Court Opinion

ID: 9521608
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:08:36.586944+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:49:59.642276
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE BARRY specially concurring: While I agree with the result reached by the majority, I do so for reasons somewhat different from those set forth in the main.opinion. For a clearer picture of the situation as I view it, a few additional facts must first be noted. Without unduly reciting the details of our earlier decision respecting the parties in this appeal (in re Custody of Hawkins (1979), 77 Ill. App. 3d 873, 396 N.E.2d 668), it is significant to the issues herein that the grandparents/ petitioners requested relief from the trial court with hands at least as unclean as those of the father/respondent. It appears from the earlier proceedings that the child’s mother, who had legal custody of the child, had, from the time of her divorce from Jeffrey Hawkins until early in 1978, remained in Illinois where, undoubtedly, the child had some contact with the Colsons. Then Mrs. Hawkins, without leave of court, left Illinois to live with her grandparents in Florida. When Mrs. Hawkins was murdered, the child was returned to Illinois and stayed with Jeffrey Hawkins until he was again spirited away to Florida, apparently through the joint efforts of the child’s great-grandfather and Margy Colson. At this point, petitions were filed by the great-grandparents in Florida as well as by Jeffrey Hawkins in Illinois for custody of the child. Hawkins was successful in his petition and travelled to Florida to retrieve his child. His demand was refused; and, as a result, Margy Colson was held in contempt of the Illinois court. The Florida court enforced the Illinois custody decree, Jeffrey Hawkins regained custody of the child, and ultimately this court vacated the order of contempt against Margy Colson. This action followed wherein visitation rights, as opposed to custody, are sought by Margy and Thomas Colson. What is apparent from the history of this case is that both parties to the instant action are willing to test the limits of the judicial system to ensure that they retain as close a relationship as possible with the child. Allegations of misconduct of the parties were levied by both sides, and these were resolved by the trial court in favor of the Colsons. The cases cited in the majority opinion establish that special circumstances, so as to permit judicial imposition of visitation rights on behalf of grandparents, must be something greater than a showing merely that one of the child’s parents is deceased. (In my opinion, the special-circumstances test established by common law has not been abolished, but is inferentially incorporated into the statute governing grandparental visitation rights which was enacted subsequent to the initiation of the instant action. (See Pub. Act 82-344.) In the instant case, the additional circumstance — the establishment of a relationship between the child and the Colsons prior to the death of the child’s mother — is the bare minimum additional factor allowable to satisfy the standard established in Illinois. Nonetheless, the trial court, having heard all of the testimony, concluded that this relationship, together with the fact of the death of the child’s mother, was adequate and allowed the grandparents the relief sought by them. In my opinion, the evidence upon which the trial court was asked to decide whether visitation rights should be granted presented a factual issue. As a general rule on factual questions, we should, as the majority implies we should here, defer to the ruling of the trial court. In Illinois, it is axiomatic that the trial court is afforded wide discretion in custody matters, and the court’s ruling should not be disturbed without a showing that the court abused its discretion. The trial court, unlike a court of review, has an opportunity to observe the witnesses and weigh the evidence in light of witness credibility. In addition, the trial court is in a position to modify its order when/if a change in circumstances warrants further judicial action. With these considerations in mind, and despite the fact that I find the case actually weak under the special-circumstances standard, I concur with the majority opinion in affirming the trial court’s order.