455 So. 2d 863 - Ex Parte McLendon’s Empirical Analysis
1984
Citation profile
623 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 625 later decisions — most recently May 2025 · most notably 676 So. 2d 1322 - Ex Parte Bryowsky (1996), Ex Parte Terry (1986)
623 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Greene v. Greene · 333 So. 2d 826 - Wood v. Wood · Ex Parte Mathews · 410 So. 2d 416 - Ex Parte Berryhill · Carter v. Harbin
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 625 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Wood v. Wood , 333 So.2d 826 , 828 (Ala.Civ.App. 1976).”
97 later decisions quote this exact passage“"A natural parent has a prima facie right to the custody of his or her child. However, this presumption does not apply after a voluntary forfeiture of custody."”
20 later decisions quote this exact passage“". . . Although the best interests of the child are paramount, this is not the standard to be applied in this case. It is important that she show that the child's interests are promoted by the change, i.e., that she produce evidence to overcome the 'inherently disruptive effect caused by uprooting the child.' Wood v. Wood , 333 So.2d at 828 ."”
13 later decisions quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.