Case Name: Steve MILAM v. Deborah MILAM, Deceased, et al.
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1979-11-07
Citations: 376 So. 2d 1336
Docket Number: No. 51449
Parties: Steve MILAM v. Deborah MILAM, Deceased, et al.
Judges: Before ROBERTSON, P. J., and BROOM and COFER, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 376
Pages: 1336–1343

Head Matter:
Steve MILAM v. Deborah MILAM, Deceased, et al.
No. 51449.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Nov. 7, 1979.
Rehearing Denied Dec. 12, 1979.
Bramlett, Mounee & Soper, Paul Kent Bramlett, Tupelo, for appellant.
Gardner & McElroy, Thomas J. Gardner, III, Tupelo, for appellees.
Before ROBERTSON, P. J., and BROOM and COFER, JJ.

Opinion:
ROBERTSON, Presiding Justice,
for the Court:
Appellant, Steve Milam, has appealed from a Decree of the Chancery Court of Lee County awarding "the exclusive care, custody and control" of his three-year-old daughter, Shonda Michelle Milam, to the child's stepfather, Guy Patterson, Jr. (the second husband of Deborah Milam Patterson, deceased). In its decree, the court further found Guy Patterson, Jr.:
"to be a fit and proper person to be appointed guardian of both the person and the estate of the said minor and upon proper petition filed in this Court will be appointed as such guardian."
After Deborah Milam Patterson (Shon-da's natural mother) was killed in an automobile accident on April 7, 1978, Steve Mi-lam filed a petition to modify the divorce decree of November 20, 1975, in which decree the court had awarded the permanent care, custody and control of Shonda Michelle (then 5 weeks of age) to Deborah Milam, the natural mother, and had provided that Steve Milam, the father, pay Deborah, the mother, $75.00 per month child support. In his petition for custody of Shonda, Steve also prayed for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus to have Shonda returned to him.
Deborah Milam married Guy Patterson, Jr. on February 28, 1976, when Shonda was about 4V2 months old, and Shonda had lived with them in a house trailer (next to her maternal grandparents' home) until Deborah's death on April 7, 1978. In the automobile accident in which her mother was killed, Shonda suffered a broken left leg and was in a cast for about 2 months. While Shonda's leg was in a cast and up to August 1, 1978, Shonda lived with and was cared for by Charles Holcomb (maternal uncle) and his wife.
Holcomb filed an answer and cross-petition in which he averred that he had the physical custody of Shonda and prayed that he be appointed guardian ad litem and granted temporary custody of Shonda. Guy Patterson, Jr. also filed an answer and cross-petition. He averred that Milam had abandoned Shonda at her birth, was mentally and morally unfit to have her custody, that he, Guy Patterson, Jr., had had the sole responsibility for rearing and maintaining Shonda and prayed that he be awarded her care, custody and control.
Milam testified that he had paid the $75 monthly support until February 28, 1976, when Deborah and Patterson were married, but could produce a cancelled check for only one $75 payment. Steve further testified that he visited his daughter up to February 28, 1976, but had not visited her since because Deborah said it would cause trouble between her and her new husband if he tried to visit the child in their home. Steve stated that he visited Shonda every day of the four or five days that she was in the hospital.
Milam testified that he worked seven days a week hauling milk in a tank trailer from dairy farms to the milk processing plant. His hours of work were from 6:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. each day and he made about $26,000 a year. He lives with his grandmother and would leave Shonda with her during the day, and then would take charge of her when he got off from work each afternoon. Steve's mother lives across the road from his grandmother.
Patterson testified that Shonda would be with the Holcombs (the maternal grandparents) during the day and that he would pick her up each afternoon when he got off from work and would have her with him each night.
It is apparent to this Court, as it was to the trial court, that neither of these arrangements is ideal.
After a full hearing, the court awarded "the exclusive care, custody and control" of Shonda to her stepfather, Guy Patterson, Jr. In its opinion, the Court stated:
"It has been mentioned earlier, and I regard it as highly significant, that Steve Milam contributed nothing toward the support of his child from the period of February, 1976, until this date. By way of excuse he said merely that it would cause some turmoil among the Pattersons and that he was not getting to see the child, neither of which makes any impression that is acceptable to the Court.
"I find no fault in Steve Milam presently except for his failure and refusal to honor his obligation to support his youngster, an obligation that moreover had been enforced by this Court and which Court Order was likewise disregarded.
"Having for that period of time failed to provide support for the child, I would have some apprehension about his conduct should ever adverse situations develop in the future.
"At the same time, based upon the performance of Guy Patterson, Jr. in the past, I have confidence that he will continue to provide for the needs of this youngster."
Mississippi Code Annotated section 93-13-1 (1972) provides:
"The father and mother are the joint natural guardians of their minor children and are equally charged with their care, nurture, welfare and education, and the care and management of their estates. The father and mother shall have equal powers and rights, and neither parent has any right paramount to the right of the other concerning the custody of the minor or the control of the services or the earnings of such minor, or any other matter affecting the minor. If either father or mother die or be incapable of acting, the guardianship devolves upon the surviving parent. Neither parent shall forcibly take a child from the guardianship of the parent legally entitled to its custody. But if any father or mother be unsuitable to discharge the duties of guardianship, then the court, or chancellor in vacation, may appoint some suitable person, or having appointed the father or mother, may remove him or her if it appear that such person is unsuitable, and appoint a suitable person." (Emphasis added).
