Kartes v. Kartes

2013 ND 106, 831 N.W.2d 731, 2013 WL 3043211, 2013 N.D. LEXIS 89
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJune 19, 2013
Docket20120311
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 2013 ND 106 (Kartes v. Kartes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kartes v. Kartes, 2013 ND 106, 831 N.W.2d 731, 2013 WL 3043211, 2013 N.D. LEXIS 89 (N.D. 2013).

Opinion

SANDSTROM, Justice.

[¶ 1] Erin Muxlow, formerly known as Erin Kartes, appealed from an amended divorce judgment awarding Jorey Kartes primary residential responsibility for the parties’ two children. We affirm, concluding on appeal a party cannot challenge a district court’s conclusion that a prima fa-cie case has been established warranting an evidentiary hearing on a change of primary residential responsibility and the district court’s findings that Muxlow’s actions constituted a persistent and willful denial *734 or interference with Kartes’s parenting time and that the best interests of the children required a change of primary residential responsibility to Kartes were not clearly erroneous.

I

[¶ 2] Kartes and Muxlow married in 2002 and had two children. When they divorced in 2010, Kartes and Muxlow stipulated to a parenting plan for the children. Under the terms of the original parenting plan, which was incorporated into the divorce judgment, Muxlow received primary residential responsibility for the children and Kartes received 14 days of parenting time each month, to be exercised as two seven-consecutive-day parenting times per month. At the time of the divorce, both parties lived in Minot.

[¶ 3] In February 2011, less than six months after entry of the divorce judgment, Muxlow moved to amend the judgment to allow her to move to Texas with the children. Kartes objected and moved to amend the judgment to change primary residential responsibility to himself. The court denied both motions, and the parties continued with the original parenting plan, essentially alternating custody of the children on a weekly basis.

[¶ 4] In September 2011 Kartes learned that the man Muxlow was engaged to marry, Jeremy Muxlow, was a registered sex offender. Erin and Jeremy Muxlow married a few days later and moved to Tappen, North Dakota, approximately 2⅜ hours from Kartes’s home.

[¶ 5] Kartes immediately moved to modify the residential responsibility provisions of the divorce judgment, seeking primary residential responsibility for the children. The district court concluded Kartes had established a prima facie case for modification of primary residential responsibility, warranting an evidentiary hearing under N.D.C.C. § 14-09-06.6(4). Following a two-day evidentiary hearing in March 2012, the district court found Muxlow’s change of residence constituted a persistent and willful denial or interference with Kartes’s parenting time and a change of primary residential responsibility was necessary to serve the best interests of the children. An amended judgment granting primary residential responsibility to Kartes was entered in July 2012, and Mux-low appealed.

[¶ 6] The district court had jurisdiction under N.D. Const, art. VI, § 8, and N.D.C.C. § 27-05-06. Muxlow’s appeal is timely under N.D.R.App.P. 4(a). This Court has jurisdiction under N.D. Const, art. VI, §§ 2 and 6, and N.D.C.C. § 28-27-01.

II

[¶ 7] Muxlow contends the district court erred in concluding Kartes had established a prima facie case warranting an evidentiary hearing on his motion to modify primary residential responsibility.

[¶ 8] Because Kartes’s motion to modify primary residential responsibility was made within two years of entry of the divorce judgment granting Muxlow primary residential responsibility, the motion was governed by N.D.C.C. § 14-09-06.6(5):

The court may not modify the primary residential responsibility within the two-year period following the date of entry of an order establishing primary residential responsibility unless the court finds the modification is necessary to serve the best interest of the child and:
a. The persistent and willful denial or interference with parenting time;
b. The child’s present environment may endanger the child’s physical or *735 emotional health or impair the child’s emotional development; or
c. The residential responsibility for the child has changed to the other parent for longer than six months.

To warrant an evidentiary hearing on the motion, the party seeking modification must first establish a prima facie case justifying a modification:

A party seeking modification of an order concerning primary residential responsibility shall serve and file moving papers and supporting affidavits and shall give notice to the other party to the proceeding who may serve and file a response and opposing affidavits. The court shall consider the motion on briefs and without oral argument or evidentiary hearing and shall deny the motion unless the court finds the moving party has established a prima facie case justifying a modification. The court shall set a date for an evidentiary hearing only if a pri-ma facie case is established.

N.D.C.C. § 14-09-06.6(4).

[¶ 9] A prima facie case requires only enough evidence to allow the factfinder to infer the fact at issue and rule in the moving party’s favor. Sweeney v. Kirby, 2013 ND 9, ¶ 5, 826 N.W.2d 330. It is a “bare minimum” and requires only facts which, if proved at an evidentiary hearing, would support a change of primary residential responsibility that could be affirmed if appealed. Id.; Ehli v. Joyce, 2010 ND 199, ¶ 7, 789 N.W.2d 560. In determining whether a prima facie case has been established, the district court must accept the truth of the moving party’s allegations and may not weigh conflicting allegations. Schumacher v. Schumacher, 2011 ND 75, ¶ 8, 796 N.W.2d 636; Volz v. Peterson, 2003 ND 139, ¶ 14, 667 N.W.2d 637. The opposing party may present evidence challenging the moving party’s right to the relief requested, but when that evidence merely creates conflicting issues of fact, the court may not weigh or resolve conflicting allegations. Schumacher, at ¶ 8. Unless the opposing party’s counter-affidavits conclusively show the moving party’s allegations have no credibility or are insufficient to justify modification of primary residential responsibility, an evidentiary hearing must be held to resolve conflicting evidence and determine whether a modification of primary residential responsibility is warranted. Id.; Volz, at ¶ 14.

[¶ 10] The district court in this case concluded Hartes had established a prima facie case to justify modification based upon allegations that Muxlow had married a registered sex offender and moved more than two hours away from Minot, that Muxlow was facing pending criminal charges and her driver’s license had been suspended, and that Muxlow had moved several times and changed jobs numerous times since the divorce. Muxlow argues Hartes did not allege sufficient facts to establish a prima facie case and the district court’s conclusion that Hartes had established a prima facie case was induced by an erroneous view of the law. She contends the court therefore erred when it allowed the case to proceed to an eviden-tiary hearing.

[¶ 11] It is unnecessary to decide whether the district court erred when it concluded Hartes had established a prima facie case, because that issue became moot when the evidentiary hearing was held and the court resolved the issues on the merits.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2013 ND 106, 831 N.W.2d 731, 2013 WL 3043211, 2013 N.D. LEXIS 89, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kartes-v-kartes-nd-2013.