Court Opinion

ID: 9584303
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:46:38.298041+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:07:29.923807
License: Public Domain

Justice CARLTON
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion because I think it reaches an incorrect result and, in so doing, creates a dangerous precedent in the child custody law of North Carolina. While representation by proxy may be the norm in other civil cases, it should be the exception in child custody actions. I want to dissociate myself completely from new law which will allow lawyers to obtain powers of attorney from errant parents involved in child custody litigation and shuffle off to court for a hearing in which the trial judge will have no opportunity to question and view the demeanor of both parents when deciding the child’s fate.
The majority determines that, under the facts of this case, representation by proxy is acceptable. The majority first applies the most elementary rules of civil procedure to child custody litigation and concludes that “[t]hose who are familiar with the operation of our courts in North Carolina know that quite frequently a party to our civil action or proceeding does not appear at the trial.. ..” Parties may “quite frequently” fail to appear in ordinary civil litigation, but I think it unheard of in child custody suits. The majority does, however, recognize that the child custody suit is an exception to the “general rule” that no personal appearance is required:
In those instances where the court is dealing with matters which affect children of tender years or children with special problems, or when compelling circumstances do not otherwise dictate, the presiding judge should require the presence of both parents so that the court is in the position to gauge what disposition is in the best interest of the child.
I agree with this statement but do not believe it goes far enough. In *487my opinion, the presence of both parents is almost always necessary for the court to be in “the position to gauge what disposition is in the best interest of the child,” and, like the majority, I would require a showing of compelling circumstances before allowing a parent to make an appearance by proxy. My disagreement with the majority is what constitutes “compelling circumstances.” In finding that the circumstances of this case justify the physical absence of the father, the majority has, I fear, created a dangerous precedent.
The facts of this case demonstrate my point. While the record discloses that John is neither a child of tender years nor one with special problems, it also discloses facts which, I contend, show that the presence of the father was necessary to determine what disposition was in the child’s best interests. The father has not personally appeared before the district court since at least 1974, some five years before the 1979 custody hearing. Since his last appearance, the father has remarried, fathered a child, and moved to Alaska, far from the North Carolina towns of Rutherfordton and Roxboro. John has seen very little of his father during that period. In the summer of 1975, the defendant took John to Alaska without the plaintiff-mother’s knowledge or permission and, while the child was in Alaska, attempted to withdraw him from his Person County school and enroll him in Alaska’s correspondence study program. Additionally, in June of 1978 John wrote a letter to Judge Gash, the presiding judge over both the 1978 and 1979 custody hearings, informing the judge of John’s desire not to go to Alaska. John stated that “I want to see my father but not in Alaska” (emphasis in original). Given these factors and the great distance which the child will have to travel to see his father, the father’s physical presence at the hearing was crucial to a determination of the child’s best interests. Without his presence, the district court could not make a reliable assessment of the child’s best interests.
This case does not present “compelling circumstances” which would excuse the father’s absence. Inconvenience, no matter how great, should rarely rise to the level of “compelling circumstances.” If the father were ill or otherwise unable to travel, I would be more inclined to excuse his absence. Moreover, if the matter to be considered at the hearing was a minor change in visitation rights, his absence would be more readily excused. However, the “visitation period” of over six weeks in the case sub judice amounted to an award of temporary custody and was nothing less than a major *488change for the child and the parents. Under such circumstances, the presence of both parents should be required, and my review of the record discloses no compelling reason to excuse him from appearing.
I also disagree with the majority’s holding that plaintiff need not be concerned that defendant may not be bound by action of the court because his attorney has a power of attorney in hand. I think plaintiff has every right to be concerned about this paternal representation by proxy. There is nothing to prevent defendant from revoking the power of attorney at any time. Moreover, those familiar with child custody litigation know that such a document would provide little comfort or assistance to plaintiff should defendant elect to disobey the court order and keep the child with him in Alaska. Should that happen, even with the posted bond and new uniform laws on child custody adopted by an increasing number of states, the burden on plaintiff in seeking the child’s return would be enormous. While this burden on plaintiff would be no less had defendant personally appeared and prevailed on his claim, the risk of such a consequence is an additional reason why the trial court should have required defendant’s presence so that he could be questioned and his demeanor observed.
