Case Name: Clarence N. BEHN, Appellant, v. Mae Ola TIMMONS, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1977-05-03
Citations: 345 So. 2d 388
Docket Number: No. DD-423
Parties: Clarence N. BEHN, Appellant, v. Mae Ola TIMMONS, Appellee.
Judges: SMITH, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 345
Pages: 388–390

Head Matter:
Clarence N. BEHN, Appellant, v. Mae Ola TIMMONS, Appellee.
No. DD-423.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
May 3, 1977.
Seymour H. Rowland, Jr., Ocala, for appellant.
Ben Daniel, Jr., Ocala, and John P. Thurman, Dunnellon, for appellee.

Opinion:
RAWLS, Acting Chief Judge.
Appellant-natural father appeals an order granting custody of his two minor children to the maternal grandmother subject to his reasonable right of visitation.
Two children (girls) were born of the marriage between Clarence N. Behn (appellant-father) and Barbara N. Behn (mother). The parties were divorced with custody being awarded to the mother. Subsequently, the mother died. During her last illness, the mother delivered the children to the father who had them in his custody until shortly prior to the mother's death, at which time the maternal grandmother ar ranged for another of her daughters to remove the children from the father's home to the home of the maternal grandmother. After the death of the mother, appellant filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus which, after lengthy hearings, the trial court entered the instant order appealed.
This record wholly fails to disclose that the polestar test of "best interest of the children" warrants the drastic remedy of depriving the natural father of his natural right to rear his children in his home. The trial court did not in any respect find the father to be unfit, although it did find that "the children need a younger mother figure".
Busbee v. Weeks, 80 Fla. 323, 85 So. 653 (1920), is on point. There, the father of a newly born female child, whose mother died in bearing the child, permitted the maternal grandparents to take his child into their home. When the child reached the age of four years, the father, by petition for writ of habeas corpus, sought custody of his child. The trial court in Busbee awarded custody to the Maternal grandparents with visitation privileges to the father. In reversing, Justice Whitfield, speaking for the Supreme Court, stated:
"At common law the father has the paramount right to the custody and control of his legitimate minor children, subject only to lawful regulations for the benefit of the children. Porter v. Porter, 60 Fla. 407, 53 So. 546, Ann.Cas.1912C, 867; Hernandez v. Thomas, 50 Fla. 522, 39 So. 641, 2 L.R.A., N.S., 203, 111 Am.St.Rep. 137, 7 Ann.Cas. 446; Miller v. Miller, 38 Fla. 227, 20 So. 989, 56 Am.St.Rep. 166.
"In this case the legal rights of the father not having been relinquished or forfeited, and his ability to take proper care of the child appearing, the custody should be awarded to him on the showing made."
In Busbee, the father lived with his parents and three other children. Here, the father's parents live with him and two other children. The home conditions of the maternal grandmother and her husband in which other children and grandchildren are present are very similar to the home conditions of the father.
We cannot and should not lose sight of the basic proposition that a parent has a natural God-given legal right to enjoy the custody, fellowship and companionship of his offspring. This is a rule older than the common law itself. State ex rel. Sparks v. Reeves, 97 So.2d 18 (Fla. 1957). And, except in cases of clear, convincing and compelling reasons to the contrary, a child's welfare is presumed to be best served by care and custody by the natural parent. In Re Vermeulen's Petition, 114 So.2d 192 (Fla. 1st DCA 1959).
The order appealed is reversed with directions that the trial court award custody of the two minor children to their natural father.
SMITH, J., concurs.
ERVIN, J., dissents.
. Cf. The following cases hold that a grandparent, whose child is deceased, is not entitled to be awarded visitation rights with a grandchild: Parker v. Gates, 89 Fla. 76, 103 So. 126 (1925); Lee v. Kepler, 197 So.2d 570 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1967); Rodriguez v. Rodriguez, 295 So.2d 328 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1974); Sheehy v. Sheehy, 325 So.2d 12 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1975); and Roberts v. Davis, 328 So.2d 879 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1976). Although the author of this opinion is not in accord with the foregoing principle of law expressed, it is logical that if a grandparent is not entitled to be awarded the right of visitation, such grandparent certainly is not entitled to be awarded custody where the trial court does not find the surviving natural parent to be unfit to have custody.