Opinion ID: 1696951
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: whether the chancellor erred in applying the caldwell test?

Text: ¶ 4. The Department argues that Ronnie has done nothing under the authority of Caldwell v. Caldwell, 579 So.2d 543 (Miss. 1991), to forfeit his right to child support. In Caldwell, we stated a child that has a strained relationship with the non-custodial parent should not be in danger of having his support reduced. Id. The amount of money that the non custodial parent is required to pay for the support of his minor children should not be determined by the amount of love the children show toward that parent. Id. at 548, quoting Holston v. Holston 58 Md. App. 308, 473 A.2d 459, 463 (1984). However, a minor child as young as fifteen years old could forfeit his support from the non-custodial parent through his actions toward that parent, but those actions must be clear and extreme. Caldwell, 579 So.2d at 548. ¶ 5. In Caldwell, the father argued that his fifteen-year-old son had abandoned the father-son relationship and disliked his father so severely that he was no longer entitled to child support. Id. at 548. The child admitted that he felt hostility toward his father but he was attending counseling and trying to improve the relationship. Id. This Court found that this was not the type of clear and extreme conduct that would cause a child to forfeit his support. Id. We also noted that a child could be expected to harbor some bitterness toward his father when the father tries to sell the son's home and attempts to terminate all support. Id. at 550. ¶ 6. The Court of Appeals has found a child's conduct sufficiently clear and extreme to forfeit her support from her father in Roberts v. Brown, 805 So.2d 649 (Miss.Ct.App.2002). In Roberts, the court held that the daughter abandoned the parent-child relationship when she falsely accused her father of raping her and refused to visit him. The father was acquitted of the rape charge. Id. at 651. The daughter testified at the modification hearing that she did not love her father, did not want to visit or communicate with him, would not visit him, and did not desire to have a personal relationship with him. Id. at 650. The Court of Appeals found that the child's abandonment of the relationship coupled with the rape accusation was the type of clear and extreme conduct envisioned by Caldwell. Id. at 653. ¶ 7. In the present case, the guardian ad litem appointed for Ronnie testified that Ronnie did not know his father and was reluctant to get to know him because he was unfamiliar with him. The guardian ad litem also stated that Ronnie might have felt that he was being disloyal to his grandmother when he spent time with his father and that he might have been afraid that his father would take him away from the only parent he has ever known. The guardian ad litem also testified that it was in Ronnie's best interest to develop a meaningful relationship with his father. ¶ 8. Ronnie's conduct toward his father does not rise to the level of conduct required to forfeit his support. Ronald visited Ronnie twice after reestablishing contact with him. On the second visit, Ronnie would not converse with his father and when he did, he stated that he wanted to go home. One bad visit between a son that has seen his father twice after many years apart does not rise to the level of clear and extreme conduct envisioned by Caldwell. It is only reasonable that Ronnie would harbor some resentment against his father. Ronnie's conduct is similar to the child's conduct in Caldwell and is clearly not as extreme as the child's conduct in Roberts.