Court Opinion

ID: 9621794
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:07:19.815008+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:15:03.531658
License: Public Domain

McINTYRE, Justice
(concurring).
The court has arrived at the correct result. However, I do not believe we should say or imply, as the court’s opinion seems to do, that § 3-6, W.S.1957, confers power upon a parent with custody under a divorce decree to dispose of the custody and tuition of a child against the wishes of the parent who last survives.
It is true the last paragraph of § 3-6 does state power to dispose of the custody and tuition of a child is conferred upon either parent to whom custody has been awarded in divorce proceedings. But the second paragraph of the same section makes a married woman joint guardian of the person of her children with her husband. The paragraph gives courts the right, when joint custody cannot be exercised, to designate one or the other to perform the trust. It is then provided:
“Upon the death of either husband or wife the right of custody shall pass to the survivor.”
First of all, it should be noted that all reason for the designation made in the divorce decree ceases to exist when a parent dies, and sole custody automatically — and by express provision — reverts to the survivor. This language is clear and unequivocal.
The language contained in the last paragraph of § 3-6 must of necessity be construed in pari materia with the clear and unambiguous language in the second paragraph. When so construed, the power to dispose of the custody and tuition, which is conferred upon a parent who was awarded custody in divorce proceedings, has to be construed as being subject to the superior right of a surviving parent to have his or her natural custody and guardianship. This right is recognized in the second paragraph of § 3-6.
That is not to say anything in the last paragraph of the section is meaningless. It has application and is enforceable against all relatives or interested persons except the surviving parent. For example, it would apply if the contest were between grandparents on the father’s side and grandparents on the mother’s side.
I agree on affirmance.