Court Opinion

ID: 9687138
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:16:43.273198+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:24.467135
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(concurring in result in part; dissenting in part).
It is fully understood that we are remanding for a further reexamination by the circuit court judge.
This case was decided without the Mother ever having an opportunity to present her evidence, due to the trial court’s granting of Mother’s motion to dismiss. Obviously, the Mother should now be given an opportunity to refute the allegations made against her by her ex-husband and present her entire side of this case. Therefore, the majority’s opinion is prematurely slanted against Mother. It is rather axiomatic that both sides of a case be heard before the facts be found. Concededly, it was Mother’s motion to dismiss which unilaterally estopped her from presenting her entire evidentiary showing. The trial court, after holding further proceedings, should base its decision on the whole body of the evidence, as it develops. We are not the fact finders.
I note 30 pages of single-spaced, typewritten material appended to the appellant’s brief pertaining to human sexuality, sexual development and orientation, coitus, heterosexual behavior, and emerging trends in sexuality. Thousands of words. Hours of reading. Graphs. A plethora of charts. In short, I note a preoccupation of the brief writer with the general subject of sex, apparently to educate the members of this Court with all manner of human sexuality so that (apparently) they would judge this case from a more enlightened view.* Further noted is an infusion by said brief writer of psychological opinions and social opinions on general behavior of adults and page after page of private opinion on various conduct and how it affects children and multiple relationships of people. Reflected further are personal opinions of the brief writer cascading on, like a waterfall, page after page, spilling out the brief writer’s private opinions on love and affection and the relative merits of the ex-wife’s conduct in her relationships. However, there is a startling lack of authorities to back up these private opinions, although the brief writer does cite some of the important South Dakota Supreme Court decisions involving domestic relations generally. Interspersed with private opinions and philosophy, the brief writer exhorts this Court to establish guidelines for the trial court in the future about “determining the facts of this case, and in applying the same to the laws of the state of South Dakota.” The same brief writer advises us to instruct the trial court on other matters concerning conduct of the parties and to remind the trial court of its duties as well as the previous important decisions of this Court.
All in all, appellant’s brief is quite unusual and spiced with irrelevancies, quite unlike any brief these eyes have ever beheld. Another example: Adolescents having intercourse experience, 1650 to 1900, 1900 to 1940, 1940 to 1970’s. One senses that the spirit of the brief is to teach this Court about the “birds and the bees” from 1650 through 1988 that we might better adjudicate upon the appeal before us. Attached to appellant’s brief are Appendices A, B, and C. These are not a part of the settled record. Appendix A, a treatise on human sexuality, expresses: “1650 to 1900 It is clear that intercourse before marriage is not an invention of the twentieth century.” Of course, I recognize this as a startling revelation in the history of American society, not to mention mankind generally.
Lo, these many years, I have written on the subject of alimony, believing need and the ability to pay were critical considerations. My views on child support, both as a *395former trial judge and later an appellate Justice, paralleled my basic alimony belief: The needs of the children must be considered as well as the ability to pay for those needs. Here, Father had the ability to pay, but refused to pay child support. In October 1984, he was $2,800 in arrears in child support payments. He would not pay same. The trial court, in its equitable power, ordered him to pay $175 to the Brown County Clerk of Courts, $150 of which was to be regular child support, and $25 to apply toward the arrearages. Compulsion of the court order meant nothing to him, for he made only three payments on the 1984 balance. In 1985, he made no payments for nine out of twelve months. Were it not for this Mother, the children, his own flesh and blood, would have literally starved to death. This type of non-support is grievous conduct against these children and against humanity. He lived in comfort, making payments on a very nice home, while his children suffered. Now, he wants to place these children in this very nice home and contend that he is really quite a nice fellow. The trial court found that Father’s failure to pay regular child support contributed to Mother’s difficulties. Father extols his stable lifestyle and his present ability to provide a home for the children. This author concludes that the majority opinion is extremely harsh to this Mother under all of the circumstances. Apparently, the trial court could not find that the Mother’s sexual activity had a harmful effect upon the children. Apparently, the trial court was versed in Kester v. Kester, 257 N.W.2d 731, 734 (S.D.1977).
The majority relies on Kolb v. Kolb and Hansen v. Hansen for the proposition that no substantial change of circumstances need be shown. I disagree for those reasons set forth in my writings below, two of which were majority opinions:
Therefore, this case should be reviewed under the two-prong test set forth in three recent cases including Engels v. Engels which holds:
[T]he parent seeking modification of custodial rights has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that (1) there has been a substantial and material change of circumstances since the decree of divorce was entered, and (2) the welfare and best interests of the children require the modification being sought.
Hansen v. Hansen, 327 N.W.2d 47, 50 (S.D.1982) (Henderson, J., concurring in result) (quoting Engels v. Engels, 297 N.W.2d 489, 491 (S.D.1980)). See also Sneesby v. Davis, 308 N.W.2d 565 (S.D.1981); Menning v. Menning, 272 N.W.2d 828 (S.D.1978).
Father’s attack in this case was on the Mother’s sex life. His defense, for the neglect of these children by him, was an offense about Mother’s boyfriends and what bad company they were for her. This same attack is highlighted again and again, in the briefs. The trial judge concluded that he believed both parents acted immorally, and he stated he saw no reason to change custody. Additionally, the trial judge prepared his own findings of fact and conclusions of law. It would not appear that this was necessary under our previous rulings, see Millea v. Millea, 89 S.D. 112, 229 N.W.2d 95 (1975). We have apparently held in the past that an order modifying child custody need not be buttressed by findings of fact. If an order to show cause is issued for modification of custody, an order is entered, as distinguished from a judgment. Justice Woll-man, in a dissent in the oft-cited case of Masek v. Masek, 90 S.D. 1, 7, 237 N.W.2d 432, 435 n. 1 (1976), reflected that it would be wise, perhaps, to have this Court reexamine our rule concerning findings of fact not being necessary to support an order which evolves from a child custody modification of a divorce decree; this Court did not follow-up on such a suggestion and this Court should seriously reconsider Justice Wollman’s dissent. Under all of the circumstances of this case, I do agree with the majority writer that it would be excellent to have home studies and impartial witnesses testify to reach the “best interests of the child” platform of proof.

 It escapes me how the article, ADOLESCENT INTERCOURSE: JAPAN, ISRAEL, COLOMBIA, covered in extenso in the briefs, is relevant to our inquiry. Another article is captioned, BLACK MALES AND LOVE (but the people involved in this case are Caucasian). Charts on sexual behavior of college students are included (but litigants are not college students).