Source: https://caselaw.lexroll.com/2019/02/12/guardianship-of-c-e-no-h045427-cal-app-1-31-2019/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 06:23:35+00:00

Document:
Appellant S.H. appeals the trial court’s order denying her petition to remove Respondents B.M. and M.M. as guardians of her nephew, C.E., and to name her as C.E.’s guardian. Appellant raises five challenges to the order on appeal: the trial court erred when it failed to consolidate the guardianship action with the adoption proceeding; the judge assigned to the guardianship proceedings “sabotage[d]” her adoption petition and prejudged the petition for removal of the guardians; the assigned judge should have disqualified himself under Code of Civil Procedure section 170.1; the trial court misinterpreted Probate Code section 2650; and the trial court abused its discretion by denying the petition to remove Respondents as guardians. We agree the court erred in failing to consolidate the guardianship into the adoption proceeding, resulting in prejudice to Appellant. We reverse the order accordingly.
C.E., age three at the time of the relevant hearing, is the biological child of D.W. (Mother) and J.E. (Father). While Mother was alive, her family and friends were actively involved in C.E.’s life. Appellant is Mother’s sister. Appellant cared for C.E. on Mondays and every other weekend. C.E. also spent significant time with Mother’s mother, L.F. (Grandmother), and Mother’s sister, T.W. Respondent B. was Mother’s close friend, and was considered by Mother’s family to be like a sister to Mother although they were not biologically related. Respondent B. spent a great deal of time with C.E. before Mother’s death. The family was also close with C.E.’s half-brother, Mother’s older son from a prior relationship.
Mother passed away as a result of a drowning accident in August 2015 that was witnessed by Appellant and other family members. After Mother’s death, C.E. initially lived with Father; he also spent time with Respondents. Appellant, Respondent B., and the rest of Mother’s family continued to be involved in C.E.’s life on a day-to-day basis.
Over time, Appellant, Respondent B., and the family became concerned about Father’s ability to parent C.E. Father was the subject of a domestic violence restraining order involving his children from a prior relationship. The parties, with the support of the rest of Mother’s family and other close friends, determined Respondents should petition to be C.E.’s guardians, thus removing him from Father’s care. Respondents filed their guardianship petition in April 2016. Appellant, T.W., Grandmother, and a family friend submitted statements to the court in support of Respondents’ petition. Father opposed the petition.
In May 2016, the trial court granted temporary guardianship of C.E. to Respondents and subsequently conducted a hearing on Respondents’ petition. Although Father initially appeared to challenge the petition, he left the courthouse after the court denied his request for a continuance. The court granted Respondents’ petition and appointed them guardians of C.E.’s person and estate on June 17, 2016.
Not long after they were appointed C.E.’s guardians, Respondents’ relationship with Appellant and the rest of Mother’s family deteriorated. Although the court’s orders indicated Respondents had legal and physical custody of C.E., Appellant and her family believed they had an informal agreement with Respondents that would allow them to jointly parent C.E., share in decisionmaking, and visit him regularly. Respondents limited C.E.’s visitation with Appellant and the family, and restricted the family’s involvement in decisions regarding C.E.
In December 2016, six months after the court granted the guardianship petition, Appellant filed a petition to remove Respondents as C.E.’s guardians and contemporaneously filed a petition to be appointed as C.E.’s replacement guardian. In her petitions, Appellant alleged there had been a change in circumstances that warranted changing guardianship in C.E.’s best interests. Appellant claimed Respondents restricted the family’s visits with C.E. and threatened to move out of state with him, thus preventing him from bonding with the family, despite the agreements they made when the family supported Respondents’ petition. Father supported Appellant’s petition to replace Respondents as C.E.’s guardians, as did Appellant’s other family members. Respondents opposed Appellant’s petitions. They argued it was not in C.E.’s best interests to change guardianship to Appellant. They asserted that while they initially tried to balance the family’s demands with C.E.’s needs, they found C.E. evidenced negative physical and emotional effects from the visitation schedule and other family demands. Respondents felt they needed to set boundaries with the family, which made the family angry.
Respondents filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings in April 2017, alleging Appellant’s petitions to remove them as C.E.’s guardians and have herself appointed in their place did not state sufficient facts to constitute a cause of action to dismiss and/or replace Respondents. After briefing and argument, the court granted the motion as to each of Appellant’s petitions with leave to amend. In July 2017, Appellant filed a first amended petition to remove Respondents as guardians. Consistent with Probate Code section 2650, she alleged Respondents were not able to perform the fundamental responsibilities of guardians and should be removed in C.E.’s best interests for the following reasons: they failed to provide medical and dental care or a “safe environment for physical and emotional growth”; Respondent B. suffered from a medical condition that clouded her judgment and damaged C.E.’s “emotional and psychological life”; Respondents restricted C.E.’s bond with Mother’s family; Respondents stated an intent to move away from that family; and, Appellant had petitioned to adopt C.E., such that the guardianship should be consolidated into the adoption proceeding. Respondents immediately objected to Appellant’s amended petition.
