Court Opinion

ID: 9895418
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-11-07 13:06:34.114072+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:34.683019
License: Public Domain

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA

                                   No. COA22-957

                               Filed 7 November 2023

Mecklenburg County, No. 19-CVD-649

STEVEN URVAN, II, Plaintiff,

             v.

CASSANDRA LYNN ARNOLD, Defendant.

      Appeal by Plaintiff from order entered 11 April 2022 by Judge Jena P. Culler

in Mecklenburg County District Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 3 October 2023.

      Connell & Gelb PLLC, by Michelle D. Connell, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

      Plumides, Romano         &   Johnson,     PC,   by    Michael    Romano,     for
      Defendant-Appellee.

      COLLINS, Judge.

      Plaintiff Steven Urvan II appeals from the trial court’s order awarding

Defendant Cassandra Arnold primary physical custody of their minor child and final

decision-making authority regarding major decisions affecting their minor child.

Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred by determining child custody based on the

best interests of the child rather than using a substantial change of circumstances

standard, and that the trial court abused its discretion by awarding Defendant final

decision-making authority.    Plaintiff failed to preserve for appellate review his

argument that the trial court erred by using the best interests of the child standard.
                                         URVAN V. ARNOLD

                                             Opinion of the Court

Even assuming arguendo that this issue is properly before us, the trial court did not

err by determining child custody based on the best interests of the child.

Furthermore, the trial court did not err by granting Defendant final decision-making

authority because the findings of fact support the trial court’s decision. Accordingly,

we dismiss in part and affirm in part.

                                        I.      Background

        Plaintiff and Defendant met in Georgia and began a romantic relationship in

2010.    The parties began living together in Cornelius, North Carolina, in 2011.

Defendant gave birth to their son, Sean,1 on 5 November 2018 in Charlotte, North

Carolina. While Defendant was pregnant with Sean, she spent a lot of time in

Georgia with her parents and traveled between Georgia and North Carolina. After

Defendant gave birth, she continued to travel between North Carolina and Georgia

with Sean. Defendant and Sean moved to Georgia on 10 January 2019.

        That same day, Plaintiff filed suit in Mecklenburg County District Court

seeking temporary and permanent legal and physical custody of Sean.2 Plaintiff

subsequently filed a motion for temporary parenting arrangement. The trial court

granted Plaintiff’s motion and scheduled a hearing for 10 June 2019. Defendant filed

        1 We use a pseudonym to protect the minor child’s identity.
        2 The parties filed various other motions that were decided by the trial court, none of which

are relevant to the issues on appeal.

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                                   Opinion of the Court

an answer and counterclaims for child custody and temporary and permanent child

support.

      The parties completed an Administrative Office of the Courts form

AOC-CV-220, Memorandum of Judgment/Order (“Memorandum”). Handwritten in

the space provided for the terms and conditions of the agreement is the following:

              The parties have one (1) minor son, namely [Sean], born
              November 5, 2018. The parties have resolved temporary
              legal and physical custody. The parties attach hereto and
              incorporate herein Exhibit “A” as their agreement on
              temporary legal and physical custody.

Exhibit A was a print out of an email which provided for “Temporary Joint Legal

Custody” and “Graduated Temporary Physical Custody,” and set forth a weekly and

holiday    custody   schedule.    The    Memorandum       also   provided,   “A   formal

judgment/order reflecting the above terms will be prepared by and submitted no later

than _________ for signature by a judge[.]” The date “June 24, 2019” is handwritten

in the blank space. The Memorandum was file stamped by the Clerk of Court on 10

June 2019. However, the record does not contain a “formal judgment/order . . .

sign[ed] by a judge[.]”

