Montgomery v. Brooks CA3

FACTS AND HISTORY OF THE PROCEEDINGS

Mother and Father have two children together, T.B. (Daughter, born November 2010) and P.M. (Son, born April 2013). The relationship between Mother and Father and their disputes over custody of the children over the years have been fraught. In February 2019 Mother and Father were given joint legal custody of the children, with Mother getting primary legal custody and Father getting visitation. Between February 2019 and March 2020, Mother filed at least two requests to modify the visitation schedule. In October 2020, Father filed a request for modification of the custody and visitation order seeking primary physical custody. Father alleged Mother would randomly decide when to follow or not follow the existing order, and she moved from Stockton to Oakland without telling him she was going to relocate. At a hearing on March 15, 2021, there was an issue regarding Mother not bringing the children to Father on his scheduled visitation dates. The court noted that at a hearing in October 2020, it had cautioned Mother “that failure to follow [the custody and visitation] order could be grounds to change custody at” a later hearing. When the court gave…