In April 2017, before Respondents filed the motion for judgment on the pleadings, and before Appellant filed her first amended petition to remove Respondents as guardians, Appellant filed a separate petition to adopt C.E. She subsequently sought to consolidate the guardianship and adoption cases through motions filed in each case, as described below.
The trial court assigned the adoption case to the same judge who was to hear the guardianship case. In May 2017, after filing the adoption petition, Appellant filed an ex parte request in the adoption case asking the court to consolidate the guardianship case into the adoption case. In an order filed May 15, 2017, the court denied the request, stating the issue was moot because the adoption and guardianship matters were assigned to the same judicial officer for hearing. The order also indicated the adoption matter would trail the guardianship proceeding.
Within a week of the adoption case being assigned to the judge hearing the guardianship matter, Appellant submitted a timely peremptory challenge under Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6 to the guardianship judge hearing the adoption case. At a hearing in June 2017, the court confirmed that the judge hearing the guardianship matter was disqualified in the adoption proceeding. Thereafter, the court assigned a new judge to the adoption case, who issued an order in June 2017 staying the adoption proceeding pending the court’s final ruling on the guardianship petition.
In July 2017, Appellant filed in the adoption proceeding an ex parte “re-application” for an order consolidating the guardianship proceeding into the adoption proceeding, arguing the issue was no longer moot as the two cases were now assigned to different judges. The court denied the request based on the order staying the adoption proceeding. On August 3, 2017, Appellant filed a Request for Order in the adoption proceeding to consolidate the guardianship case into the adoption; the motion was set for a hearing in September 2017 in the department of the judge assigned to the adoption case.
On August 9, 2017, the parties appeared before the judge assigned to the guardianship proceeding for a hearing in that matter. Appellant’s counsel notified the court that Appellant had filed a motion to consolidate in the adoption proceeding. The court then set a hearing for August 28, 2017, on a motion to consolidate the adoption proceeding with the guardianship case, to be heard in his department. On August 15, 2017, Appellant filed pleadings in support of the motion the guardianship judge set for hearing; this was the first consolidation motion she filed in the guardianship action.
On August 28, 2017, yet a third judge heard the motion to consolidate the guardianship and adoption cases. The minute order confirms the hearing was in the guardianship case, not the adoption case. The court issued a tentative ruling denying consolidation on the grounds the judge assigned to the adoption case had already denied the request to consolidate based on the stay of the adoption proceedings and no one sought reconsideration of that order. Appellant’s attorney asked the court to treat the pending motion as one for reconsideration, based on his own error in failing to file the proper motion. The attorney noted, and the court confirmed, the adoption judge had stayed the adoption proceeding without notice to the parties or opportunity to be heard. The court ultimately determined the pending motion was not one for reconsideration. The court declined to revisit the prior order and denied the motion to consolidate.
The judge assigned to the guardianship proceeding held a contested evidentiary hearing on Appellant’s first amended petition to remove Respondents as guardians on November 9 and November 13, 2017. At the outset, Appellant’s attorney objected to the judge hearing the matter, arguing the guardianship petition should have been consolidated into the adoption proceeding. The court noted the objection and proceeded with the hearing.
Appellant testified in support of her petition, as did Grandmother, sister T.W., a family friend, and C.E.’s half-brother. Aside from C.E.’s half-brother, who was a junior in high school and a minor, each of these witnesses had provided a statement in support of Respondents becoming C.E.’s guardians. Unprompted by an objection from Respondents, the court determined that the witnesses could only testify as to events that took place after the court appointed Respondents as C.E.’s guardians, as the witnesses did not raise any concerns about Respondents to the court prior to Respondents’ appointment in the original guardianship proceedings. Appellant’s attorney objected to this ruling; minor’s counsel suggested some information about the past would be necessary for a full understanding of the current situation. The court ruled that the witnesses’ previous statements constituted judicial admissions, such that they served as “conclusive concessions of the truth of those matters,” thus precluding those witnesses from now contradicting those statements. Before each witness testified, the court either read into the record a portion of the statement the witness previously provided in support of Respondents’ guardianship, or stated on the record that he reviewed the witness’s statement.