      Plaintiff filed a motion for contempt and a show cause order on 13 December

2021, alleging that Defendant had failed to abide by certain terms of the

Memorandum. The trial court held a hearing on the parties’ claims for custody and

Plaintiff’s contempt motion on 24 and 25 March 2022. By written order entered 11

April 2022, the trial court concluded, in relevant part, that “it is in the best interest

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                                   Opinion of the Court

of the child to live primarily with [Defendant] during the school year beginning in

August 2022 and to have time with [Plaintiff]” and that “[i]t is in the best interest of

the child that the primary custodial parent has the final decision making authority

regarding major decisions affecting the child in the event a mutual decision cannot

be reached between the parties.” Plaintiff appealed.

                                 II.   Discussion

A. Child Custody Determination

      Plaintiff first argues that the trial court erred by determining child custody

based on the best interests of the child rather than using a substantial change of

circumstances standard because the parties’ Memorandum was a permanent custody

order. Plaintiff’s argument is unpreserved and otherwise lacks merit.

      “[T]o preserve an issue for appellate review, a party must have presented to

the trial court a timely request, objection, or motion, stating the specific grounds for

the ruling the party desired the court to make if the specific grounds were not

apparent from the context.” N.C. R. App. P. 10(a)(1). It is well settled that “the law

does not permit parties to swap horses between courts in order to get a better mount”

on appeal. Weil v. Herring, 207 N.C. 6, 10, 175 S.E. 836, 838 (1934). Accordingly,

where an appellant presents a different theory on appeal than was argued in the trial

court, the appellate argument is not properly preserved for our review. Angarita v.

Edwards, 278 N.C. App. 621, 625, 863 S.E.2d 796, 800, appeal dismissed, 379 N.C.

159, 863 S.E.2d 601 (2021).

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                                   URVAN V. ARNOLD

                                   Opinion of the Court

       Here, Plaintiff argued exclusively in the trial court that child custody should

be determined based on the best interests of the child. In an initial discussion with

the trial court, Plaintiff indicated that the trial court should determine the best

interests of the child:

              [PLAINTIFF]: You’re certainly able to make rulings about
              summer and school. I mean, it happens all the time.
              [DEFENDANT]: Yeah.
              [PLAINTIFF]: But something is going to happen in the
              summer (inaudible) school and so especially --
              THE COURT: Yeah.
              [PLAINTIFF]: -- since it’s a small window, I think it would
              essentially be finding now that this is in the best interest.
              [emphasis added]
              [DEFENDANT]: Yeah, I would agree with that.

       During closing arguments, Plaintiff again argued that the best interests of the

child standard applied:

              [PLAINTIFF]: . . . You know, but I -- I do think that little
              [Sean] is a very lucky child. He has two parents that
              clearly love him very much. Both parents clearly want to
              provide for him and want him to grow up to be
              well-developed and well-loved and I don’t think there’s any
              question from anyone that these two parents love their
              child.
              The hard part, of course, is that when you’re making a
              decision about custody, you’re making a decision about best
              interest . . . . [emphasis added]
              ....
              So we would be asking for primary custody during the
              school year with substantial visitation to [Defendant] both
              during the breaks and during the summer . . . .

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                                  URVAN V. ARNOLD

                                   Opinion of the Court

      At no point did Plaintiff argue in the trial court that child custody should be

determined using the substantial change of circumstances standard. To the contrary,

it is abundantly clear from the record and transcript that Plaintiff advocated that it

was in the best interests of the child for Plaintiff to be given primary custody.

Accordingly, Plaintiff’s argument that the trial court erred by determining child

custody based on the best interests of the child rather than the substantial change of

circumstances standard is not preserved for appeal and is dismissed.

      Even assuming arguendo that this issue is properly before us, Plaintiff’s

argument is without merit.

      A custody agreement is a contract that “remains modifiable by traditional

contract principles unless a party submits it to the court for approval or if a court

order specifically incorporates the [custody] agreement.” Peters v. Pennington, 210

N.C. App. 1, 14, 707 S.E.2d 724, 734 (2011) (citation omitted). A trial court’s “initial

custody determination requires a custody award to such person ‘as will best promote

the interest and welfare of the child.’” Senner v. Senner, 161 N.C. App. 78, 80, 587

S.E.2d 675, 676 (2003) (quoting N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-13.2). “Subsequent modification

of a custody order requires a ‘showing of changed circumstances[.]’” Id. (quoting N.C.

