In the Marriage of: Robert Peter Crowley v. Bridget Marie Meyer, A15-1471

Background

Meyer and Crowley divorced; in Sept. 2012 the district court adopted the parties’ stipulated joint legal custody and alternating-week joint physical custody, and incorporated a parenting-time expeditor (PTE) with certain monitoring powers into the judgment.
In 2013 Crowley obtained temporary orders (March and continued in Aug. 2013) giving him sole residential and physical custody and limiting Meyer’s parenting time after emergency motions and a harassment order; Meyer did not timely appeal those 2013 orders.
In Jan. 2015 Meyer moved to “reinstate” the 2012 joint custody arrangement, remove the PTE and a psychologist, and impose parenting-time conditions; Crowley opposed and submitted a responsive affidavit.
The district court denied Meyer’s motion without an evidentiary hearing, concluding she failed to make a prima facie showing for custody modification; Meyer’s motion to amend findings was also denied; the PTE was later discharged.
On appeal, this court treated Meyer’s motion as a request to modify what had become a de facto permanent award of custody to Crowley and reviewed whether Meyer’s affidavits established a prima facie case to warrant an evidentiary hearing.

Issues

Issue	Meyer’s Argument	Crowley’s Argument	Held
Whether Meyer made a prima facie case to modify custody	Meyer sought reinstatement of the 2012 joint custody and argued the district court erred by not holding an evidentiary hearing and by failing to make findings	Crowley argued Meyer failed to plead statutory modification factors and thus was not entitled to an evidentiary hearing	Court held Meyer failed to show change of circumstances or the statutory factors in her affidavit, so no prima facie case and denial without evidentiary hearing was proper
Whether the Aug. 2013 continuation of Crowley’s sole custody can now be challenged	Meyer contended the temporary orders were deficient and should be undone	Crowley argued the orders became final/unappealed and stability/finality bar reopening now	Court held Meyer’s late challenge to the 2013 custody change was untimely; stability and finality principles apply
Whether the district court needed to make particularized findings when denying modification	Meyer relied on Abbott to argue inadequate findings require remand	Crowley noted Abbott does not require detailed findings when a prima facie case is not shown	Court held no detailed findings were required because the court properly found no prima facie case
Whether Meyer may attack the PTE’s statutory authority on appeal	Meyer argued the PTE exceeded statutory authority and his rulings were invalid	Crowley asserted Meyer only sought removal below and raises a new issue on appeal; also the parties had stipulated PTE authority	Court granted Crowley’s motion to dismiss that issue as raised for first time on appeal; court also noted statutory authority and the parties’ stipulation would bar relief even on the merits

Key Cases Cited

Rutten v. Rutten, 347 N.W.2d 47 (Minn. 1984) (standard for custody modification; prima facie showing required)
Geibe v. Geibe, 571 N.W.2d 774 (Minn. App. 1997) (court must accept moving party’s affidavit allegations as true at prima facie stage)
Szarzynski v. Szarzynski, 732 N.W.2d 285 (Minn. App. 2007) (whether prima facie case established is dispositive of entitlement to evidentiary hearing)
Abbott v. Abbott, 481 N.W.2d 864 (Minn. App. 1992) (when no prima facie case is shown, detailed findings on statutory factors are not required)
Hassing v. Lancaster, 570 N.W.2d 701 (Minn. App. 1997) (definition of "present environment" and requirement to assess current endangerment at time of modification)
Nice-Peterson v. Nice-Peterson, 310 N.W.2d 471 (Minn. 1981) (movant’s burden to show significant change in circumstances endangering child)
Thiele v. Stich, 425 N.W.2d 580 (Minn. 1988) (issues not raised below generally are not considered on appeal)
Shirk v. Shirk, 561 N.W.2d 519 (Minn. 1997) (stipulations merged into judgment and are not attackable after adoption)