Appellant, Respondent B., and the other witnesses testified to events they alleged took place after Respondents became C.E.’s guardians. Appellant, Grandmother, and T.W. each alleged Respondent B. unreasonably restricted the family’s visitation with C.E., and that Respondent B. lied about why C.E. would not be spending time with them as anticipated. They also expressed concern about how Respondents addressed C.E.’s health care, indicating that Respondents allowed C.E. to develop untreated dental decay and did not properly address his asthma with an appropriate medical plan. The witnesses also testified that Respondent B.’s health impaired her ability to care for C.E. and raised concerns that Respondent B. posed a danger to him. Appellant called C.E’s half-brother who testified he was not able to see C.E. as frequently as he wanted because he did not feel comfortable at Respondents’ house. Appellant and Grandmother confirmed that maintaining C.E.’s relationship with his half-brother was important to both boys.
Respondents each testified, confirming their commitment to care for C.E. and meet his needs. While the court limited the admissibility of information about Respondent B.’s medical condition, she testified that her health did not impair her ability to care for C.E.; Respondent M. confirmed he had never seen Respondent B. pose a danger to C.E. Respondent B. denied allegations that she manipulated the family in order to obtain guardianship of C.E., and that she lied about C.E.’s health in order to keep him from visiting with the family. Respondent B. provided information about C.E.’s medical and dental health, affirming that Respondents obtained appropriate medical and dental treatment for C.E. While Respondent B. intended that the family be involved in C.E.’s life, she denied any agreement that Respondents would essentially co-parent C.E. with the family; she believed there needed to be one set of parents making decisions. Respondent B. stated she did not believe she had violated any agreement with the family. Respondents did not say they wanted to resign as C.E.’s guardians; rather the family was making things difficult for Respondents. The conflict started when Respondents restricted C.E.’s time with the family, something they did because C.E. was exhibiting “concerning” behaviors, such as being aggressive, having tantrums, and crying.
Probate court investigator Blythe Stanford testified that she was assigned to investigate Appellant’s petitions to remove Respondents as current guardians and to be appointed successor guardian. Ms. Stanford had been employed for five years by the court and had conducted over 60 guardianship investigations for the court. She visited C.E. in Respondents’ home, but did not observe C.E. with Appellant as C.E. did not live with her. She indicated Respondents’ home was clean, well maintained, and that C.E. had a very nice bedroom, a comfortable bed, quality toys and clothes. C.E. was comfortable in the home and it seemed very suitable. There were many pictures of family and friends, including Mother, in the home. C.E. was relaxed and physically comfortable with Respondents and seemed connected to them. He called them “Tio,” “Tia,” “Mom” and “Daddy” interchangeably. He seemed like a “happy, well adjusted child.” She had no concern that Respondents could not care for the child. They had no criminal history. Ms. Stanford recommended that the guardianship remain in place.
Appellant argues that once she petitioned to adopt C.E., the trial court was required by law to consolidate her December 2016 petitions to remove and replace Respondents as C.E.’s guardians into the adoption proceeding. She asserts that the court therefore erred in denying her May 2017 request filed in the adoption case to consolidate the guardianship and adoption proceedings.
Respondents argue the order at issue is not the May 2017 order denying the request to consolidate filed in the adoption proceeding, but rather the final order issued in August 2017 denying Appellant’s motion to consolidate filed in the guardianship proceeding. They believe the court correctly denied this request for consolidation; they assert there was no guardianship petition pending at the time Appellant filed the adoption petition, as the court had already granted a permanent guardianship in Respondents’ favor in June 2016. Respondents further argue that if we conclude a viable guardianship proceeding was pending at the time Appellant filed her motion for consolidation of the two actions, the court stayed the adoption proceeding in June 2017 pending the result of the guardianship proceeding, such that the trial court was not required to consolidate the two matters. Finally, Respondents argue the court lacked jurisdiction in August 2017 to enter a different order than those already entered in May and July 2017 denying consolidation. We address each argument in turn.
Because Appellant appealed from the denial of her first amended petition to remove Respondents as guardians, the orders at issue in the instant appeal are those made in the guardianship proceeding. While the trial court issued orders in the adoption proceeding in May and July 2017 denying Appellant’s requests to consolidate the guardianship and adoption cases, those orders are not part of the appeal before us as they are not included in Appellant’s notice of appeal. We have no jurisdiction over them. (Dakota Payphone, LLC v. Alcaraz (2011) 192 Cal.App.4th 493, 504; Soldate v. Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (1998) 62 Cal.App.4th 1069, 1073.) Appellant first raised her request for consolidation in the guardianship proceeding on August 15, 2017, which the court heard on August 28, 2017. For purposes of this appeal, we consider the propriety of the order issued in the guardianship proceeding following the August 28, 2017 hearing, denying Appellant’s motion to consolidate the guardianship proceeding into the adoption case.
