Court Opinion

ID: 9790065
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:45:43.024626+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:17:41.127492
License: Public Domain

DURHAM, Justice
(concurring and dissenting):
I concur with the reversal of this judgment but dissent from the remand. The record demonstrates that there is no evidence upon which the trial court could base findings sufficient to justify a change in this custody award. To remand this case unnecessarily prolongs the uncertainty of the placement of these young children and undermines the standards this. Court has established in post-divorce custody proceedings.
The parties to this action were divorced in August of 1981. Approximately two months later, the respondent secured an Order to Show Cause respecting a change of custody, which was heard in January of 1982. At that hearing, the trial court awarded custody to the respondent because the appellant had permitted her boyfriend to remain at her home overnight on a number of weekends. Shortly after that hearing, the appellant petitioned the trial court for a modification of the order changing custody, alleging that she was then married to the boyfriend and was in a position to provide full-time care of the children. This petition was denied at a hearing held on February 11, 1982, at which evidence was proffered by the appellant but not heard. The appellant seeks reversal of both orders, arguing the trial court abused its discretion both in granting the change of custody and in refusing to modify its order. The facts adduced at the hearings will be discussed in detail hereafter.
Although the respondent originally made a number of allegations concerning the adequacy of the appellant’s care of their two daughters, ages 8 and 4, at the time of the first hearing, he was unable to demonstrate their accuracy at trial. The sole ground on which the trial judge ordered a change of custody was the overnight presence in the appellant’s home of her boyfriend. Both she and the boyfriend testified at trial, and their uncontroverted testimony established that: 1) their relationship was stable, loving, and “serious,” 2) the children and the boyfriend had a warm and positive relationship, and 3) any sexual relations between the adults occurred discreetly, privately, and when the children were asleep. The children were described by all witnesses, including the respondent, as well-adjusted and happy. There was no evidence whatsoever of any detrimental effect on the appellant’s parenting skills or on the children themselves as a result of the occasional overnight visits. The only indications of any problems came from the appellant’s mother, who testified that the girls , seemed uncomfortable answering her interrogations about the boyfriend, and from the trial judge, who reported that one of the girls told him in a private, unreported interview that her “mom told us” to say that the boyfriend slept on the couch. I discount both of these items because the record shows that the appellant’s mother was extremely hostile to the appellant, and that she undertook extensive probing of the appellant’s private life by means of interrogating the children, which, in my view, was highly inappropriate. The trial court’s impression that the appellant had asked the children to lie for her is entirely inconsistent with the record, wherein both the appellant and her boyfriend testified candidly about their relationship and made no effort to deceive the court. Further, the appellant denied making any such request to the children and went so far as to offer to take a lie detector test on that issue. Without a record of the court’s interview with the children, I am at a loss to explain the origin of this misunderstanding. But the evidence taken as a whole certainly does not establish the appellant was teaching her children to be dishonest as a result of her relationship with her boyfriend.'
The appellant does not argue that the evidence in this case fails to meet the threshold requirement of a substantial change in circumstances. Therefore, the *138only issue on appeal is whether the evidence demonstrated that a change in custody was “reasonable and necessary” for the welfare and the “best interests” of the children. See, e.g., Hogge v. Hogge, Utah, 649 P.2d 51, 55 (1982); U.C.A., 1953, § 30-3-10 (Supp.1981). The applicable standard of review requires that I find the trial court’s actions were “so flagrantly unjust as to constitute an abuse of discretion” before we may interpose a contrary judgment. See Jorgensen v. Jorgensen, Utah, 599 P.2d 510, 512 (1979).
The “best interests of the child” standard is one which requires a thorough and careful exploration of many factors, including long-term relationships with a primary caretaker, stability in placement, parenting skills and styles, employment and child-care schedules, as well as the presence in the home of other persons (friends, step-parents or other relatives). I believe the trial court erred in basing its order changing custody on the sole factor of an inappropriate overnight visitation practice. While we do not condone such a practice, we have frequently noted such “illicit” relationships must be shown to have a detrimental effect on the interests of the children before they can be the predicate for a deprivation of custody. See, e.g., Kallas v. Kallas, Utah, 614 P.2d 641 (1980). The language in Chief Justice Hall’s dissent in Nielsen v. Nielsen, Utah, 620 P.2d 511 (1980), is entirely applicable to this case:
Although the record contains no formal findings of fact and conclusion of law, the evidence presented appears to support the trial judge’s apparent conclusion that defendant’s lifestyle, both economic and moral, is somewhat inferior to that of the plaintiff. However, the record is devoid of any evidence whatsoever as to the effect, if any, of defendant’s lifestyle upon the best interests of Jimmy. Thus, it becomes further apparent that the trial judge simply drew a broad inference, without any evidence in support thereof, that the defendant’s lifestyle did, in fact, adversely affect the best interests of her son.
In light of the highly equitable nature of custody proceedings, I deem it an injustice to base an order changing custody on such a broad inference standing alone.
Id. at 513 (Hall, C.J., dissenting). Chief Justice Hall continued:
In regard to the immoral conduct of the defendant, such behavior is not to be considered in a vacuum. Again, the focus must be upon the best interests of the child, and in the absence of a showing of an adverse effect upon those interests, a basis for a change of custody is not made out. As this Court stated the matter in Stuber v. Stuber, [121 Utah 632, 244 P.2d 650 (1952)]:
The fact that she lived with a man whom she expected to marry, although censurable, does not in and of itself make her an unfit and improper person to have the custody of her child.
Id. at 514 (Hall, C.J., dissenting). See also, Robinson v. Robinson, 15 Utah 2d 293, 391 P.2d 434 (1964).
The injustice which can result from the application of a broad inference such as that discussed by Chief Justice Hall in Nielsen, supra, is particularly evident in this case. The only evidence in the record about the respondent’s care of the children is that he must be gone from home five days a week from 6:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. for his employment. No other evidence regarding the specifics of the children’s care was offered, such as the home and neighborhood in which they would live and be cared for, the schools they would attend, or even the identity of the caretakers. In addition, on her petition to modify, the appellant offered to prove, and it appears to have been undisputed, that she had married her boyfriend and would terminate her employment to give full-time care to the children. As we said in Hogge v. Hogge, supra, “the extent to which each contesting parent could care for the child personally is an appropriate consideration for the court.” 649 P.2d at 56 (citation omitted). The trial court merely stated, without explanation, that neither of those circumstances “remedies the problem,” and it does not appear *139that the court considered in either of its decisions any factor other than the appellant’s “illicit” relationship. That fact, standing alone, was insufficient to warrant a change of custody. There is no evidence that it is in the best interests of the children to be in the respondent’s custody. In fact, what evidence there is about the relative care each party has given and can give the children, clearly preponderates in favor of the appellant. Thus, it was an abuse of discretion for the trial court to order a change of custody.
I would therefore reverse the order of the trial court outright with no remand.