Custody; Proper cause or change in circumstances; Vodvarka v Grasmeyer; Evidentiary hearing; MCR 3.210(C)(8); Barretta v Zhitkov; Judicial bias; Impartial decision-maker; Swain v Morse; Due process; Access to courts; Mayor of City of Lansing v Knights of Ku Klux Klan

The court held that the trial court did not err by denying plaintiff-mother’s motion to change custody without holding another evidentiary hearing, and that she did not establish judicial bias or a due-process violation. Plaintiff sought sole legal and physical custody after alleging that the child showed signs of sexual abuse while in defendant-father’s care and after renewed disputes over the child’s medical and dental issues. The trial court rescinded an earlier ex parte order, reinstated joint custody, and later denied plaintiff’s custody motion at the threshold stage. On appeal, the court held that the trial court applied the correct custody standard and did not rely on ex parte standards. It next held that the sexual-abuse allegations did not establish proper cause or a change in circumstances because the trial court had recently heard extensive evidence on those allegations and found them not credible, while the parties’ medical-treatment disputes were not new. The court also held that no additional evidentiary hearing was required because the prior hearing addressed the relevant issues and no unresolved factual dispute required another hearing before the trial court could make an informed threshold decision. The court further held that plaintiff failed to overcome the presumption of judicial impartiality, and that the trial court’s warning about continued litigation did not bar future meritorious motions but instead addressed the child’s best interests and the potential harm caused by the parties’ ongoing contentiousness. Affirmed.