Family Law

My Child is Older. Is That a Material Change in Circumstances?

Evidently not. The Arkansas Court of Appeals yesterday reversed a decision by the trial court on this exact issue. Father had overnight visitation every Tuesday since the child was 2 years old. Now, the child is 8 years old. Mother files for modification of the overnight visitation because the child was coming to her house on Wednesday morning and did not have his homework done. The trial court found that the child is now school age, that s a little
different than it was when we started, and the early-morning return times were a little early. The trial judge eliminated the overnight visitation on that basis.

The Court of Appeals reversed that decision because it found that the facts presented did not amount to a material change in circumstances.

Here’s the link…
http://courts.arkansas.gov/court_opinions/coa/2008b/20081217/unpublished/ca08-379.pdf

Practice note: This was a “one-brief” opinion which leads me to believe that the mother did not file an appellate brief. Did the court of appeals hold that against her?

Full post as published by Kevin Hickey Law Blog on December 19, 2008 (boomark / email).