Erwin v. Erwin’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The need for stability in custodial relationship and environment; maintaining an existing primary custodial bond; the relative strength of parental bonds; the relative abilities of the parents to provide care, supervision, and a suitable environment for the children and to meet the needs of the children; preference of a child able to evaluate the custody question; the benefits of keeping siblings together, enabling sibling bonds to form; the character and emotional suitability of the custodian; and the desire for custody and the apparent commitment of the proposed custodian to parenting.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Linam v. King

2. “As an appellate court, we are limited in our institutional ability to come to grips with these considerations, whereas the trial court is in a much better position to gain the necessary understanding to make the best decision possible under the circumstances. Therefore, our review of the trial court’s assessment of these factors is limited, and “we accord broad discretion to the trial court so that it may use its first-hand proximity to the parties to resolve the delicate and highly personal problems presented in custody disputes.””

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

3. “In assessing the sufficiency of the findings ... we are not confined to the contents of a particular document entitled 'Findings;' rather, the findings may be expressed orally from the bench or contained in other documents.” Erwin v. Erwin, 773 P.2d 847, 849 (Utah Ct.App.1989) (footnote omitted). Though we refer to the trial court's ruling from the bench for clarification, we note that”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 1999 UT App 91 - Colonial Pacific Leasing Corp. v. J.W.C.J.R. Corp.