Marriage of Claudia K. and William K. CA4/2

I. INTRODUCTION

In 2017, a judgment was entered pursuant to Family Code1 section 2024

dissolving the marriage of William K. and Claudia K.2 The judgment included a final

custody order providing for joint physical and joint legal custody of their two minor

children. William remarried and moved to Oregon; Claudia remarried and remained in

California; and the two made informal arrangements with respect to dividing their time

with the children.

In May 2022, Claudia and her new husband were involved in a domestic violence

incident while the children were present in the home. Law enforcement intervened, an

emergency protective order and criminal charges were filed against Claudia’s husband,

and an investigation was initiated by the relevant child protective services agency. When

William learned that Claudia had let her husband back into the home following the

expiration of the emergency protective order, he filed a petition seeking modification of

the custody order to permit the children to move to Oregon and to grant him full physical

custody of the children.

After conducting a trial on the petition, including days of live testimony by both

parties, the trial court…