Court Opinion

ID: 9670814
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:26:39.127866+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:06.606431
License: Public Domain

SHORT, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding the child’s present environment endangers his emotional health and has impaired his emotional development. The record demonstrates: (a) the child suffers from separation anxiety disorder and has a history of emotional deprivation; (b) the mother is insensitive to the child’s need to develop a father-child relationship; (c) allegations of sexual abuse by the stepsister were unsubstantiated and the interview sessions with the child were abusive; (d) the mother has interfered with the father’s visitation rights; (e) the mother failed to inform the father of the child’s hospitalization and instructed the child’s physician to deny the father any access to records; (f) father’s access to the child has been very difficult; (g) the dynamics of the Rogg-es’ relationship have been destructive to the child’s emotional development; and (h) the Rogges’ relationship will not likely improve. During the seven-day hearing, the trial court took testimony from numerous witnesses, including the guardian ad litem, a child custody evaluator, the parties’ joint counseling psychologist, a child protection services worker, and a court-appointed therapist. The trial court evaluated the evidence under the test set forth in Minn.Stat. § 518.18(d) (1992), and concluded a change of custody was in the best interests of the child. See Minn.Stat. § 518.17 (1992) (factors relevant to the best interests of the child); State ex rel. Gunder-son v. Preuss, 336 N.W.2d 546, 548 (Minn. 1983) (holding factors set forth in Minn.Stat. § 518.18(d) must be specifically considered).
An eight-year-old child who has lived all his life with his mother will suffer harm from a change of custody. But the parties’ inability to get beyond their “private war” has forced the trial court to make the most important decision in their child’s life. The trial court conscientiously balanced the trauma of a change in living arrangements against the advantages for the child’s emotional development of living with the father. The record supports the trial court’s decision. Although I may have decided this case differently, I cannot say the trial court abused its discretion. I would affirm the trial court’s decision because a technical remand for more findings would not: (1) improve the child’s life; (2) alter the ultimate decision on custody; or (3) further the legislative purpose of Minn.Stat. § 518.18. See Grein v. Grein, 364 N.W.2d 383, 387 (Minn. 1985) (affirming because the trial court could be expected to make sufficient findings on remand so a remand would not further the legislative purpose of Minn.Stat. § 518.18).