Johns v. Cioci
Superior Court of Pennsylvania
865 A.2d 931 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2004)
After divorcing when their child was two, Cioci (father, plaintiff) and Johns (mother, defendant) shared joint custody with the mother having primary physical custody; roughly ten years later, the father petitioned to modify custody, and both households were found suitable. The 12-year-old child testified she liked both homes but preferred her mother's because of her school and lifelong residence there, yet the trial court found the father's remarried household more stable and family-oriented and transferred primary physical custody to him; the mother appealed.
Whether, under the best-interests-of-the-child standard, the preference of the child can be the determinative factor in favor of one parent over the other when both parents' households are equally suitable.