Gunderson v. Sandy

Appellant Colleen Gunderson and appellee Ronald Sandy were divorced in 2010. The decree of divorce provided both with approximately equal physical custody time with their children. Gunderson remarried and moved, and at the time Sandy filed his contempt motion, he alleged that she resided 45 miles from the marital home. The trial court granted Sandy's motion for contempt and ordered Gunderson to "move back into the school district in which [Sandy] lives and in which the parties' minor child attends school." The Supreme Court granted Gunderson's application for discretionary appeal in order to examine the question of whether the trial court's contempt order impermissibly modified the parties' divorce decree. It was undisputed that Gunderson moved more than once without giving the required notice set forth in the decree, and that at the time the contempt motion was filed she had moved more than 48 road miles from the marital residence referenced in the agreement. The trial court did not err in finding Gunderson in contempt, but the Supreme Court found that the portion of the contempt order that addressed the relocation agreement impermissibly modified the divorce decree. Therefore, the order was reversed in part. View "Gunderson v. Sandy" on Justia Law