Because our review of the August 2017 order concerns the procedural interrelationship of guardianship and adoption cases, we review each process and its purpose.
Both Probate Code section 1510, subdivision (i), and Family Code section 8802, subdivision (d) plainly state the court “shall” consolidate the guardianship and adoption proceedings, and the consolidated matter “shall” be heard by the court hearing the adoption. Under general rules of statutory interpretation, “shall” denotes something is mandatory. (Estate of Miramontes-Najera (2004) 118 Cal.App.4th 750, 758-759.) Further, both the Family Code and the Probate Code explicitly define “shall” as “mandatory.” (Fam. Code, § 12; Prob. Code, § 12.) Given this, we find Probate Code section 1510, subdivision (i), and Family Code section 8802, subdivision (d) to be clear and unambiguous. The trial court was required to consolidate the guardianship case with the adoption proceeding involving C.E. The consolidated case was to be heard and decided by the judge hearing the adoption case. The trial court had no discretion to deny Appellant’s consolidation requests.
Respondents argue that even if the consolidation provisions of Probate Code section 1510, subdivision (i) and Family Code 8802, subdivision (d) are mandatory, Appellant’s request for consolidation fails because of its procedural posture. Citing Probate Code section 1510, which mandates consolidation of the cases if, when a guardianship petition is pending, an adoption petition is also filed, Respondents assert there was not a guardianship proceeding pending when Appellant sought to consolidate the guardianship action into the adoption proceeding. Respondents appear to reason that as their guardianship petition had been resolved in June 2016 with the issuance of letters of guardianship to them, by April 2017 when Appellant commenced the adoption proceedings C.E. could no longer be deemed a “proposed ward” under the statute [“If the proposed ward is or becomes the subject of an adoption petition, the court shall order the guardianship petition consolidated with the adoption petition, and the consolidated case shall be heard and decided in the court in which the adoption is pending.” (Prob. Code, § 1510, subd. (i).)]. Respondents further assert that because the pending petition requested removal of Respondents as guardians under Probate Code section 1601, a statute that does not explicitly include a provision addressing contemporaneous adoption proceedings, there was no pending guardianship petition to consolidate into Appellant’s adoption petition.
We are not persuaded. Even if we assume Probate Code section 1510, subdivision (i) did not apply in this case because C.E. was a ward subject to guardianship as opposed to a “proposed ward” under the statute, Respondents ignore the consolidation requirements imposed by the adoption statutes. Family Code section 8802 clearly applied here, as it requires the adoption petitioner, “[i]f the child is the subject of a guardianship petition . . .,” to include the “caption and docket number or have attached a copy of the letters of the guardianship or temporary guardianship . . .” to the adoption petition. (Fam. Code, § 8802, subd. (d), italics added.) As noted previously, letters of guardianship are issued by the court when it grants the guardianship petition, i.e., when the guardianship becomes, in common parlance, “permanent.” (Prob. Code, §§ 2310, 2311.) C.E. was the subject of a guardianship petition that resulted in the issuance of letters of guardianship to Respondents on June 17, 2016, placing that guardianship petition within the scope of Family Code section 8802 and requiring its consolidation with the adoption proceeding under the plain meaning of that statute.
Further, the guardianship proceeding was still ongoing because after issuing the letters of guardianship the trial court continued to have jurisdiction to make visitation orders and hear requests to remove the guardians. (Prob. Code, § 1601.) In fact, courts have assumed the consolidation provisions applicable, regardless of how long the guardianship has been in place and regardless of its purported “permanency.” In Adoption of Myah M. (2011) 201 Cal.App.4th 1518, 1525-1526, as modified (Jan. 6, 2012), the subject child’s grandparents filed an adoption petition long after they had been granted permanent guardianship of the child. Nearly four years after issuing the letters of guardianship, the trial court “consolidated the guardianship proceeding into the adoption proceeding pursuant to section 8802 of the Family Code.” (Id. at p. 1526.) Thus, even if Appellant had never filed a petition to remove or replace Respondents as guardians, once she filed the petition to adopt C.E., Family Code section 8802 required consolidation of his guardianship case into the adoption case, regardless of whether there had been recent litigation in the guardianship proceeding. We therefore find the absence of language requiring consolidation in Probate Code section 1601 governing the removal and replacement of guardians insignificant when we consider the statutory scheme as a whole.
At the time the court ruled on Appellant’s consolidation motion filed in the guardianship proceeding, a guardianship proceeding and an adoption petition were pending. We conclude the plain language of the relevant statutes mandated consolidation of the guardianship proceeding into the adoption proceeding. The trial court erred in failing to follow the statutory mandate in its August 2017 order denying consolidation.
