Court Opinion

ID: 9937309
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-09 19:01:07.953988+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:35:01.912102
License: Public Domain

As Judge Thompson points out in his special writing, an appellate court cannot determine whether the trial court has complied with the Custody and Domestic or Family Abuse Act, § 30-3-130 et seq., Ala. Code 1975 ("the CDFAA"), when the evidence tends to prove that one or both parties to a custody dispute have committed acts of domestic violence and the trial court has made no express findings regarding that evidence. Like Judge Pitt-man, I am not convinced the supreme court's holding in Ex parte Fann, 810 So.2d 631 (Ala. 2001) — that the CDFAA does not expressly require the trial courts to make express findings regarding evidence of domestic violence — is unsound. Nonetheless, the need for such findings exists. In his special writing, Judge Pitt-man has pointed out that the Legislature could address this problem by amending the CDFAA or Rule 52, Ala. R. Civ. P. I write to point out that, pursuant to Article IV, § 150, of the Alabama Constitution of 1901, the supreme court is also authorized to make the necessary change to Rule 52.