Court Opinion

ID: 9711412
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:31:23.97746+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:04.731980
License: Public Domain

*882Caporale, J.,
concurring.
I write separately, not because I disagree with the result reached by the majority but because it seems to me that the majority has commingled two distinct aspects of the required analysis. This is perhaps best illustrated by the majority’s statement that “the record fails to demonstrate that it is in the children’s best interests that the relinquishments be revoked and the children be returned to” the mother. I respectfully submit that whether the mother has the right to revoke her relinquishments is a different question from whether, should she have that right, custody of the children must be returned to her. See, Lum v. Mattley, 208 Neb. 789, 305 N.W.2d 878 (1981); State v. Nebraska Children’s Home Society, 94 Neb. 255, 143 N.W. 203 (1913).
As to the relinquishments, the majority correctly observes that whether a document is ambiguous is a question of law. Thus, the trial court’s conclusion that the documents are ambiguous is meaningless because as to such a question we, as an appellate court, have an obligation to reach an independent conclusion. Huffman v. Huffman, 232 Neb. 742, 441 N.W.2d 899 (1989). In determining that the relinquishments are ambiguous, the majority overlooks that the documents must be read as a whole and, if possible, effect must be given to every part thereof. Bedrosky v. Hiner, 230 Neb. 200, 430 N.W.2d 535 (1988); Lueder Constr. Co. v. Lincoln Electric Sys., 228 Neb. 707, 424 N.W.2d 126 (1988). It is clear to me that so read, the relinquishments provide that they become irrevocable only upon the entry of a decree of adoption.
It further seems to me that even if the relinquishments were ambiguous, the majority will have read them incorrectly, for it has ignored the rule that ambiguities are to be construed against the drafter. See Gard v. Pelican Publishing Co., 230 Neb. 656, 433 N.W.2d 175 (1988).
Thus, I would conclude that the mother could, and did, revoke her relinquishments. As indicated earlier, however, such resolution of that issue does not end the analysis because, as the majority correctly notes, in a habeas corpus action involving the custody of a minor, the child’s best interests is a factor to be considered. Lum v. Mattley; supra. Moreover, the mother, as *883the party seeking to change custody, had the burden of affirmatively demonstrating that the best interests of the children require that she regain custody. Lum v. Mattley, supra. Little of the record is devoted to that issue, and that little does not sustain the mother’s burden in that regard. Thus, I, too, would affirm the judgment of the district court.