Cassady v. Signorelli

In Cassady v. Signorelli (1996) 49 Cal. App. 4th 55, the mother, who had never been married to the father, sought to move from the Bay Area, where she had employment as a jeweler, to Florida, where she had only vague hopes of setting up as a "parapsychologist" (a field in which, as the court dryly noted, there are almost no jobs available anywhere in the world). ( Id. at pp. 58, 60.) The appellate court agreed with the trial court that it appeared the mother simply wanted to get away from the father and frustrate his parental rights. ( Id. at pp. 59-60.) The trial court and appellate court also found the mother was "flaky" and "almost delusional," had "difficulty coping with the stresses and pressures of life," and had "questionable decision making ability," yet wanted to home-school the minor and make the final decisions about the minor's health care. ( Id. at pp. 61-62.) The appellate court upheld a trial court's order barring a child's removal to Florida. ( Id. at pp. 59-61.) In doing so, the appellate court quoted a passage from I In re Marriage of Burgess (1996): "'The standard of appellate review of custody and visitation orders where one parent seeks to move away with a child of the parties is the deferential abuse of discretion test. The precise measure is whether the trial court could have reasonably concluded that the order in question advanced the "best interest" of the child. We are required to uphold the ruling if it is correct on any basis, regardless of whether such basis was actually invoked. '" (Cassady, at p. 59, citing Burgess, at p. 32.) The appellate court also stated: "It is the trial court, not an appellate court, which is able to assess the best interests of the child, based upon the evidence presented. The trial court's decision will be overturned only for an abuse of that discretion. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that a continuation of the present joint custody arrangement in California, with visitation and a continued relationship with the child's father, was in the child's best interests." (Cassady, at p. 61, citing Burgess, at p. 32.)