In re Marriage of Kreps, 2025 IL App (5th) 250053-U

- Case citation and parties
In re Marriage of Kreps, No. 5-25-0053, 2025 IL App (5th) 250053-U (Ill. App. Ct. 5th Dist. June 25, 2025) (Rule 23; nonprecedential). Petitioner-Appellee: Brian A. Kreps. Respondent-Appellant: Ashley B. Kreps (n/k/a Ashley B. Birdwell).

- Key legal issues
1) Whether the trial court properly denied respondent’s petition to relocate under 750 ILCS 5/609.2 when it failed to make requisite factual findings.
2) Whether the trial court properly granted petitioner’s petition to modify parental responsibilities (parenting time) without specific findings supporting that modification under the governing best‑interest/ modification standards.

- Holding/outcome
The Fifth District reversed and remanded. The appellate court concluded the trial court failed to make factual findings to support its denial of the relocation petition and its grant of the modification petition; accordingly both orders were vacated and the matter remanded for further proceedings/directions.

- Significant legal reasoning (concise)
The parties had entered an agreed dissolution judgment and parenting plan that included a relocation-notice provision. Respondent sought to relocate to Indiana for marriage and employment; petitioner opposed and sought modification of parenting time. The GAL’s reports recommended maintaining the existing schedule, and evidence showed the child was doing well in school, had improved speech with therapy, and that a DCFS investigation into alleged abuse by petitioner’s father was unfounded. The appellate court’s reversal turned on procedural/administrative error: the trial court issued dispositive rulings (denying relocation and changing parental responsibilities) but did not articulate factual findings tying the evidence to statutory and best‑interest factors required to support those results. The opinion emphasizes that appellate review requires an adequate factual basis and reasoned findings addressing the relocation statute’s considerations and the factors supporting modification.

- Practice implications for family law attorneys
- When litigating relocation or modification, obtain and tender written proposed findings or request specific oral findings addressing statutory relocation factors and best‑interest/modification criteria.
- Build the record on each statutory factor (child’s adjustment, reasons for move, effect on parenting time/relationships, school stability, GAL/therapist testimony).
- Preserve objections to inadequate findings and move for findings under applicable rules before final disposition to aid appellate review.
- Use GAL and documentary school/therapy records to counter or support claims of harm from relocation.
- Expect appellate courts to remand rather than affirm where trial courts fail to make explicit fact-based findings connecting evidence to legal standards.