Court Opinion

ID: 9585038
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:55:24.631025+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:26:54.595289
License: Public Domain

COMPTON, J.,
dissenting in part.
Referring to section III of the opinion, I disagree with the majority’s treatment of that portion of Code § 16.1-283(E) providing that residual parental rights shall not be terminated “if it is established that the child . . . objects to such termination.”
As I understand the majority’s decision on the so-called “child preference clause,” the trial court, in the exercise of sound judicial discretion, may refuse to require the child to testify about whether he objects to the proposed termination of residual parental rights. I agree with that principle.
Parenthetically, I do not understand the quantum of proof the majority requires to “establish” the child’s objection; they say “a *677strong argument can be made” that the child objected and that the record “should be devoid of any possible ambiguities on this point” (emphasis added). Does this mean the objection of the child must be demonstrated by slight evidence, by a preponderance of the evidence, by clear and convincing evidence or beyond a reasonable doubt? I am unable to discern a clear answer to this question. I would require the fact of objection to be “established” by a preponderance of the evidence.
Casting the foregoing ambiguity aside, I would affirm the judgment below. I approve of the trial judge’s action in refusing further to inject the child into the center of this bitter controversy by forcing him to testify about his preference, and I believe the record fails to “establish,” whatever the criterion used, that the child objects to the termination of the parents’ residual parental rights.