Court Opinion

ID: 9529362
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:50:08.24651+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:45.472823
License: Public Domain

GARFF, Judge
(dissenting):
I dissent to the majority’s remand of the issue of custody.
DETAILED FINDINGS
I would affirm the trial court’s findings regarding custody on the basis that they are sufficiently detailed to allow for appellate review, and that they are supported by sufficient evidence in the record.
When appellant attacks the evidence, we begin our analysis with the trial court’s finding of fact, not with an appellant’s view of the way the trial court should have found. In order to challenge the trial court’s findings of fact, appellant must first marshal the evidence which supports the finding and then demonstrate that, despite this evidence, [it is] clearly erroneous.
Christensen v. Munns, 812 P.2d 69, 73 (Utah App.1991) (citations omitted). Thus, we first analyze whether the findings were sufficiently detailed for appropriate review *200on appeal. Ebbert v. Ebbert, 744 P.2d 1019, 1021 (Utah App.1987).
While case law suggests dozens of factors courts may consider when determining custody, see, e.g., Hutchison v. Hutchison, 649 P.2d 38, 41 (Utah 1982); Moon v. Moon, 790 P.2d 52, 54 (Utah App. 1990), few factors are mandatory. This is because “[tjhese factors are highly personal and individual, and do not lend themselves to the means of generalization employed in other areas of the law.” Moon, 790 P.2d at 54.
The mandatory factors are “the best interests of the child and the past conduct and demonstrated moral standards of each of the parties,” and “which parent is most likely to act in the best interests of the child, including allowing the child frequent and continuing contact with the noncustodial parent as the court finds appropriate.” Utah Code Ann. § 30-3-10 (1989).
Here, the court based its award of custody on nine findings which adequately address these factors. The findings address both parties’ capacity to provide care, their moral character, Husband’s credibility, Husband’s physical abuse of Wife, the weight given to Husband’s period of temporary custody, both parties’ desire for custody and bonding, that Wife was the primary care provider during the marriage up to the separation, the brief period of Husband’s temporary custody and the court’s decision not to accord it great weight, Wife’s amenability to allowing liberal visitation, his lack of amenability to do the same, her superior parenting skills, and finally, the best interests of the children.
Moreover, many of the findings go directly to Wife’s award of custody. Specifically, findings f, g, and h deal with Wife being the primary care provider, her amenability to visitation and his lack of same, and Wife’s superior parenting skills. In addition to these, findings c and d, dealing with Husband’s physical abuse of Wife, and the court’s decision not to give great weight to Husband’s temporary custody, also weigh in favor of Wife’s award of custody. Finally, the other findings, while not specifically favoring Wife over Husband, nevertheless serve to support the award of custody.
I agree that some of the findings are not as detailed as we would like, however, taken as a whole, the findings are sufficiently detailed to allow for appellate review.
SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE
The majority deems the findings as so lacking in detail that appellate review of them is impossible. It thus sidesteps our standard for reviewing findings of fact and it sidesteps the requirement for Husband to marshal the evidence and to show how the marshaled evidence is legally insufficient to support the disputed findings.
Once we determine the findings are sufficiently detailed to allow for review, “[w]e give great deference to the trial court’s findings of fact and do not overturn them unless they are clearly erroneous.” Riche v. Riche, 784 P.2d 465, 467 (Utah App. 1989). This standard remains the same even where the findings are based on disputed evidence because we “defer to the trial court to judge the credibility of witnesses.” Id.; Utah R.Civ.P. 52(a). We defer to the trial court because it is better suited to assess the factors upon which it based its determination, given its proximity to the parties and circumstances, and its opportunity to personally observe and evaluate the witnesses. Alexander v. Alexander, 737 P.2d 221, 223 (Utah 1987); Shioji v. Shioji, 712 P.2d 197, 201 (Utah 1985); Riche, 784 P.2d at 467; Myers v. Myers, 768 P.2d 979, 984 (Utah App.1989). I emphasize that the “issue on appeal is not whether the trial court’s findings accord with our own view of the evidence, but whether, viewing the evidence and the reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the findings, the findings are supported by the evidence.” Shioji, 712 P.2d at 201. This standard of review does not change in cases where the evidence is “hotly disputed.”
Given this standard of review, the next step in the analysis should have been to determine whether the findings are supported by sufficient evidence. Id.
*201Instead of analyzing this question, the majority, both in the facts section and in the analysis section, reweighs the evidence and reargues issues of morality and physical abuse. Such arguments are gratuitous in light of the standard of review. I would confine the analysis to evaluating whether the evidence supporting the findings is legally sufficient.
In this case, the evidence is legally sufficient so as to support the court’s findings. I would therefore affirm the court’s award of custody to Wife.