Opinion ID: 2831584
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: History of Conflict

Text: Downing and Perry divorced in 2006, and have two minor daughters, M.D. born May 1, 2001, and E.D. born September 19, 2003. Upon their divorce, the parties entered into a settlement agreement which granted Perry primary physical custody and both parties joint legal custody of their two minor daughters. Yet about one year later, on August 3, 2007, Downing filed a motion for sole legal custody of the children, contending that Perry made unilateral decisions pertaining 5 to legal custody matters and sought to sabotage Downing’s relationship with his daughters.3 The parties ultimately settled the matter by reaching a new custody agreement via a consent custody order issued on March 19, 2009 (“2009 order”). Under the 2009 order, Downing and Perry maintained joint legal custody of the children and approximately fifty-fifty residential custody. [Id. A-2, 3] This agreement called for the parties to work with a FTC, who “shall assist the parents with joint decision-making and in resolving conflicts when such joint-decisionmaking is not feasible or the parties cannot agree to a joint decision.” [Id. A-11] The FTC was authorized “to resolve the dispute by issuing a written recommendation, which shall be binding upon the parties unless and until it is set aside or modified by the Court.”4 Approximately one year later, on June 14, 2010, Downing filed another motion seeking full custody of the children, making essentially the same accusations as before, namely, that Perry made unilateral decisions and sabotaged his relationship with the girls. Pending trial, however, the parties entered into the 3 While this initial settlement agreement and record of the 2007 dispute does not appear in the record, the portion of the trial court’s order referencing key provisions of this agreement and the procedural history of the 2007 dispute does not appear to be disputed by the parties. 4 However, Downing testified (and the trial court credited his testimony) that the FTC provisions of the 2009 order were never implemented. 6 instant 2012 agreement. Under the terms of the 2012 agreement, “[t]he parties shall share joint legal custody of the children . . . [and] [i]n the event that the parties are not in agreement regarding a legal custody decision which impacts the health, education, religion or general welfare, including extracurricular activities, of the children, the parties will consult with a FTC.” However, unlike the terms of the 2009 order, Downing — rather than the FTC — now had final tie-breaking authority to resolve any disagreement between the parties on legal custody issues. The agreement explicitly states that “[b]oth parties agree that the FTC will not be asked to make decisions or have any tie-breaking authority. The FTC will only make recommendations.”5 According to Jamie Desjardins, the former Guardian ad litem who helped broker the 2012 agreement, she recommended giving Downing tie-breaking authority over disputed legal custody decisions to lower conflict. Specifically, she “hoped” that it would “relax” Downing and “make him feel more comfortable authorizing things [i.e., activities] for the children.” It was Desjardins’s “hope that if [Downing] had . . . tie-breaking authority that he would feel like it would be 5 Although the 2012 agreement superseded the FTC provisions of the 2009 order, essentially “[a]ll other provisions of the Consent Custody Order entered on March 19, 2009,” remained unchanged, and therefore were incorporated into the 2012 agreement. 7 okay for the children to do certain activities because he wouldn’t have to worry that [Perry] would be signing them up for other activities . . . .” Downing claimed that initially following the 2012 agreement he felt “a great sense of relief,” and thought the parties would “never see the inside of a courtroom again.” Perry verified that Desjardin had recommended giving Downing tiebreaking authority, and that it would be “very risky” for Perry to go to court. Perry hoped that, with the advice of a neutral third party, Downing “might be able to make decisions in the best interest of [the] children.” She also thought it was the best deal “under the circumstances,” and that a third party individual would now “truly see the dynamics that were going on and would hopefully help [them] address those and work through them and communicate more effectively.” However, despite the 2012 agreement giving Downing tie-breaking authority, Downing once again filed for sole legal and primary physical custody of M.D. and E.D. on August 19, 2013. A multi-day evidentiary hearing on whether to modify the 2012 custody arrangement between the parties followed. 