decision in Leopando, 96 Ill. 2d at 120, 449 N.E.2d at 140, the effect of the majority’s holding is to trigger the application of section 610(a) of the Act (750 ILCS 5/610(a) (West 2000)) in cases that are not yet final for appeal. As the majority notes, the goal of section 610 of the Act is to promote stability and continuity in the “ ‘custodial and environmental relationships’ ” of children of a divorce. 343 Ill. App. 3d at 1243, quoting Gustavson, 247 Ill. App. 3d at 801, 617 N.E.2d at 1316. Thus, affidavits must be filed under section 610(a) if a party desires to modify custody within two years of a final custody judgment in which the trial court has ultimately made a finding in the child’s best interest (750 ILCS 5/610(a) (West 2000)). In my view, however, if the order is not appealable, it is not final for purposes of section 610(a). It is axiomatic that if the final order is immediately appealable, the party who has unsuccessfully sought custody of a child is entitled to have the trial court’s judgment reviewed for error. However, under Leopando, 96 Ill. 2d at 120, 449 N.E.2d at 140, if other ancillary issues are still pending before the trial court, no right of appellate review attaches. Thus, the majority’s holding may leave an unsuccessful party in a custody dispute without the ability to appeal and at the same time limit the party’s access to the trial court. Moreover, the holding’s effect deprives the trial court of the opportunity to hear newly discovered evidence pertaining to the child’s best interest unless section 610(a) affidavits are filed, even though the trial judge still has pending issues before it, some of which pertain to the child. In the case sub judice, the trial court determined that the new evidence Brooks sought to introduce was merely cumulative and would not alter the court’s original ruling. This ruling is supported by the record and was not an abuse of the trial court’s discretion. I would, therefore, affirm on that basis. The trial judge was in a position, with matters still pending before it, to modify custody if doing so was in the children’s best interest. The filing of section 610(a) affidavits is neither necessary nor warranted until the custody judgment is final for purposes of appeal.