What is the condition precedent to a change in custody or access?

[12] In Gordon v. Goertz, as has been so often stated elsewhere, the condition precedent to a change in custody or access was said to be the occurrence of a material change in circumstances affecting the child. Once established, this threshold was to be followed by a “fresh inquiry” by the court into what was in the best interests of the child, having regard to the circumstances dealing with the child’s needs and the ability of each of the child’s parents to satisfy them. In Gordon v. Goertz, the court further directed that the review court’s inquiry must be based upon the findings of fact made by the judge who made the previous order and any new evidence relating to the child’s circumstances, with the focus being on the child’s best interests and not the parents’. A court adjudicating on a variation application was further directed to look at a variety of factors, including the custodial status quo, the legal and personal incidents of the present custody arrangement and the legal access regime, including the child’s relationship with the access parent, the principle of encouraging maximum contact between the child and his or her parents, the child’s views, the custodial parent’s reason for moving in so far as the move was relevant to that parent’s ability to meet the child’s needs, the disruption to the child that would be caused by changing custody and the disruption to the child with respect to family, school and community occasioned by his or her move to another community.