In Re Marriage of Roe

WOODS (A.M.), P.J.

Clinton Roe appeals a custody order permitting his former wife, Laurie Keiko Cooper (Keiko), to remove their son, M., from the state.

We review the evidence in the light most favorable to the order. ( In re Marriage of Carlson (1991) 229 Cal. App.3d 1330, 1337 [ 280 Cal. Rptr. 840 ].)

The parties separated in January 1988, when M. was four years old. Keiko took M. and moved into a house owned by her mother. For approximately a month there was no contact between M. and his father. At the custody trial, Keiko testified that at the time of the separation, she feared for her own safety and that of her son.

In February 1988, the parties entered into an oral agreement whereby they shared custody of M. In June 1988, Keiko was visited by Linda Smith from the department of children's services (DCS). She told Keiko that she had received a report that M. was being abused by his father. Keiko had not made the report nor did she know of any basis for such a report. The information was provided to Smith by Dr. Doris DeHardt, a therapist whom Keiko had been seeing. Smith told Keiko that unless she obtained a restraining order against visits by Clinton, M. would be…