Case library
Nevada family-law decisions, briefed for practice.
1202 decisions, organized by topic. Practitioner summaries with key holdings, posture, disposition, and the statutes cited - up front, where you need them. Every summary links to the full opinion.
Case Library = case briefs of the decisions themselves. For long-form explainers of the governing law, Guides; for the exact quotable passages, verified verbatim, the Canon.
470 cases · Custody & Relocation - NRS ch. 125C - custody, visitation, relocation.
HOWE VS. HOWE (CHILD CUSTODY)
Dec 8, 197187 Nev. 595, 491 P.2d 38 (1971) · 6539 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed.The sole issue was whether the district court's determination of visitation rights and the limitations placed on them constituted an abuse of discretion. The parties' 1968 divorce decree incorporated a settlement giving…
LANTIS VS. LANTIS (CHILD CUSTODY)
Dec 21, 197086 Nev. 885, 478 P.2d 163 (1970) · 6166 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed.The dispositive question was whether, on an application to modify an existing custody award, the mother must be found unfit before she can be deprived of custody previously awarded to her. The court held she need not.…
COOLEY VS. COOLEY (CHILD CUSTODY)
Mar 26, 197086 Nev. 220, 467 P.2d 103 (1970) · 5974 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed.In a custody dispute over two minor children, the father sought reversal of the award of custody to the mother based on Sisson v. Sisson, 77 Nev. 478, 367 P.2d 98 (1961), citing the mother's month-long cohabitation with…
ADAMS VS. ADAMS (CHILD CUSTODY)
Jan 27, 197086 Nev. 62, 464 P.2d 458 (1970) · 5828 · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed and remanded with instructions to conduct a full custody hearing under the Murphy standard; custody may remain with the mother pending that hearing.The father appealed an order modifying the divorce decree to transfer custody of the parties' young daughter from him back to the mother. The court reaffirmed the standard from Murphy v. Murphy, 84 Nev. 710, 711, 447…
MCGLONE VS. MCGLONE (CHILD CUSTODY)
Jan 15, 197086 Nev. 14, 464 P.2d 27 (1970) · 5776 · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed as to the award of custody of the daughters to the maternal grandparents.The father challenged only the portion of a district court habeas order that awarded custody of his three daughters to the maternal grandparents (he was granted custody of the son; the mother was found unfit). The court…
PEAVEY VS. PEAVEY (CHILD CUSTODY)
Oct 22, 196985 Nev. 571, 460 P.2d 110 (1969) · 5811 · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed and remanded. The court reversed the custody provision of the decree and remanded for a new hearing limited to the father's visitation rights and support.Zenoff, J. On the mother's appeal from a divorce decree awarding custody of two children of tender years to the father, the court reversed the custody provision. NRS 125.140 states Nevada's policy that the court shall…
MURPHY VS. MURPHY (CHILD CUSTODY)
Dec 11, 196884 Nev. 710, 447 P.2d 664 (1968) · 5575 · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed. ("Reversed.")Zenoff, J. On the father's appeal from an order modifying custody to return the two children to the mother, the court reversed. The trial court had conferred with the children in chambers (unpreserved for review),…
HARRIS VS. HARRIS (CHILD CUSTODY)
Apr 26, 196884 Nev. 294, 439 P.2d 673 (1968) · 5320 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed. The court sustained the trial court's exercise of discretion based on the express finding that the father was fit and that the child's best interests would be served in his care.Per Curiam. On the mother's appeal from an order vesting custody of the parties' seven-year-old daughter in the father, the court affirmed. Declining to recite the parents' mutual accusations of unfitness, the court…
TOTH VS. TOTH (CHILD CUSTODY)
Feb 5, 196480 Nev. 33, 389 P.2d 73 (1964) · 4651 · Nevada Supreme Court
The order modifying custody is affirmed in all respects.Badt, C.J. The sole question on the cross-appeals was whether the district court abused its discretion in modifying a custody decree. Under NRS 125.140, custody dispositions and modifications are committed to the trial…
COSNER VS. COSNER (CHILD CUSTODY)
May 9, 196278 Nev. 242, 371 P.2d 278 (1962) · 4435 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed. ("Affirmed. No costs allowed.")The court determined the effect a trial court must give to a master's report under NRCP 53. Although NRCP 53(e)(2) requires a court in a non-jury action to accept a master's findings of fact unless clearly erroneous,…
SISSON VS. SISSON (CHILD CUSTODY)
Dec 13, 196177 Nev. 478, 367 P.2d 98 (1961) · 4407 · Nevada Supreme Court
