Opinion ID: 2689851
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Summary of Relevant Law

Text: {¶12} The issue presented for review is whether, in a child custody case arising out of a parentage action between a natural parent and a nonparent, a trial court must make a parental unsuitability determination on the record before awarding legal custody of the child to a nonparent. {¶13} We agree with the Licking County Court of Appeals that “[c]hild custody disputes under Ohio law fall within the coverage of one of two statutes, children services agency or a private child placing agency, all parental rights, duties, and obligations, including the right to consent to adoption, and divests the natural parents or adoptive parents of all parental rights, privileges, and obligations, including all residual rights and obligations.” (Emphasis added.) 4 January Term, 2002 depending upon the circumstances.” The two statutes are R.C. 3109.04 and 2151.23. {¶14} R.C. 3105.011 gives Ohio common pleas domestic relations courts jurisdiction “appropriate to the determination of all domestic relations matters,” and R.C. 3109.04 dictates the rules and procedures for domestic relations courts to follow in child custody cases. Specific to the issue before us, R.C. 3109.04(A) applies to “any proceeding pertaining to the allocation of parental rights and responsibilities for the care of a child.” (Emphasis added.) R.C. 3109.04(D)(2) provides that if a court finds that “it is in the best interest of the child for neither parent to be designated the residential parent and legal custodian of the child, it may commit the child to a relative of the child   .”2 {¶15} R.C. 2151.23(A)(2) grants the juvenile courts exclusive original jurisdiction “to determine the custody of any child not a ward of another court of this state.” The statute, unlike R.C. 3109.04, does not state a test or standard to be used by the juvenile courts in determining child custody cases. {¶16} Within the framework of the statutes, the overriding principle in custody cases between a parent and nonparent is that natural parents have a fundamental liberty interest in the care, custody, and management of their children. Santosky v. Kramer (1982), 455 U.S. 745, 753, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 71 L.Ed.2d 599; In re Murray (1990), 52 Ohio St.3d 155, 157, 556 N.E.2d 1169. This interest is protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and by Section 16, Article I of the Ohio Constitution; Santosky, supra; In re Shaeffer Children (1993), 85 Ohio App.3d 683, 689-690, 621 N.E.2d 426. Since parents have constitutional custodial rights, any action by the state that affects this parental right, such as granting custody of a child to a nonparent, must be conducted pursuant to 2 Reporter's Note: Footnote 2 has been withdrawn. See 98 Ohio St.3d 1476, 2003-Ohio-980, 784 N.E.2d 709. 5 SUPREME COURT OF OHIO procedures that are fundamentally fair. Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. at 754, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 71 L.Ed.2d 599; In re Adoption of Mays (1986), 30 Ohio App.3d 195, 198, 30 OBR 338, 507 N.E.2d 453. {¶17} Ohio courts have sought to effectuate the fundamental rights of parents by severely limiting the circumstances under which the state may deny parents the custody of their children. In re Perales (1977), 52 Ohio St.2d 89, 6 O.O.3d 293, 369 N.E.2d 1047, syllabus. Accordingly, we have held that in a child custody proceeding between a parent and nonparent, a court may not award custody to the nonparent “without first determining that a preponderance of the evidence shows that the parent abandoned the child; contractually relinquished custody of the child; that the parent has become totally incapable of supporting or caring for the child; or that an award of custody to the parent would be detrimental to the child.” Id. If a court concludes that any one of these circumstances describes the conduct of a parent, the parent may be adjudged unsuitable, and the state may infringe upon the fundamental parental liberty interest of child custody. {¶18} Thus, a finding of parental unsuitability has been recognized by this court as a necessary first step in child custody proceedings between a natural parent and nonparent. {¶19} In In re Perales, we held that since the issue of custody in that case did not arise from a divorce proceeding but rather from a dispute between a parent and a nonparent, the juvenile court erred in applying the best interest standard of R.C. 3109.04. Id., 52 Ohio St.2d at 96, 6 O.O.3d 293, 369 N.E.2d 1047. The court noted that R.C. 3109.04 controls custody disputes arising from divorce actions where the dispute is between the child’s parents, and where “[b]oth of the parents may be eminently qualified to raise the child” and, therefore, “a finding of unsuitability would not be appropriate and the welfare of the child would be the only consideration before the court.” Id. We held that the juvenile court should 6 January Term, 2002 have proceeded under R.C. 2151.23(A)(2), and that a juvenile court’s “scope of inquiry must, of necessity, be broader in R.C. 2151.23(A) custody proceedings between a parent and a nonparent, which bring into play the right of the parent to rear his own child.” Id. As R.C. 2151.23(A)(2) grants juvenile courts jurisdiction to determine child custody cases if a child is not a ward of another court of the state and contains no “best interest of the child” standard, we held that a juvenile court must make a determination of parental unsuitability before awarding child custody to a nonparent in a legal custody proceeding. Id. at syllabus. {¶20} The court revisited the issue of child custody disputes between a natural parent and a nonparent in Masitto v. Masitto (1986), 22 Ohio St.3d 63, 22 OBR 81, 488 N.E.2d 857. In Masitto, a natural father agreed to the appointment, by the probate court, of the child’s maternal grandparents as guardians for his minor child. The father later agreed to a decree of divorce from the child’s mother that made no explicit award of custody but rather incorporated the probate court’s guardianship order. When the father later moved for a change of custody, the trial court ruled that, based upon the “best interest of the child” standard of R.C. 3109.04(B), the grandparents should retain custody of the child. The court made no finding with respect to the unsuitability of the father, and in fact, specifically found that he was “a fit person to have custody.” Id. at 64, 22 OBR 81, 488 N.E.2d 857. {¶21} The issue before the Masitto court was whether the trial court should have made a parental unsuitability determination before deciding the case based upon the best interest of the child. We cited Perales, holding that “[t]he general rule in Ohio regarding original custody awards in disputes between a parent and a non-parent is that ‘parents who are “suitable” persons have a “paramount” right to the custody of their minor children unless they forfeit that right by contract, abandonment, or by becoming totally unable to care for and support those children.’ ” Id. at 65, 22 OBR 81, 488 N.E.2d 857, quoting In re 7 SUPREME COURT OF OHIO Perales, 52 Ohio St.2d at 97, 6 O.O.3d 293, 369 N.E.2d 1047. The Masitto court indicated that another general rule in Ohio, which has been codified in R.C. 3109.04(B)(1) and (E)(1)(a), is that once an original custody award has been made, that award will not be modified unless necessary to serve the best interest of the child. Id. {¶22} We upheld the trial court’s finding that an unsuitability determination had been made when the father had agreed to the probate court’s guardianship order, i.e., he relinquished his right to custody by contractually agreeing to the appointment of the child’s grandparents as legal guardians, and later reaffirmed this relinquishment through the divorce decree. Id. at 66, 22 OBR 81, 488 N.E.2d 857. It is also important to note another rationale for our Masitto holding: “An additional factor to consider here is that the guardianship status of the minor child could not have existed unless the probate court found that the ‘parents are unsuitable persons to have the custody and tuition of such minor, or