McMillen v. McMillen
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
602 A.2d 845 (1992)
After Vaughn McMillen (plaintiff) and Carolyn Shemo, formerly McMillen, (defendant) divorced in 1981, Shemo received primary custody of their son Emmett, and McMillen gradually gained more visitation. Starting in 1986, Emmett, who had a worse relationship with his mother and stepfather than with his father and stepmother, expressed a growing preference to live with his father. The trial court found both parents' homes equally adequate and awarded custody to McMillen based on Emmett's preference; the Superior Court vacated that order, reasoning the evidence did not justify the change and that a child's preference should not control the outcome. McMillen appealed.
Whether it is proper for a trial court to change a ten-year-old child's primary custodian from the mother to the father after finding the two homes equally adequate but the child reasonably preferring the father.