Court Opinion

ID: 9685429
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:37:10.911216+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:05.796814
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice
(dissenting).
I dissent.
I cannot vote to affirm this trial court decision which, in effect, requires a mother and her three children to remain in south central, South Dakota, against their will. Winner, South Dakota, is a thriving community and a great place to live if that is the person’s choice and the person has full-time employment. In this case the mother has associate medical and veterinary secretarial degrees, part-time work with the Department of Social Services, and no immediate opportunity for full-time work in her present position. She wants to improve her life and that of her children in California. Her parents have agreed to assist her and the children in the interim. She and the federal government are presently the major support for herself and her children and she wants to improve on that. We should encourage her in these efforts.
I have some sympathy for the father of the children who regularly visits the children, despite past problems with alcohol. However, my sympathy is short-lived when I consider that his child support payments of $115.00 per month amount to a mere $1.27 per day per child. If he is truly interested in the best interests of the children, he should at least triple his child support.
*125The decision of the trial court constitutes an abuse of discretion under these circumstances and the case of Matter of Ehlen, 303 N.W.2d 808, 810 (S.D.1981). Removal is permitted under Ehlen if the move is consistent with the best interests of the children. It is here. Accordingly, I would reverse the decision of the trial court and permit removal,