Court Opinion

ID: 9695317
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:15:25.761053+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:10.796456
License: Public Domain

SPAETH, Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the majority’s conclusion that the order of the lower court should be affirmed. I am unable to join the *334majority’s opinion because of its announced premise that whenever the lower court has thoroughly investigated the facts and filed a comprehensive opinion, we “will defer to it[s] [determination], absent an abuse of discretion.” At 793-794. This is an inaccurate statement, and is contrary to settled authority that we are bound to follow.
It is of course true that we must not nullify the lower court’s fact-finding function. Thus we must defer to its resolution of issues of credibility. But from the facts as found by the lower court we must draw our own inferences, and then decide for ourselves what is in the best interests of the children. As stated by our Supreme Court in Commonwealth ex rel. Pierce v. Pierce, 493 Pa. 292, 296, 426 A.2d 555, 557 (1981):
Our scope of review in a custody matter is of the broadest type, and we are not bound by deductions or inferences made by the trial court. Commonwealth ex rel. Spriggs v. Carson, 470 Pa. 290, 295, 368 A.2d 635, 637 (1977). We must exercise an independent judgment based on the evidence and make such order on the merits as right and justice dictate. Adoption of Farabelli, 460 Pa. 423, 433, 333 A.2d 846, 851 (1975); Snellgrose Adoption Case, 432 Pa. 158, 163, 247 A.2d 596, 599 (1968).
Accord, Albright v. Commonwealth ex rel. Fetters, 491 Pa. 320, 421 A.2d 157 (1980). And see Commonwealth ex rel. Berman v. Berman, 289 Pa.Superior Ct. 91, 432 A.2d 1066 (1981).
Having undertaken such a review of the record here, I have concluded that the order of the lower court should be affirmed. The decisive factor for me is that since the parties’ separation, the children have lived with their father. “There can be no question that stability is important to a child’s welfare.” In re Custody of Hernandez, 249 Pa.Superior Ct. 274, 296, 376 A.2d 648, 660 (1977). Stability is not all important, id.; and see Commonwealth ex rel. Grimes v. Yack, 289 Pa.Superior Ct. 495, 433 A.2d 1363 (1981). But here, where so many other factors are equal, I find it decisive.