8 B. The Evidentiary Hearing and Downing’s Use of the Tie-Breaking Power6 At the evidentiary hearing, the chosen FTC, Dr. Charles David Missar,7 testified that he began working with the parties in late-2012 or early-2013. Dr. Missar opined that the conflict between the parties stemmed from “a long history of mutual mistrust.” He testified that although “there are many areas of the girls’ participation [i.e., upbringing] . . . that they actually do agree on” the process of making joint decisions “in a reasonable and logical and rational manner has become so contentious” that even areas of agreement between Downing and Perry are lost in the fighting. For example, in order to avoid an immediate negative reaction from Downing, Dr. Missar counseled Perry to “phrase her suggestions” to Downing “in different terms so as to avoid making it sound like ‘this is what I want’ or ‘this is my suggestion.’” However, Perry did not have the same instant negative response to Downing’s suggestions. In fact, Dr. Missar could not recall a single instance in which Downing made a suggestion and Perry exhibited the same instinctive negative reaction. Notably, Dr. Missar also testified that, in his experience as an FTC and in his professional capacity working with numerous 6 For purposes of appeal, we center our recitation of the evidence presented at the hearing on the parties’ interactions with the FTC, and Downing’s use of his tie-breaking authority following the 2012 agreement. 7 Dr. Missar testified as an expert witness in the fields of clinical psychology, parenting coordination, and family treatment. 9 families, he has not seen a “high conflict situation” where “it has been effective or productive” for one of the parents to have tie-breaking authority. The trial court credited Dr. Missar testimony that “[i]n terms of the practical effects, given the circumstances between the parties [i.e., Downing and Perry],” there was not much difference between Downing’s current tie-breaking authority and an award of sole legal custody. The record reflects three instances in which Downing’s patterned negative response towards Perry thwarted the FTC dispute process, and resulted in Downing exercising “de facto” legal custody of the children. On all three occasions, Downing perfunctorily rejected the FTC’s recommendation in favor of his own original position. First, he unilaterally prevented M.D. from receiving a HPV vaccine, even though Dr. Missar recommended that “unilateral decision-making [in this matter] [was] not appropriate.” In Dr. Missar’s opinion, “[t]his type of decision goes to the heart . . . of necessary joint-parent decision-making.” Nevertheless, in a one-sentence “tie-breaking” decision, Downing declared that, “Right now, I do not consent to the HPV [v]accine, and it won’t be done unless I do consent.” Second, Downing also prevented the children from attending Camp Wright, even though the summer camp fell during Perry’s week with the children. Dr. Missar diplomatically recommended that the parties should focus on gauging 10 the girls’ interest in the camp, and that, having resolved whether the camp fell during Perry’s or Downing’s week, he believed that “unilateral decisions about activities on another’s parent’s week [was] not appropriate.” Yet again, Downing in one sentence and without explanation stated, “[M.D.] and [E.D.] will not attend Camp Wright this summer.” The third example merits extended discussion — Downing’s refusal to let the girls attend Girl Scouts and another extracurricular activity, Girls on the Run (“GOTR”). M.D. and E.D. had previously participated in both Girl Scouts and GOTR. Downing testified that he believed “Girl Scouts [was] a great activity,” and that GOTR was likewise a “good activity” that was “girl-oriented.” However, following the 2012 agreement, Downing used his tie-breaking authority to prohibit the girls from participating in either activity, even though Dr. Missar explicitly recommended that the girls continue to participate in Girl Scouts because they both seemed to enjoy it. Dr. Missar even implored Downing that “for the sake of the girls and their consistency of participation with peers,” he should “make efforts to get the girls to these activities (or at a minimum allow the other parent to do so).” Following Downing’s decision, Dr. Missar spoke with M.D. and E.D. about their interest in Girl Scouts and both of them indicated that they “liked participating in Girl Scouts. They had friends who were in Girl Scouts. They like some of the 11 activities in Girl Scouts. . . . [And] [b]oth expressed some upset . . . about not participating in Girl Scouts on an ongoing basis.” Likewise, Perry testified that, when she informed E.D. that she could not attend GOTR that year, E.D. became “distraught, very upset.” Downing first testified that he thought the girls would be overly scheduled if they participated in either activity, and that there would be “logistical challenges,” given that Downing and Perry were divorced. Yet, later, Downing clarified that Girl Scouts had only “one to two scheduled” events per month, and conceded that he did not know whether M.D. was actually signed up for any extracurricular activities at present, and that E.D. only had weekly tutoring sessions. In