Opinion ID: 1554036
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Kim's Cohabitation

Text: ¶ 26. Finally, Vicki argues that the chancellor erred by considering Kim's cohabitation while she had Alex in her custody, because there was no showing that this had any adverse impact on Alex. However, when determining whether or not there has been a material change in circumstances with an adverse impact on the child, the chancellor must look at the totality of the circumstances. Stark v. Anderson, 748 So.2d 838, 843 (Miss.Ct. App.1999). Therefore, the chancellor did not err in considering this issue in his material-change analysis. ¶ 27. Vicki next argues that, even if there had been a material change in circumstances, the court failed to make any specific findings that the change in circumstances outlined by the court had any adverse effect on Alex. Vicki cites Sturgis v. Sturgis, 792 So.2d 1020 (Miss.Ct.App. 2001), and Ortega v. Lovell, 725 So.2d 199 (Miss.1998), for the proposition that trial courts are required to make specific findings with regard to the adverse-material-change analysis. Vicki argues that the chancellor failed to make any specific findings that the circumstances outlined by the court had any adverse effect upon Alex. However, the chancellor stated, The Court finds the following to be a material change in circumstances adversely affecting Alex: before enumerating his findings. This argument lacks merit. B. Albright Analysis ¶ 28. If the court finds an adverse material change, then the next step is to apply the Albright factors to determine whether modification is in the child's best interest. Sturgis v. Sturgis, 792 So.2d 1020, 1025 (Miss.Ct.App.2001). The Albright factors, used to determine what is in the best interest of the child in regard to custody, are: (1) age, health, and sex of the child; (2) a determination of the parent who had the continuity of care prior to the separation; (3) which parent has the best parenting skills and which parent has the willingness and capacity to provide primary child care; (4) the employment of the parent and responsibilities of that employment; (5) the physical and mental health and age of the parents; (6) the emotional ties of parent and child; (7) the moral fitness of the parents; (8) the home, school, and community record of the child; (9) the preference of the child at the age sufficient to express a preference by law; (10) the stability of home environment and employment of each parent; and (11) other factors relevant to the parent-child relationship. Albright v. Albright, 437 So.2d 1003, 1005 (Miss.1983). ¶ 29. Vicki argues that the chancellor's findings as to the parenting-skills factor, child-preference factor, and other factors are not supported by substantial evidence or are erroneous. The chancellor found that the parenting-skills factor favored Rusty because Alex was an honor student while with Rusty and missed little school; however, when with Vicki, Alex frequently was absent from school and did not do as well as he could academically. Vicki argues that these findings are not supported by substantial evidence, because Alex was in Rusty's care for only four months of school. This argument is without merit, however, as four months of school records are substantial evidence on which the chancellor could base his finding of fact as to this factor. ¶ 30. The chancellor discounted Alex's stated preference to live with Vicki because he found that Alex's desire is motivated by his mother not properly disciplining him. Vicki argues that this finding was not supported by substantial evidence. However, Vicki admitted that she did not know how to discipline Alex; that her sole method of discipline was to prohibit Alex's guitar lessons, and that she realized that this discipline does not work. This determination was based on substantial evidence, and this issue is without merit. ¶ 31. Finally, Vicki argues that it was that it was error in the other-factors factor for the chancellor to consider the guardian ad litem's recommendation that Rusty should receive custody of Alex. Vicki argues that the chancellor should discount this report because [it] suffered substantially because much of the information necessary for her to perform her own independent investigation was in Texas. However, Vicki cites no authority for the proposition that the chancellor's reliance on the report was in error. Further, the difficulties faced by the guardian ad litem were substantially Vicki's fault, as the chancellor found that Vicki had failed to cooperate with the guardian ad litem, did not submit to a home study as directed by the court, and did not return phone calls or provide records that the guardian ad litem had requested. On appeal, we cannot reweigh the evidence and must defer to the chancellor's findings of the facts, so long as they are supported by substantial evidence. Carter v. Carter, 735 So.2d 1109, 1114 (Miss.Ct.App.1999). This argument is without merit.