Title: Trahnstrom v. Trahnstrom

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

Trahnstrom v. Trahnstrom (99-333); 171 Vt. 507; 756 A.2d 1242 

[Filed 22-May-2000]

                                 ENTRY ORDER

                       SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 99-333

                              MARCH TERM, 2000

Nils Trahnstrom	                       }	APPEALED FROM:
                                       }
                                       }
     v.	                               }	Rutland Family Court
                                       }	
                                       }
Ana Trahnstrom	                       }	DOCKET NO. 460-10-97Rddm

Trial Judge: Patricia Zimmerman, J.

             In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

       Father appeals from the decision of the family court awarding sole
  physical parental rights  and responsibilities for the parties' children to
  mother and ordering father to pay mother $14,526 as  an equitable
  distribution of the marital assets.  Father claims that the court failed to
  consider the  impact of a change in custody, erred in finding that father
  was less likely to foster a relationship with  the other parent, erred in
  concluding that mother was the primary care giver, should have considered 
  the children's relationship with their daycare provider, and made an
  inequitable property settlement.   We affirm.

       The court found the following facts.  The parties were married in 1989
  and separated in 1997  because mother was having an affair.  Father worked
  as an interior woodworker throughout the  marriage; mother worked until
  1992, when their first child was born.  A second child was born in  1995.  
  Mother was the primary caretaker for the children during the marriage. 
  After the parties  separated, father remained in the marital home in Mendon
  and mother moved out.  Between August  1997 and November 1997, mother
  returned to the marital home daily, to care for the children there  while
  father worked.  By November, mother had rented a home in Warren and found
  employment at  Sugarbush Ski Area.  The court specifically found that,
  although no evidence of it was admitted at  the November 5, 1997, temporary
  hearing, the parties had reached an agreement in November that  the
  children would move to Warren to live with mother.  On November 15, 1997,
  father helped  mother and the children move into the Warren home.  

       On November 19, 1997, the court issued a temporary order, awarding
  sole physical parental  rights and responsibilities to father, and the
  children then moved back to Mendon.  For eighteen  months, the children
  lived in Mendon with father and saw mother three out of four weekends, for
  at  least two overnights and sometimes three.  In May1999, the court held a
  trial and awarded sole  parental rights and responsibilities for the
  children to mother.  In making its 

 

  decision, the court considered the statutory factors outlined in 15 V.S.A.
  § 665(b), and found the  parties equally situated with respect to most
  factors.  The court awarded physical custody to mother  based on her
  position as primary caretaker and her greater ability to promote the
  children's  relationship with the other parent.  

       On appeal, father contends that the court failed to consider the
  impact of a change of custody  and erroneously found that mother was better
  able to foster the children's relationship with the other  parent. Under §
  665(b), the court is required to consider each factor listed when making a 
  determination of parental rights and responsibilities; that subsection
  "imposes no specific  requirement on how this consideration is to be
  manifested in the court's findings and conclusions."  Harris v. Harris, 149
  Vt. 410, 414,