## Facts

- Eva Jean Etheridge (mother) and Donald Ray Shaddock (father) divorced in April 1984.
- The divorce decree awarded custody of the parties’ two minor children to the father, with visitation to the mother.
- In late 1984, the father began living with his first cousin, Anna Frank Delozier, who was divorcing; after her divorce, they married in Arkansas.
- Arkansas law prohibited first-cousin marriage, rendering that Arkansas marriage void.
- In July 1985, the mother petitioned to modify custody, alleging the father’s “incestuous” marriage was a change in circumstances.
- After the petition was filed, the father and Delozier obtained an annulment in Arkansas, then traveled to Texas (where first-cousin marriage is permitted) to marry, and returned to Arkansas to live together with the children.
- The chancery court denied modification, finding no change of conditions warranting a custody change.

## Issues

1. Whether Arkansas should recognize as valid a first-cousin marriage celebrated in Texas, even though such a marriage is prohibited if contracted in Arkansas.
2. Whether the father’s void Arkansas cousin marriage, annulment, and Texas remarriage constituted a material change in circumstances justifying modification of custody.

## Decision

- The court held that a first-cousin marriage valid where celebrated (Texas) is recognized as valid in Arkansas.
- The court concluded Arkansas’s public policy against incest is strong enough to refuse recognition for marriages between very close relatives (e.g., parent-child or siblings), but not strong enough to invalidate an out-of-state first-cousin marriage.
- Applying the custody-modification standard, the court held the mother did not prove a material change in circumstances affecting the children’s welfare.
- The chancellor’s denial of the custody modification petition was affirmed.

## Legal Principles

- A marriage valid where celebrated is generally valid in Arkansas, unless recognition would violate a strong Arkansas public policy.
- Arkansas may refuse to recognize an out-of-state marriage involving very close blood relatives, but first-cousin marriages, though prohibited if performed in Arkansas, fall outside that strongest public-policy exception when validly celebrated elsewhere.
- Custody modification requires proof of a material change in circumstances since the prior decree and a showing that modification serves the children’s best interests; parental conduct is relevant only insofar as it bears on present fitness and the children’s welfare.

## Conclusion

Arkansas recognized the father’s Texas first-cousin marriage and upheld the existing custody award because the mother failed to show a material, child-centered change in circumstances warranting modification.


Etheridge v. Shaddock, 706 S.W.2d 395 (Ark. 1986)