Gen. Stat. § 50-13.7).

      Here, the parties executed the Memorandum resolving temporary legal and

physical custody and filed it with the Clerk of Court. However, there is no record

evidence that the Memorandum was presented to or approved by the trial court, or

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                                        Opinion of the Court

that the Memorandum was specifically incorporated into a court order. Accordingly,

the Memorandum was not the trial court’s initial custody determination, see Peters,

210 N.C. App. at 14, 707 S.E.2d at 734 (holding that a separation agreement which

included child custody provisions was not incorporated or approved by the trial court,

and therefore the trial court was not required to find changed circumstances in its

child custody order), and the trial court’s order entered 11 April 2022 was an initial

custody determination requiring the trial court to determine child custody based on

the best interests of the child. See Senner, 161 N.C. App. at 80, 587 S.E.2d at 676.

The trial court thus did not err by determining child custody based on the best

interests of the child.3

B. Final Decision-Making Authority

       Plaintiff next argues that the trial court erred by “giving the primary custodial

parent final decision-making authority where the findings of fact did not establish

the ‘actual effect’ the parties’ communications had on the minor child.” (capitalization

altered).

       Legal custody generally refers “to the right and responsibility to make

decisions with important and long-term implications for a child’s best interest and

       3 Furthermore, even if the Memorandum were considered an initial custody determination by

the trial court, the Memorandum was temporary based on its plain and unequivocal language and
did not convert to a permanent order based on the passage of time primarily during the COVID-19
pandemic. See Miller v. Miller, 201 N.C. App. 577, 580-81, 686 S.E.2d 909, 912 (2009) (holding that a
period of 30 months did not convert a temporary custody order to a permanent custody order because
“the child custody matter did not lie dormant after the . . . consent order was entered”).

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                                   Opinion of the Court

welfare.” Diehl v. Diehl, 177 N.C. App. 642, 646, 630 S.E.2d 25, 27 (2006) (citations

omitted).   “Our trial courts have wide latitude in distributing decision-making

authority between the parties based on the specifics of a case.” Peters, 210 N.C. App.

at 17, 707 S.E.2d at 736 (citation omitted). “This grant of latitude refers to a trial

court’s discretion to distribute certain decision-making authority that would normally

fall within the ambit of joint legal custody to one party rather than another based

upon the specifics of the case.” Diehl, 177 N.C. App. at 647, 630 S.E.2d at 28 (citations

omitted). “While we review a trial court’s deviation from pure joint legal custody for

abuse of discretion, a trial court’s findings of fact must support the court’s exercise of

this discretion.” Eddington v. Lamb, 260 N.C. App. 526, 535, 818 S.E.2d 350, 357

(2018) (quotation marks and citations omitted).           “Accordingly, this Court must

determine whether, based on the findings of fact below, the trial court made specific

findings of fact to warrant a division of joint legal authority.” Hall v. Hall, 188 N.C.

App. 527, 535, 655 S.E.2d 901, 906 (2008).

      Here, the trial court made the following findings of fact:

             20. The parties have difficulty communicating effectively
             with each other. At exchanges interaction between the two
             can be curt and rude. That is not in the best interest of the
             child. The way the parties communicate is problematic not
             just at exchanges. The court has in evidence multiple
             communications between the parties in the form of emails.
             Of the emails offered into evidence, [Plaintiff’s] way of
             talking     to    [Defendant]    is   condescending      and
             demanding. . . . It honestly comes across like he is talking
             to a child he is disciplining. The court has other examples
             of communications between the parties in the form of

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                     URVAN V. ARNOLD