fact, Perry testified that M.D. was not signed up for any extracurricular activities, and Dr. Missar opined that the girls were involved in a “below average” number of activities for children of their age. On cross-examination, Downing gave a different reason for disallowing these activities, explaining that he did not approve any activities for the girls on Perry’s custodial time because Perry had started taking E.D. to a few Girl Scouts meetings without first “following the process,” i.e., the 2012 agreement, which required the consent of both parents. It appears that Downing likewise prevented the girls from attending GOTR because Perry had reserved slots for both girls on GOTR without his prior consent. According to 12 Downing, he “wasn’t going to agree to that kind of underhanded leveraging behavior.” Dr. Missar’s testimony bolstered the trial court’s subsequent conclusion that Downing’s decision to prohibit the girls from attending the extracurricular activities was premised more on his mistrust of Perry and his patterned negative response towards Perry’s suggestions. Specifically, Dr. Missar testified that Perry approached him for advice on how to present the possibility of having the girls participate in Girl Scouts and GOTR, since both girls have “longstanding friendships” with individuals in these activities, and that “she saw them as reasonable after-school activities that would be beneficial for the girls.” Dr. Missar counseled Perry to couch the suggestion as if it came from the girls because Downing “react[s] very strongly against things that [Perry] suggest[s] on her own initiative.” C. Trial Court’s Decision In a thorough and detailed seventy-four page order, the trial court denied Downing’s motion for sole legal and primary residential custody of the children. The trial court granted Perry’s request that Downing’s tie-breaking authority over 13 legal custody disputes be removed and instead vested in the FTC. Perry made this request in her opposition to Downing’s motion for sole legal custody, which the court construed as a cross-motion request. The trial court concluded that Perry had demonstrated a “material change in circumstances because she had not anticipated [Downing’s] . . . consistent rejection of each recommendation made by Dr. Missar regarding the minor children’s extracurricular activities.” The trial court further observed that Downing abused his tie-breaking authority, especially as it relates to denying requests for M.D. and E.D. to participate in extracurricular activities. Specifically, the trial court found that Downing’s “desire for total control and veto power over the minor children, drove him to unreasonably reject activities that could enhance the minor children’s lives[,]” in reference to Girl Scouts and GOTR. The trial court also considered the “mosaic of the family dynamics” and found that Downing “has never utilized his tie-breaking authority to make a final decision that was not in keeping with [his] initial decision before receiving Dr. Missar’s recommendation.” The court admonished Downing for effecting de facto sole legal custody over the children, even though the 2012 agreement did not provide Downing with “unilateral authority to make legal custody decisions,” nor did it grant Downing “the right to make final decisions regarding the minor children’s general welfare when the FTC 14 process ha[d] not been engaged by the parties.” Lastly, the court credited Dr. Missar’s expert opinion that “neither party should have tie-breaking authority in a high conflict case such as this one.” Ultimately, the court concluded that the current framework was “not workable and [was] not in the best interest of the minor children,” (emphasis added), and that “[t]he parties’ long history of an inability to communicate to reach joint decisions on most matters concerning [the children’s] general well-being” required the court to vest “the tie-breaking authority in the [FTC] and remov[e] it from [Downing].”8 See generally Johnson v. United States, 398 A.2d 354, 361 (D.C. 1979). Accordingly, the trial court ordered that the FTC “shall have tiebreaking authority regarding legal custody matters on which the parties cannot reach an agreement,” thereby superseding the FTC provisions granting Downing that right in the 2012 agreement. This appeal followed. 8 The trial court also took into consideration Downing’s breaches of certain notification provisions of the prior 2009 Consent Custody Order that was incorporated into the 2012 agreement. Specifically, the trial court concluded that Downing had at times failed to timely notify Perry regarding the children’s travel schedule and medical/injury issues. The court concluded that Downing’s conduct in this regard was further evidence of the “historical and ongoing problems of the parties’ inability to communicate appropriately regarding the minor children, as well as [Downing’s] view that he had final decision[-]making authority even outside of the context of the [FTC] process.” 15