In its recent decision, in a divorce case out of Clark Circuit Court, the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s decision to modify custody to Mother.

In the divorce, Father was granted sole legal custody of the minor child. Father later filed a restraining order on Mother because her live-in boyfriend had two previous battery convictions. Father claimed that Mother’s boyfriend had physically abused the minor child. Mother later filed for a modification of custody of the child which was granted by the Clark Circuit Court. Father was granted distance-related parenting time with the minor child.

The Indiana Court of Appeals noted that the trial court failed to state in its order which circumstance had substantially changed under Indiana Code 31-17-2-8 in order to warrant the custody modification and that there was not enough evidence to warrant the change of custody. Thus, they reversed the trial court’s decision and remanded custody back to Father.