Respondents argue Appellant has not met this burden, as the ultimate ruling in the guardianship proceeding denying her request to remove Respondents as guardians does not prejudice her rights in the adoption proceeding. We do not agree. We conclude the court’s August 2017 ruling ultimately served both to prejudice Appellant and to deny C.E. the benefit of the court’s full consideration of his best interests.
Here, however, the court considered only whether to maintain Respondents as guardians, focusing both the investigation and the contested proceedings very narrowly on that issue. The proceedings were thus skewed in favor of maintaining the guardianship from the outset. The court’s probate investigator looked only at the circumstances of C.E.’s then-current living circumstances, because her only focus was on the petition to remove Respondents as guardians. She did not see C.E. interact with Appellant. The court would not entertain expert testimony relevant to determine whether C.E. would suffer a detriment if removed from Respondents or denied contact with Appellant. Nor would the court consider evidence related to Appellant’s visitation with C.E. By endorsing the limited contact between aunt and child without thoughtful consideration of its effect on long-term placement with Appellant, the court also impacted Appellant’s efforts to adopt C.E. Implicit in the court’s order denying removal of Respondents as C.E.’s guardians was a finding that C.E. should remain with Respondents. The trial court’s language and conduct during the hearing made clear he viewed Respondents’ home as C.E.’s permanent placement [“I will say one other thing. C.E. needs a man and a woman whom he can call mom and dad. He will be a very sad child if he’s not allowed that privilege.”]. But guardianship was not the only long-term placement option for C.E. available to the court and it should not have been considered in isolation.
Appellant’s petition to adopt C.E. was not a frivolous action. At the time Appellant filed for adoption, she had standing to do so under Family Code section 8802, subdivision (a)(1)(A), as she is C.E.’s blood relative. She also had the support of Father in pursuing the adoption, required under Family Code section 8801 [“The selection of a prospective adoptive parent or parents shall be personally made by the child’s birth parent or parents and may not be delegated to an agent. The act of selection by the birth parent or parents shall be based upon his, her, or their personal knowledge of the prospective adoptive parent or parents.” (Fam. Code, § 8801, subd. (a).)]. In April 2017, when Appellant filed the adoption petition, Respondents did not have standing to seek adoption of C.E. Under Family Code section 8802, subdivision (a)(1)(D)(i), Respondents would have standing to petition to adopt C.E. once they had been his legal guardians for at least a year. Respondents had been C.E.’s permanent guardian 10 months at the time Appellant filed her adoption petition, and 11 months when Appellant first sought consolidation. Nor did they have the support of Father, a necessary component of an independent adoption.
There was no obvious fact precluding Appellant’s candidacy as an adoptive parent. While the probate investigator in the guardianship proceeding did not recommend removing Respondents as guardians, that same investigator recommended “the assessment and opinion of a child custody expert (child psychologist), and a conclusive bonding study, to determine the level of detriment (or not) that might be caused for [C.E.] if he were to be removed from the current guardians.” She also noted that the family made “salient points” related to the removal, recognizing that they were in the midst of “grief and fear after the death of [C.E.]’s mother.” Her comments reflected the tragedy of Mother’s death and its impact on all family members, including Appellant, C.E. and Respondents. A thorough investigation through the adoption process could have fleshed out these nuances consistent with C.E.’s interests.
The viability of Appellant’s potential adoption of C.E. demonstrates that she was prejudiced by the trial court’s failure to consolidate the guardianship and adoption proceedings. There is a “reasonable probability” that had the court properly consolidated the matters and considered all available placement options in C.E.’s best interests, Appellant would have obtained a more favorable result. (Diaz, supra, 51 Cal.4th at p. 1161.) It is true that once the court lifts the stay on the adoption, the department can undertake the required investigation. It also may be the case that it is in C.E.’s best interests to maintain his status as Respondents’ ward. It is not our role to make that determination. However, the law clearly requires that when the court has before it the placement options of both guardianship and adoption, the court must consider the options together in order to make a decision that reflects the best interests of the child.
The order denying Appellant’s petition to remove Respondents as C.E.’s guardians is reversed. We remand the matter to the trial court. The trial court shall consolidate the guardianship proceeding into the adoption proceeding. Upon consolidation, the matter shall be heard by the judge assigned to the adoption case. All prior orders made in the guardianship proceeding are to be vacated by the trial court, except that the court in the adoption case shall make any necessary, short-term emergency custody orders.
Guardianship of C.E., a Minor.; S.H. v. M.M. et al.

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