Court Opinion

ID: 9575219
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:12:28.910747+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:45:04.361526
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(concurring in result).
As this opinion does not do justice to the domestic position of this father, with my pen I shall do so. This father has an exceptionally strong relationship and bond with his two boys. This includes spending his leisure time with them, to include going to parks, attending church, and spending the day at his parents’ farm with these boys. Father was given temporary custody of these children and kept a neat home and good meals on the table. Each statement thus far recited is supported by the record in this appeal. Not one witness could come forward and testify that the father was not doing a good job as a custodial parent. The trial court considered the best interests of the children and not, necessarily, the shortcomings of the custodial parent. Haak v. Haak, 323 N.W.2d 128, 130 (S.D.1982). It is obvious that the father is not perfect and does have some shortcomings but his strengths in raising these boys far outweighs his shortcomings. And his strengths far outweighs the character weaknesses demonstrated by the mother which led to the breakup of this marriage.
This case reveals a tragic domestic scenario, for this mother decided, outright, and made no bones about it, that she was “trying to find the old me again.” She told her husband that “I’m getting back to the person I knew.” She further told him “You took me out of a lifestyle and I’m getting back into it.” These remarks she fulfilled. This mother experienced behavioral changes which manifested themselves in conduct that I shall detail in only some respects. She began to drink intoxicants and remain out until 5:00 in the morning. She told her husband that she was looking for somebody that she could love. She was able to place alcoholic drinks in the refrigerator but told one of the boys, when he came downstairs in the morning and wanted Cocoa Wheats, that he could “Ask your daddy, he has custody. He is supposed to take care of you.”
*831At the trial, the mother reflected that her deficient attitude around the house and toward her husband had a poor effect on the boys. She admitted that the father was a good disciplinarian. It was the mother who quit marital counseling. It is little wonder that the trial judge gave the father temporary custody.
Contrast the manner in which the mother and father fed the boys. Mother would oftentimes not provide an evening meal but would supply the boys with potato chips, pop, and cookies. Father would return home and find this situation and would be upset because the boys did not want to then eat their evening meal. Once the father was given temporary custody, and the mother was no longer in the home, the boys ate regular meals. Eating regular meals, being with Dad, going to church with Dad, and then spending time at the grandparents’ farm is a wholesome environment to raise boys.
Apparently, the mother wanted a divorce and the father wanted to know why. According to his testimony, she retorted: “Because I don’t want to be responsible to anyone anymore.” Also, the record reflects when mother was confronted with the possibility of losing custody, she expressed that she could have more kids or more boys. All of this evidence came before the trial judge in this case. Our oft-quoted rule on trials before the court, is as follows: The credibility of witnesses and weight to be accorded their testimony and the weight of the evidence is for the trial court — not the review court. Lukens v. Zavadil, 281 N.W.2d 78 (S.D.1979); Scott v. Wagner, 274 N.W.2d 266 (S.D.1979).* This Court is not at liberty to change the findings where the trial judge has resolved conflicts in the evidence. Mulder v. Tague, 85 S.D. 544, 186 N.W.2d 884 (1971).
The gratuitous remarks by the trial judge in this case are ill taken and are not evidence. Such remarks cannot be used to determine (a) a rightful decision below or (b) the base of appellate review. As these remarks were neither evidence nor part of a decision, they should be disregarded as gratuitous remarks without probative value or decisional base. We limit our review to the decision of the court as reflected by findings of fact and conclusions of law. Jones v. Jones, 334 N.W.2d 492 (S.D.1983).
When the trial judge decided “primary and physical care, custody and control” would be awarded to father, father was living in the family home. This was the only home the boys ever really knew and it represented a stable environment; the mother, on the other hand, was living in an apartment. Mother testified that she liked to go out a lot and that the father liked to stay at home with the boys. There was no discretion exercised in this case which was clearly against reason and evidence. Moore v. Moore, 354 N.W.2d 732, 733 (S.D.1984) (citing Herndon v. Herndon, 305 N.W.2d 917, 918 (S.D.1981)).

For basic tenets of review, followed by this Court for decades, with citations to buttress same, see special writing of Henderson, J., in Pankratz v. Miller, 401 N.W.2d 543, 549-50 (S.D. 1987).