Court Opinion

ID: 9574069
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:02:05.850719+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:01.709653
License: Public Domain

WOLLMAN, Justice
(dissenting).
Giving due deference to the findings of the trial judge, now our esteemed colleague and Chief Justice, I would hold that the trial court erred in awarding custody of the two young children to defendant. I believe what was written in Stearns v. Stearns, 80 S.D. 443, 126 N.W.2d 124, is applicable here:
“When children of tender years are involved our law favors the mother, SDC 14.0505 (now SDCL 30-27-19 (2) ) and her statutory preferential right cannot be denied or defeated in the absence of some compelling reason such as an indication that her custody of the children would be detrimental to their best interest and welfare. Hines v. Hines, 78 S.D. 464, 104 N.W.2d 375; Howells v. Howells, 79 S.D. 480, 113 N.W.2d 533; Wiesner v. Wiesner, 80 S.D. 114, 119 N.W.2d 920; and Septka v. Septka, 80 S.D. 299, 122 N.W.2d 766. A careful review of the record does not reflect any compelling reason why plaintiff’s preferential right to custody *68should be denied. There is no evidence of neglect, abuse, or lack of maternal care or concern. * * *” 80 S.D. 446, 126 N.W.2d 126.
The plaintiff, who was 34 years of age at the time of trial, is an accomplished musician. She teaches at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, from one to four-thirty p.m. four or five days a week. In addition to this teaching, she also gives flute lessons on Saturday mornings and has commitments that require her absence from the home on two evenings a week. The record would indicate that plaintiff is an artistic, sensitive, talented person who is deeply interested in music. In her own words,
“This (music) is my profession. This is my career. This is my talent. My only form of recreation. It is a combination, my job is pay and it is fun.”
Defendant, who was 44 at time of trial, is a journalist employed by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. It appears from the record that he is an unemotional person who, according to his own testimony, has been described by his friends as generally unflappable.
There was evidence that plaintiff had resorted to an increased use of alcohol at home during the evening hours during the period preceding their voluntary separation prior to the commencement of divorce proceedings and that perhaps on one or two occasions this drinking had caused plaintiff to become intoxicated. By her own admission, plaintiff had turned to alcohol as an escape from the emotional problems she was experiencing as a result of the breakdown in the marital communication between her and defendant. She testified that she had cut down on her drinking a great deal during the period of the separation.
Plaintiff’s consulting clinical psychologist testified that plaintiff’s emotional condition could best be described as a transient situational stress reaction; that plaintiff’s use of alcohol was stress-related; and that if the stress that was causing the stress reaction were removed the drinking problem would be expected to be reduced to a minimum. The psychologist had in fact noted *69a definite improvement in plaintiffs condition since the time of her initial interview.
Defendant testified that during the year 1972 he had done, voluntarily it seems, 95 % of' the grocery shopping for the household, including purchasing all of the food for .the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, but it is hard to see how this relates to plaintiff’s capacity to perform her duties as a mother.
Defendant testified that with the exception of perhaps serving him breakfast on a Saturday morning, plaintiff had not cooked his breakfast in the past four years. Here again, it is hard to see how this relates to plaintiffs fitness as a mother, especially in view of the fact that defendant goes to work most days at 7 a.m. Defendant testified that there were occasions on which plaintiff did not get out of bed until 9 o’clock on Saturday mornings and that the children may have been up roaming about the house before they got any breakfast. Defendant testified that during one of his visits to the home during the separation period he observed that the jelly jar was empty and that there was no replacement jar. On another occasion he observed that there was a lack of “Ho-Hos,” a pastry that the children enjoy.
In short, other than the allegation that plaintiff had on occasion indulged in the immoderate use of alcohol, a problem that plaintiff freely acknowledged and which was directly related to the emotional stress resulting from the breakdown of the marital relationship, the aspersions directed towards plaintiff’s fitness as a mother were basically trivial in nature and similar to those that could be leveled against nearly all women who pursue a professional career in addition to performing their duties as wives and mothers.
As I read the record, there was absolutely no evidence that plaintiff had ever neglected, abused or mistreated her children or that she lacked affection or concern for them. In the face of the record, a holding that custody of these two minor children should be awarded to their father is a marked, albeit sub silentio, departure from our previous holdings. Accordingly, I would reverse that portion of the judgment awarding custody of the children to defendant.
*70I am authorized to state that Justice COLER joins in this dissent.