Patterson v. Patterson

This is a child custody case. The wife appeals from the modification of a divorce decree awarding custody to the father. We reverse.

Saundra and Charles Patterson were divorced on April 25, 1979. The custody of their two young children was awarded to Saundra, the mother.

On January 30, 1980 the father, Charles, filed a petition in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County asking that the divorce decree be modified by awarding him custody of the children. The petitioner averred that circumstances had changed since the divorce decree in that the mother was openly living with a man to whom she was not…