Case Name: Beth Alyson ESDALE (Cohen), Appellant, v. Richard ESDALE, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1986-05-07
Citations: 487 So. 2d 1219
Docket Number: No. 85-544
Parties: Beth Alyson ESDALE (Cohen), Appellant, v. Richard ESDALE, Appellee.
Judges: DELL, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 487
Pages: 1219–1223

Head Matter:
Beth Alyson ESDALE (Cohen), Appellant, v. Richard ESDALE, Appellee.
No. 85-544.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
May 7, 1986.
Caryn S. Grainer, Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.
Lewis A. Hoffman and Thomas D. Koch of Hoffman & Koch, Dunedin, for appellee.

Opinion:
LETTS, Judge.
In a dissolution proceeding, the trial court ordered shared parental responsibility but granted physical custody of the six-year-old male child to the father. The mother appeals. We affirm.
This is a tragic case. The mother alleges that the father sexually abused the child; however, the court determined as trier of the fact that such accusations were falsely made by the mother in order to regain primary custody. There is competent substantial evidence in the record to support the trial judge's conclusion, but there is also evidence which might have supported a finding of sexual abuse. This latter evidence is most troubling. Equally troubling is evidence that the mother lives with her paramour and that they use cocaine, valium and alcohol to excess.
The granting of the primary physical custody to the father must not have been an easy decision for this much respected trial judge to make. Were we to reverse him, we would be making an impermissible substitution of our judgment for that of the trial court. Pulitzer v. Pulitzer, 449 So.2d 370 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984), pet. for rev. denied, 458 So.2d 273 (Fla.1984).
We applaud the trial court's decision to retain the services of a guardian ad litem to report to the court for a period of six months after the date of the final judgment now appealed. Further, recognizing the child's best interests as paramount, an award of physical custody is never final if substantial changed circumstances take place. Bennett v. Bennett, 73 So.2d 274 (Fla.1954); Frye v. Frye, 205 So.2d 310 (Fla. 4th DCA 1967); McIntyre v. McIntyre, 452 So.2d 14 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).
AFFIRMED.
DELL, J., concurs.
GLICKSTEIN, J., concurs specially with opinion.