Schultz v. Schultz

Incidental to a decree of marital dissolution, the Yellowstone County District Court awarded custody of three minor children to their mother. The decree recited that both parents were fit and proper persons to be granted custody but that the best interests of the children dictated maternal custody.

Approximately a year and a half after the decree, the mother was seriously injured in an automobile accident and confined to a hospital. The children were cared for by a maternal aunt and grandmother. Some five weeks after the accident, the mother died.

Following her death, the father requested…