In postdissolution matter, court granted father’s motion to modify parenting time and granted the father the majority of the parenting time. MSA provided that parents had joint legal custody of their 2 children, with mother having primary physical and residential custody, and with father to have secondary physical custody (or visitation). Father’s petition alleged that mother moved children 324 miles away without notice or consent of father. For purposes of Section 610.5 of Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, a parent’s relocation is a substantial change in circumstances. Court’s decision that relocation was not in the children’s best interests, and that the father met his burden of showing that relocation was a change in circumstances that necessitated modification of parenting time to serve children’s best interest was not against manifest weight of evidence. (HOLDRIDGE and LYTTON, concurring.)
Illinois Appellate Court
Civil Court
Child Custody