Tumaneng v. Tumaneng

Summary

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court held that a material change in circumstances is not required before a family court may modify a child custody order; the governing inquiry is the child’s best interests under HRS § 571-46. The court further held that the family court erred by excluding evidence of pre-decree domestic violence and other pre-decree evidence relevant to custody. The case was remanded for further proceedings, including consideration of the statutory rebuttable presumption concerning family violence.

Holdings

1. Under Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes § 571-46, a material change in circumstances is not a prerequisite to considering modification of a child-custody order; the court must conduct a single inquiry focused on the best interests of the child.
2. Evidence predating the prior custody decree may be relevant and must be considered when it bears on whether modifying custody would serve the child's best interests; it need not be related to a material change in circumstances.
3. In every proceeding involving a dispute over child custody, the family court must address whether family violence has been committed by a parent and apply the statutory rebuttable presumption against placing the child in the perpetrator's custody when the court makes such a determination.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a material change in circumstances is required before a family court may consider the best interests of a child in modifying a custody order.
2. Whether pre-decree evidence of alleged domestic violence must be related to the post-decree change in circumstances to be relevant in a custody-modification proceeding.
3. Whether the family court was required to consider evidence of alleged family violence under Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes § 571-46(9), notwithstanding that the prior custody arrangement arose from an uncontested divorce decree.

Disposition

vacated