Williams v. Pitney

This appeal arises from a Probate Court decision granting authority to the plaintiff (mother) to relocate herself and the two minor children of the parties’ marriage to California under G. L. c. 208, § 30 (1988 ed.). The parties had signed a separation agreement which provided that neither party would remove the children from the Commonwealth without the consent of the other. The agreement was incorporated into the divorce judgment and survived it. We transferred the defendant’s (father’s) appeal to this court on our own motion. We are asked for the first time to determine what burden of…