King v. King’s Empirical Analysis
1970
Citation profile
28 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 28 later decisions — most recently November 2013 · most notably S.N.E. v. R.L.B. (1985), Gratrix v. Gratrix (1982)
28 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 Gonzales v. Landon · Foster v. Foster · Houger v. Houger · Rhodes v. Rhodes · 26 Wash. 2d 419 - Mullins v. Mullins
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 28 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Certainly a court should not alter a previous custody determination without a reasonable basis for concluding that the best interests of the child dictate such a change. Without some change in cir cumstance there is no logical basis for a court to alter a determination which has once seriously and finally been made. To do so might well constitute an abuse of discretion. However, as we noted at the outset, both statute and decision make it clear that the paramount consideration is the best interest of the child. The concept of ‘substantial change’ of circumstances is not a limitation on the discretion of the trial court to determine custody according to the best interest of the child. Rather, it may be considered simply a rule of judicial economy designed to discourage discontented parents from continually renewing custody proceedings.””
5 later decisions quote this exact passage“[Tjhere has been a steady course of legal development whereby the best interests of the child are to be the paramount consideration in custody cases, to the exclusion of other criteria such as the doctrine that children of tender years will generally be awarded to the mother when other factors are fairly evenly balanced. 477 P.2d at 357 .”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“justified in modifying. . . custody arrangements only if it had been shown that since the date of entry of the judgment changed facts and circumstances affecting the welfare of the children required modification for the best interests of the children.”
2 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.