Court Opinion

ID: 9629238
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:39:32.527153+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:17.137318
License: Public Domain

CROCKETT, Chief Justice
(concurring with comments):
I concur with the main opinion. But due to what I regard as the extreme sensitivity of the problem of the divided custody of the children, I desire to add some comments.
Speaking generally, it is my impression that in such controversies courts resort to an expedient of awarding some children to one spouse and some to the other, or awarding custody for one part of the year to one and the other part of the year to the other. On the basis of my own judicial experience and observation, as well as from reading authorities both in the field of law and sociology, it is my firm conviction that to so use the children as pawns in the strife between contending parties is undesirable, and ultimately productive of more ills than it cures. Consistent with this, our Court has ever and invariably stated its agreement with the quite universally recognized principle that in disputes over custody of children, consideration of their welfare should be given priority over the rights of the disputing parents.1
One of the principal factors to be given serious consideration is that there may be, and in most instances there are, greater values to be found in the children being together, and in their relationships with each other, than are to be found in their relationships with their divorced and contentious parents. Moreover, when for some persuasive reason their being together is not practical, it is of the utmost importance that the children have the best possible relationship with each other.
Notwithstanding what has just been said, I recognize that there are special circumstances in this case which, for reasons that may well best serve the interests of these children, the court’s decision has advisedly omitted from fuller exposition. In view of those circumstances, I resolve my doubts, on the assumption that the trial judge gave careful consideration to the undesirability *513of separating this little brother and sister, and concluded that because of . those special circumstances the welfare of the children and all concerned would best be served by making the decree for separate custody, with liberal visiting rights to be worked out between the parties. I am therefore constrained to concur, indulging the hope that these parties will be aware of the advantages to these children in permitting them to enjoy the greatest possible degree of association with and love for each other, and that they will attempt to subordinate their personal desires, and minimize whatever animosities may exist, in order that they may better contribute to the happiness and welfare of these children.

. See e. g. footnote 3, main opinion.