Opinion ID: 2380788
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: In making determinations concerning the best interest of the child, the trial judge is invested with broad discretion. Harmon v. Emerson, 425 A.2d at 983; Ziehm v. Ziehm, Me., 433 A.2d 725, 730 (1981). His decision may be reversed only if it was so erroneous as to constitute an abuse of discretion. Harmon v. Emerson, 425 A.2d at 983. Despite the deference that must be paid to the trial court's decision on an award of custody, we agree with the Superior Court that in this case the evidence could not support the award of custody to Elaine Huff. In Costigan v. Costigan, Me., 418 A.2d 1144, 1146 (1980), we articulated a number of factors bearing on the best interests of the child which can become involved in custody determinations, depending on the particular circumstances surrounding the child and the parents or other third parties seeking custody. They include: the child's age, his relationship with his parents and any other persons significantly contributing to his best interests; the parents' wishes as to custody; the child's preference (if he is old enough to express a meaningful preference); the duration and adequacy of the current custodial arrangement; the desirability of maintaining continuity; the stability of the proposed custodial arrangement; the motivation of the parties seeking custody; their capacity to give the child love, affection and guidance; and the child's adjustment to his present surroundings. Where, as in this case, the District Court made no findings on the custody issue, the reviewing court must assume that the judge found for the prevailing party upon all issues of fact that are necessary to support the ultimate custody decision. Harmon v. Emerson, 425 A.2d at 981. The assumed findings of fact can be set aside only if they are clearly erroneous. Id. Although the child had been in Howard Huff's custody since October 1978, no information was available in this record concerning the adequacy of the current custodial status, the desirability of its continuation, Howard Huff's motivation and the child's adjustment to his present surroundings. Since the child was only four at the time of trial, his expression of preference would be of little aid. Similarly, the parents' wishes in this instance are not determinative since both seek custody. In order to support his decision, the trial judge, necessarily, must have made positive findings on such factors as Gerald's relationship with Elaine Huff, the stability of the proposed custody arrangement with Elaine Huff and her motivation and ability to love, guide and nurture the child. Our examination of the record convinces us that any positive findings on these issues are clearly erroneous. The force and effect of the evidence, considered in its entirety, rationally persuades us to a certainty that such findings would be so inconsistent with the great preponderance of the believable evidence that they would not represent the truth and right of the case. See Harmon v. Emerson, 425 A.2d at 982. The record before the District Court reflects that, although Elaine Huff had lived with Gerald when he was an infant and for two months when she and Howard Huff attempted a reconciliation, from the time the father obtained temporary custody of the child before he was three years old until the time of trial, she had had virtually no relationship with Gerald. For approximately a year Gerald lived with Howard Huff's mother, seventeen miles from where Elaine Huff lived. During this period Elaine visited Gerald no more than five times, citing as reasons the difficulty of arranging transportation, her inability to call the senior Mrs. Huff to arrange visits and her feeling of rejection by Gerald. Although Huff's mother would not give Elaine Huff her home phone number, she did provide her phone number at work, but Elaine Huff called only once. Moreover, when Mrs. Huff offered to provide her transportation, Elaine Huff declined the offer, preferring to do it on her own. Though Elaine Huff may have been prevented from maintaining a relationship with her son when he was taken by his father to South Dakota, she had been less than diligent in maintaining the relationship when the opportunity was available. Although one social worker testified that Elaine was a very stable person whose only goal in life was to regain custody of her child, the uncontroverted evidence concerning her life demonstrates that her personal history is one of instability. Shortly after giving birth to Gerald out of wedlock at age sixteen, she married Howard Huff who adopted the baby. After the other of the Huffs' children died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Howard Huff joined the legion of long distance truck drivers, Elaine Huff became a drug addict and alcoholic. She attempted suicide and committed herself to the Augusta Mental Health Institute for treatment in October 1978. From this period to the time of trial two years later, Elaine Huff had relationships with three men, two of whom have spent time in Maine State Prison. One of them, whom Elaine Huff described as a pimp, was convicted of assaulting Howard Huff and sentenced to two years at Thomaston. At the time of trial Elaine was pregnant and living with a third man, with whom she had previously lived for a period of time after her attempted reconciliation with Howard Huff. Although the social worker described her success in a Youth Opportunities job training program, Elaine Huff was fired from a subsequent job at a Portland nursing home. Given Elaine Huff's employment, interpersonal and psychological instability depicted in the record, a finding that the proposed custodial arrangement with her would be stable was clearly erroneous. Elaine Huff has shown great pertinacity in seeking to regain custody of Gerald. Although the record indicates that she would try to be a good parent if she were to get custody, it also indicates that when Gerald was less than two she beat him for about one-half hour with a paddle to vent her frustration. Such evidence, given the paucity of evidence of other appropriate parenting performance, makes any finding of capacity to love, nurture and provide guidance untenable, since the totality of the evidence is overwhelmingly against any positive findings of fact that the trial judge must have made to support his decision. Our examination of the record discloses no other basis for finding that an award of custody to Elaine Huff was in the best interests of the child; we, therefore, find that the trial judge's decision constituted an abuse of discretion.