Cook v. Cook’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 federal appellate · 5 district · 28 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 46 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A custodial order is conclusive as to all matters prior to its promulgation. But the doctrine of res judicata cannot settle a question of a child’s welfare for all time to come; it cannot prevent a court at a subsequent time from determining what is best for the children at that time. The usual way of expressing this rule is to say that “circumstances have changed” when the order is no longer in the children’s interest. But the phrase “change of circumstances” should not be mechanically construed. The children’s happiness, their psychological adjustment, their own wishes, áre as much entitled to consideration as changes in material environment. As was said in Boone v. Boone, the trial court should constantly keep in mind the ultimate question, which is “whether the welfare of the children now requires a change in the custody previously provided by the court of their domicile.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Marez v. Marez