                     Opinion of the Court

emails. . . . The court has concern about [Plaintiff’s]
comments that he will tell the child that [Defendant] is to
blame for him not getting to do what he wants. It is not
healthy or in the best interest of the child for the child to
be put in the middle and have either parent tell him it is
the other’s fault he can’t get his way.
21. In Defendant’s Exhibit 9 [Plaintiff] says to [Defendant]
in an email, “You have been the sole and exclusive cause of
every single “traumatic” situation my son has been
through. You provoke conflict, you cause scenes, you act
badly in virtually every situation. You are an unhealthy
mix of unintelligent, unworldly, and uneducated, but
aggressive and extremely belligerent and I consider you to
be dangerous to my son’s health and well-being. Your life
would be so much better if you would stop trying to provoke
fights with me.” In another message he describes where
she lives as a hillbilly town that lacks decent medical
facilities.
22. [Plaintiff] testified a few times when asked about such
toned emails, that it was not his finest moment. There are
a lot of examples of [Plaintiff] not acting in his finest
moments in the way he talks to [Defendant]. Based on
testimony, the court is confident that [Defendant] has also
communicated with [Plaintiff] in a derogatory manner at
times.
....
24. [Defendant] points out that [Plaintiff] has not provided
her with information about all of the nannies he has
utilized either. [Plaintiff] has used nannies and he cannot
give an exact answer as to how many. He has used part
time nannies and two full time nannies. [Plaintiff] sees a
preschool and a nanny as two different things; one being
education and one being childcare. After an incident where
[Plaintiff] accused [Defendant] of being rude, aggressive
and demanding with one of the nannies, he instructed
[Defendant] that she is not to have direct contact with his
people. There is a subtle difference in viewing one as child
care and the other as education and instruction, but the
basic issue is that both parties are entitled to have

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                                    Opinion of the Court

              information about where the child is and who the child is
              with.
              ....
              30. The court finds, considering all the evidence, that it is
              in the best interest of the child to live primarily with
              [Defendant] during the school year beginning in August
              2022 and to have time with [Plaintiff] as set forth herein.
              Before August 2022, it is best for the parties to continue to
              each have significant time, simplify the schedule to week
              on week off to give [Plaintiff] an extra day and to have
              exchange times and methods more well defined.
              31. It is in the best interest of the minor child to have a
              method of resolving conflict when mutual decisions for
              major issues affecting the child cannot be reached. It is in
              the best interest of the child that the primary custodial
              parent has the final decision making authority regarding
              major decisions affecting the child in the event a mutual
              decision cannot be reached between the parties.

       Based on these findings of fact, the trial court awarded Defendant, as the

primary custodial parent, final decision-making authority regarding major decisions

affecting the child “[i]n the event a mutual decision cannot be reached after

meaningful good faith discussion between the parties[.]” As required by Diehl, the

trial court found that it is in the best interests of the child for Defendant to have final

decision-making authority in the event that a mutual decision cannot be reached

between the parties and found facts as to why Defendant should have such authority.

As required by Hall, the trial court found facts detailing past disagreements by the

parties which illustrate their inability to communicate and the effect their

contentious communications will have on the child, including that “[Plaintiff] will tell

the child that [Defendant] is to blame for him not getting to do what he wants” and

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                                   Opinion of the Court

that the child will “be put in the middle and have either parent tell him it is the

other’s fault he can’t get his way.”

      Accordingly, the trial court did not err by awarding Defendant final

decision-making authority regarding major decisions affecting the child “[i]n the

event a mutual decision cannot be reached after meaningful good faith discussion

between the parties[.]”

                                III.   Conclusion

      Plaintiff failed to preserve for appellate review his argument that the trial

court erred by using the best interests of the child standard.         Even assuming

arguendo that this issue is properly before us, the trial court did not err by

determining child custody based on the best interests of the child. Furthermore, the

trial court did not err by granting Defendant final decision-making authority because

the findings of fact support the trial court’s decision. Accordingly, we dismiss in part

and affirm in part.

      DISMISSED IN PART; AFFIRMED IN PART.

      Judges GRIFFIN and THOMPSON concur.

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