Court Opinion

ID: 9552104
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:04:47.491755+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:25:39.791434
License: Public Domain

BURKE, Justice,
with whom DIMOND, Justice Pro Tern., joins, dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
While it is obvious that the trial court did attach considerable importance to appellant’s adulterous conduct, it is equally obvious that the court was fully cognizant of the rule of law requiring it to resolve the custody issue according to the best interests of the child. The court found, as a matter of ultimate fact, that those best interests would be served by awarding the boy’s custody to his father.
In order to prevail, appellant is required to show that that finding by the trial court was “clearly erroneous.” Horutz v. Horutz, 560 P.2d 397 (Alaska 1977); Sheridan v. Sheridan, 466 P.2d 821 (Alaska 1970). Although the trial court may, in fact, have assigned undue weight to the evidence of the mother’s adulterous relationship, given the sparcity of the record that is before us, I fail to understand how we can say that such is the case or that the trial court otherwise abused its discretion.
The record on appeal does not include a transcript of the proceedings in the court below. Thus, we are unable to determine with certainty what evidence was before the trial court when it made its decision. This inability is attributable to appellant, who, according to her brief, intentionally chose not to designate such transcript as part of the record on appeal “because [she contends that] the issue on appeal is solely a legal one and [that] the parties’ pleadings and the court’s orders accurately present that issue.”
I disagree with appellant’s analysis. As I perceive the issue, we are required to determine whether there was clear error in the trial court’s finding that the best interests of the boy would be served by awarding his custody to his father. I fail to see how we can properly make that determination without knowing exactly what evidence was before the trial court.
It was appellant’s obligation to designate as part of the record on appeal “[a]ll matters essential to the decision of the questions presented.” Rule 9(d), Alaska R.App.P. Her failure to fulfill that obligation, in my opinion, compels us to uphold the judgment of the court below.1 Accordingly, I would affirm.

. Rule 9(d), Alaska R.App.P. provides, in part:
[I]f i . . it shall appear that any material part of the record, proceedings and evidence has not been included in the record on appeal, the appeal may be dismissed, or such other order made as the circumstances may appear to the court to require.