Issue -- Family Law, Change of Circumstance for Custody purposes

Issue -- Family Law/Custody:  Is it a "change of circumstances" if there is an escalation or expansion of disagreements between the parents?

In November 2013, the Michigan Court of Appeals said yes in Gates v. Kadoguchi.

The court held that the trial court properly awarded the defendant-father sole legal and sole physical custody of the parties' children.  On appeal, the court first rejected the plaintiff-mother's argument that the trial court's finding of proper cause or COC was against the great weight of the evidence, holding that an incident involving plaintiff calling the police, which occurred after the judgment of divorce, constituted a COC. It found the incident relevant to several best interests factors, and noted that plaintiff's subsequent "inability to control the children" based on the incident was "a change in the children's environment that would have a significant effect on their well being."

The court found that the trial court did not commit clear legal error and its findings regarding best interest factors (a), (b), (d), (e), (h), (j), and (l) were not against the great weight of the evidence. "The trial court did not abuse its discretion in changing custody."