Attorney Grievance Commission v. Ingram

The defendant, whose marriage to the plaintiff previously had been dis- solved, appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court granting the plaintiff's motion for modification of custody, seeking to relocate with the parties' minor child to Poughkeepsie, New York. Held that the trial court properly granted the plaintiff's motion for modifica- tion of custody: contrary to the defendant's contention that the trial court ignored the parties' informal agreement for alternating weekly parenting time with the child for the seven to eight months leading up to the hearing on the plaintiff's motion, that court heard extensive testimony from both parties as to that schedule, which the parties had in place during the unique circumstances of the child's remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, and, now that in-person schooling had resumed, neither party sought a continuation of that schedule, the court's previous ex parte order recognized that alternating weekly parenting schedule, and the court's statement that it was in the child's best interests to maintain the continuity of living with his mother and his brother found support in the record as it reasonably could be construed as a reference to the parties' former parenting time schedule; moreover, the court's finding that the plaintiff had a more active role in the child's life was not clearly erroneous, as there was evidence in the record to support that finding, including the plaintiff's testimony that she primarily cared for the child from his birth and throughout his childhood, and the defendant's testimony that he had, at times, missed the child's doctor's appointments and parent-teacher conferences due to his work schedule; furthermore, the defendant did not point to any evidence to support his argument that the court prejudged the motion on the basis that the plaintiff already had moved to Poughkeepsie, and, to the contrary, the court applied the criteria set forth in the applicable statute (§ 46b-56