Divorce affirmed; custody and support-incident provisions reversed and remanded, with sole custody to the father and reasonable visitation to the mother. ("Accordingly, the judgment granting plaintiff below a divorce, is affirmed. The judgment granting her custody of the children, and the support provisions incident thereto, is reversed. The defendant is granted sole custody of the three minor children, with the right to the plaintiff to visit said children at reasonable times and places. The cause is remanded for entry of judgment in accordance herewith.")On the husband's appeal, the court first resolved the standard of review where the evidence before the trial court consisted entirely of the written record taken before a master. Following Garaventa v. Gardella, 63 Nev.…
TIMNEY VS. TIMNEY (CHILD CUSTODY)
Apr 26, 196076 Nev. 230, 351 P.2d 611 (1960) · 4259 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed. ("Judgment affirmed.")By the Court, McNamee, C.J. On the wife's appeal from the custody provisions of a decree granting the husband a divorce, the court affirmed. The trial court expressly found the wife (who admitted adultery, with…
COUTURIER VS. COUTURIER (CHILD CUSTODY)
Jan 29, 196076 Nev. 60, 348 P.2d 756 (1960) · 4228 · Nevada Supreme Court
Affirmed with costs. ("The order modifying the divorce decree with reference to the custody of the children is affirmed with costs.")By the Court, Badt, J. On the father's appeal from an order modifying a divorce decree to transfer custody of the parties' four minor children from the father (who held custody by agreement) to the remarried mother, the…
OSMUN VS. OSMUN (CHILD CUSTODY)
Apr 30, 195773 Nev. 112, 310 P.2d 407 (1957) · 3916 · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed and remanded with instructions to set aside the modification order. ("Reversed and remanded with instructions that the order modifying the decree be set aside.")The mother appealed from an order modifying a divorce decree to change custody of two minor children from her to the father, contending the trial court abused its discretion because there was no change of circumstances…
FARRELL VS. FARRELL (CHILD CUSTODY)
Oct 24, 195672 Nev. 259, 302 P.2d 484 (1956) · 3904 · Nevada Supreme Court
Remanded for a full new custody hearing. ("It is ordered that this matter be remanded to the trial court for a full new hearing upon the question of the custody of the minor children of the parties in accordance with the views expressed in this opinion.")The wife appealed from the custodial provisions of a divorce decree awarding custody of two minor girls to the husband, assigning both procedural error and abuse of discretion. The court declined to disturb the trial…
WILSON VS. WILSON (CHILD CUSTODY)
Dec 27, 194966 Nev. 405, 212 P.2d 1066 (1949) · 3555 · Nevada Supreme Court
Judgment and decree, and order denying new trial, affirmed.The defendant wife appealed from a decree granting the plaintiff husband a divorce for extreme cruelty, awarding her present custody of the parties' minor daughter (who had never been present in Nevada) with summer…
MURPHY VS. MURPHY (CHILD CUSTODY)
May 25, 194865 Nev. 264, 193 P.2d 850 (1948) · 3505 · Nevada Supreme Court
Order modifying decree (as amended) and order denying new trial affirmed.The plaintiff wife appealed from a July 10, 1947 order (amended July 18, 1947) modifying a September 9, 1946 divorce decree by transferring custody of the parties' two minor children to the defendant husband, and from…
FLEMING VS. FLEMING (CHILD CUSTODY)
Nov 5, 193758 Nev. 179, 72 P.2d 1110 (1937) · 3199 · Nevada Supreme Court
Reversed in part. ("The part of the order of October 19, 1936, appealed from by defendant is reversed. Each party will pay her and his own costs, respectively, on this appeal.")A 1933 divorce decree awarded custody of the minor child per the parents' agreement, reserving jurisdiction over custody. On the mother's 1935 motion, the court granted her exclusive custody and, sua sponte, ordered the…
ELSMAN VS. ELSMAN (CHILD CUSTODY)
Sep 3, 193154 Nev. 20, 2 P.2d 139 (1931) · 2951 · Nevada Supreme Court
Motion to dismiss the appeals denied. ("It follows that the motion must be denied. It is so ordered.")Motion by the respondent (plaintiff ex-husband) to dismiss the defendant mother's appeals from the district court's December 3, 1930 determination denying both parties' motions to modify the custody provisions of the…
MITCHELL VS. MITCHELL (CHILD CUSTODY)
Oct 15, 190428 Nev. 110 (1904) · 1658 · Nevada Supreme Court
Amended judgment reversed and cause remanded.Appeal by the defendant husband from an amended judgment entered February 8 (on the plaintiff wife's noticed motion to reform and modify a default divorce decree for mistake, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect,…
Every summary is independently verified against the source opinion; summaries are informational research aids, not legal advice, and no substitute for reading the decision. Topic groupings are derived automatically from each case’s category tag and cited statutes; a case may appear under two topics.