James v. James

MAXWELL, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. A parent seeking modification of a previous child-custody order bears the initial burden of proving (1) a material change in circumstances adversely affecting his children’s welfare and (2) that a change of custody is in the child’s best interest. In this case, the chancellor determined a father petitioning for modification had not met this burden.

¶ 2. Though the maternal grandmother had falsely accused the father of sexually abusing his two sons, which led to criminal charges that were later dropped, the chancellor found that this circumstance, while adversely…