A case similar in many respects to the case at bar is Pace v. Barrett, et ux., 205 So.2d 647 (Miss.1968). In that case, Mrs. Lynn Barrett Pace, the natural mother, filed suit to gain custody of Benjamin Orbie Barrett (her 5-year-old son), who was living with his paternal grandparents, Berlon Barrett and his wife, at the time Berlon Orbie Barrett (her former husband and father of the minor child) was killed in an automobile wreck on October 27, 1965. The mother had been granted a divorce from the father on September 18, 1962. She had not asked for custody of her minor son and the court, in the divorce decree, merely found that the child was living with the father, Berlon Orbie Barrett, and granted the mother the right of reasonable visitation so long as the minor child resided with the father.
On July 24, 1964, Mrs. Barrett Pace (the natural mother) had filed a petition for child custody and in her petition alleged that she and her husband (Pace) resided in Waukegan, Illinois, had a comfortable home, that her husband was steadily employed and could support petitioner and her children and could furnish them with all of their needs, as well as a proper and suitable home. Berlon Orbie Barrett, the father, filed an answer wherein he charged that the mother had voluntarily abandoned her child at the time they separated, and that he, the father, had reared the child with the help of his mother and father. The trial court on September 24, 1964, entered a decree finding:
"That the Petitioner has failed to sustain the allegations of her Petition and the same is hereby dismissed. The Court further finds as a fact that it is to the best interest of said minor child, Benjamin Orbie Barrett, that he remains in the care, custody and control of his father, Berlon Orbie Barrett." 205 So.2d at 648.
On May 26, 1966, the court entered a decree on the petition of January 11, 1966, of the mother, Mrs. Pace, denying her custody and granting custody to the paternal grandparents. In its decree, the court said:
"The court doth find and adjudicate as a fact that the said petitioner, Mrs. Lynn Barrett Pace, is not a fit and proper person at this time for the care and custody of the minor child, Benjamin Orbie Barrett, the said petitioner having at a prior time, abandoned said child." 205 So.2d at 648. (Emphasis added).
In reversing this decree and awarding custody to the natural mother, Mrs. Lynn Barrett Pace, this Court said:
"The court was in error in finding that the appellant had previously abandoned her child and that she was not a fit and proper person to have the custody of her child. The court, in its decree of September 24, 1964, the pertinent parts of which have been heretofore quoted in this opinion, did not find that the mother, the appellant here, had abandoned her child, neither did it find that she was not a fit and suitable person to have custody of her child.
"The paternal grandparents have no right to the custody of their grandson, as against the mother, until they have charged and proved that she has forfeited her natural right to the custody of her minor son by abandonment or by immoral conduct, or other circumstances which clearly indicate that the best interest of the child will be served in the custody of another. Bunkley and Morse, Amis on Divorce and Separation in Mississippi, Section 8.01 (1957). The burden of proof is squarely on their shoulders and they have not met this burden in this case.
"In Stegall v. Stegall, 151 Miss. 875, 879-880, 119 So. 802, 803 (1929), this Court said:
" 'Upon the death of the father, it is now well settled that the mother has the right to the custody of her child as against any other person who asserts a claim thereto, unless there has been an abandonment of the child, or the mother has forfeited her right by immoral conduct. .
" 'As against the mother, the paternal grandfather has no right, unless and until it is shown that the mother has forfeited her right to her child by abandonment, or by immoral conduct. It is presumed that the best interest of the child will be preserved by its remaining with its parents or parent until the well-recognized exceptions have been established.'
"Inasmuch as neither abandonment nor immoral conduct was proved against the mother, it was not up to her, the appellant, to prove that she had rehabilitated herself. The lower court was in error in placing this burden on her." 205 So.2d at 649.
In the case at bar, the court did not find that Steve Milam was an immoral or unfit person, nor did the court find that he had abandoned his child. In order to get custody of Shonda, the burden was on the appellee, Guy Patterson, Jr., to clearly prove that the natural father was mentally, morally or otherwise unfit, or that he had abandoned his minor daughter, Shonda. He did not meet this burden of proof, as is clearly shown in the opinion of the trial court itself.
Because of the provisions of section 93— 13 — 1, and the decisions of this Court from Hibbette v. Baines, 78 Miss. 695, 29 So. 80 (1900), through Turner v. Turner, 331 So.2d 903 (Miss.1976), consistently holding that a natural parent is entitled to the custody of his or her child unless it be clearly proved that the natural parent has abandoned his or her child or has forfeited his or her right to the child's custody by immoral conduct, the decree of the trial court awarding custody to the stepfather, Guy Patterson, Jr., is reversed, and the custody of Shonda Michelle Milam awarded to her natural father, Steve Milam.
This case was considered by a conference of the judges en banc.
REVERSED AND RENDERED.
PATTERSON, C. J., and SUGG, WALKER, BROOM, LEE, and BOWLING, JJ., concur.
SMITH, P. J., and COFER, J., dissent.