In re Marriage of McDole: Modifying Child Custody by Ignoring Statutory Grounds

Authors

Virginia A. Petersen

Abstract

In In re Marriage of McDole, the Washington Supreme Court upheld the modification of a parenting plan that changed the primary residential parent. By relying in part on the mother's interference with visitation, the court not only undermined the important policy underlying the modification statute of maximizing finality in custody determinations, but it also failed to read the modification statute as a whole. The court also inappropriately relied on the mother's move out of the state and continued conflict between the parents. The court further failed to explicitly explain the legal bases for its decision, providing little guidance for future interpretation of the modification statute.

First Page

1143

Recommended Citation

Virginia A. Petersen, Notes and Comments, In re Marriage of McDole: Modifying Child Custody by Ignoring Statutory Grounds, 69 Wash. L. Rev. 1143 (1994).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol69/iss4/8