I think our statutes pertaining to custody require the presence of both parents at all hearings on custody or visitation. G.S. 50-13.2 (a) (Cum. Supp. 1979) first provides that child custody orders shall be based on that which will “best promote the interest and welfare of the child.” This is the “polar star by which the discretion of the courts is to be guided.” In re Lewis, 88 N.C. 31, 34 (1883); accord, Hinkle v. Hinkle, 266 N.C. 189, 146 S.E. 2d 73(1966); 3 R. Lee, N.C. Family Law § 224, at 21 (3d ed. 1963). I submit that it is virtually impossible for a trial judge to make this determination as between competing parents without the presence of both parents. Determination of child custody and visitation rights is one of the most difficult tasks faced by a trial judge under the best of circumstances. What is in a child’s best “interest and welfare” involves many factors. A few, such as adequacy of room and board, are capable of mechanical determination. Most, such as determination of a parent’s attitude and demeanor, are intangible and capable of determination by the trial judge only with the closest possible observation of the parties and the child. Clearly, such determinations cannot be made by the trial court when one of the parents is not in *489court. I think it a clear abuse of discretion for a trial court to take an action such as that disclosed by this record without the parent in court. The majority finds some consolation in the failure of the mother to subpoena the father in this case. The grave decision of child custody should not, in my opinion, be so seriously affected by procedural niceties.
Additionally, the record indicates that plaintiff may not have had an opportunity to subpoena defendant. Defendant’s notice of motion of 29 June 1979 stated that defendant would appear at the hearing. Although the record does not disclose when plaintiff learned that defendant would not appear, the power of attorney was not filed with the court until 4 p.m. on 11 July 1979, the day of the hearing.
Finally, I would find that the trial court has flagrantly violated another portion of G.S. 50-13.2(a). That portion of the statute provides, “An order awarding custody must contain findings of fact which support the determination by the judge of the best interest of the child.” There is not the first finding of fact in the order of 11 July 1979 to support the conclusion that “the best interests of the child would be served by making provision for visitation during the remainder of his minority to and with his father.” While the statute refers to a custody order and we are here concerned with a visitation order, the right to visitation for a six-week period is tantamount to temporary custody and the statute is clearly applicable.
I, of course, do not know what is in the “best interest and welfare” of this child. The trial court is in a far superior position to make such a determination because it can personally observe the witnesses and the parties. Here, I simply feel that the trial court abused its discretion in proceeding without the father and erred in failing to make the required findings of fact.
The necessity for the findings of fact and the presence of both parents for observation in determining what is in “the best interest and welfare” of the child is dramatized by reviewing some facts disclosed by the record:
— In the original custody order of 31 August 1973 the trial court found that while there was testimony about the “qualifications” of the paternal grandmother, there was “very little concerning the father’s fitness and *490qualifications.”
— That, in spite of the liberal visitation privileges granted defendant in the 31 August 1973 order, from that date until 26 June 1974, visits took place only for seven days in December of 1973 and one day in March of 1974.
— That defendant, in June 1975, removed the child from the state during his summer visit and took him to Alaska without notice to the mother and was subsequently indicted for violation of G.S. 14-322.1 by a grand jury in Person County.
— That during the time the child was in Alaska, defendant attempted to withdraw his son from the North Carolina school system and enroll him in a correspondence school in Alaska.
In light of these earlier findings and the complete lack of any findings in the 11 July 1979 order to support the conclusion reached, I find serious error.
For the reasons stated, I vote to reverse the Court of Appeals.
Justice HUSKINS joins in this dissent.