Estrellita Aguilar v. Gilberto Aguilar, 331514

Plaintiff (mother) moved post-divorce to change the legal domicile of two children from Michigan to Texas to join her husband, who had a new higher-paying job in Texas.
Defendant (father) opposed relocation; dispute reached the Wayne Circuit Court and the trial court granted plaintiff’s motion. Defendant appealed.
The trial court found plaintiff met her burden under MCL 722.31(4) (preponderance of the evidence) that the move could improve the children’s quality of life and that the parenting-time schedule could be modified to preserve the parent-child relationship.
The court found an established custodial environment with both parents existed and that the move would alter that environment; it therefore applied MCL 722.23 best-interest factors, requiring clear and convincing evidence to change custody.
The trial court concluded several MCL 722.23 factors (notably factors (c), (e), (h), (j), and (k)) slightly favored plaintiff, none favored defendant, and held the relocation was in the children’s best interests by clear and convincing evidence.
The Court of Appeals affirmed, applying abuse-of-discretion review to the relocation decision and great-weight-of-the-evidence review to factual findings under MCL 722.31(4).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether plaintiff met her burden under MCL 722.31(4) to permit relocating the children’s legal residence more than 100 miles	Aguilar: Move improves household income, stability, and children’s quality of life; parenting time can be modified to preserve relationship	Gilberto Aguilar: Move won’t improve children’s lives; living/education arrangements uncertain; move frustrates parenting time	Affirmed — trial court’s MCL 722.31(4) factual findings were not against the great weight of the evidence and plaintiff met preponderance burden
Whether changing the established custodial environment is in the children’s best interests under MCL 722.23 (clear and convincing standard)	Aguilar: Multiple best-interest factors (capacity to provide, permanence of proposed home, school/community record, willingness to facilitate relationship, prior PPO history) favor relocation	Gilberto Aguilar: Trial court erred; key factors actually neutral or favor defendant; findings insufficient to meet clear-and-convincing standard	Affirmed — trial court’s factor-by-factor findings reasonably supported by the record; clear and convincing standard satisfied

Brown v. Loveman, 260 Mich. App. 576 (establishes abuse-of-discretion review and great-weight standard for MCL 722.31 findings)
McKimmy v. Melling, 291 Mich. App. 577 (burden of proof for domicile change; application of MCL 722.31(4))
Gagnon v. Glowacki, 295 Mich. App. 557 (standards for appellate review of custody/domicile findings)
Rains v. Rains, 301 Mich. App. 313 (requirement to assess established custodial environment and then apply MCL 722.23 if environment exists)
Rittershaus v. Rittershaus, 273 Mich. App. 462 (relocating parent’s increased earning capacity may improve child’s quality of life)
Sinicropi v. Mazurek, 273 Mich. App. 149 (trial court’s discretion on weighing best-interest factors and deference on credibility)