Aguilar v. Mayen

CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedMay 7, 2024
Docket23-700
StatusPublished

This text of Aguilar v. Mayen (Aguilar v. Mayen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aguilar v. Mayen, (N.C. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA

No. COA23-700

Filed 7 May 2024

Edgecombe County, No. 22 CVD 415

NOE ROSAS AGUILAR, Plaintiff,

v.

DILCIA ROSIBEL CHIRINOS MAYEN, Defendant.

Appeal by Plaintiff from an order entered 27 February 2023 by Judge William

C. Farris in Edgecombe County District Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 7

February 2024.

Miller & Audino, LLP, by Jay Anthony Audino, for Plaintiff-appellant.

Narron & Holdford, P.A., by I. Joe Ivey, for Defendant-appellee.

WOOD, Judge.

Noe Rosas Aguilar (“Father”) appeals the trial court’s order granting sole

custody of the parties’ minor child to Dilcia Rosibel Chirinos Mayen (“Mother”). For

the reasons stated herein, we vacate and remand.

I. Factual and Procedural History

Mother and Father are the biological parents of a daughter, Mariana, who was

born in June 2021. Father and Mother met after he employed Mother’s husband to

do drywall work in his house. Father learned Mother’s husband had recently arrived

in the United States from Honduras and needed help. Father gathered clothes for AGUILAR V. MAYEN

Opinion of the Court

the family and was planning to give them to Mother’s husband when he learned

Mother’s husband had been “locked up” after an immigration appointment and

detained for approximately three months. Although married since 2008, Father

began an affair with Mother while her husband was detained by immigration

authorities. During that time, Father gave Mother money and at least one bag of

clothes, helped to pay her bills, and eventually bought her a house. After immigration

authorities released Mother’s husband, he returned to live with her, but became

physically abusive to her, causing her to separate from him.

Approximately one month after their relationship began, Mother noticed

Father drove luxury cars and asked him what he really did for work. According to

Mother, he told her he sold drugs, and Mother told him she did not want to spend

time with him anymore. However, Father continued to visit her every day. Father

was arrested and went to prison for selling drugs some time in 2017. After Father’s

release from jail, he continued to financially provide for Mother. He visited her every

day to provide money and food and continued to help pay her bills.

According to Mother, Father eventually became abusive to her. Specifically,

she testified he once slapped her after she told him she wanted him to leave her house.

She further testified he saw her talking to a neighbor, got jealous, grabbed a machete

and threatened her with it, threw her on the ground, and hit her bottom with the

machete.

-2- AGUILAR V. MAYEN

Father’s wife, Brittany, discovered his affair with Mother in May 2021,

approximately one month before Mariana was born. Father then ended the affair.

The last time Father saw Mother prior to Mariana’s birth was at the baby shower,

approximately three weeks prior to Mariana’s birth. After her birth, Mother told

Father he should do what he can to see his daughter. She testified he said he did not

want his name on the birth certificate because it would cause problems with Brittany.

In addition to Mariana, Mother’s two children from a prior relationship lived

in the home with her, a ten-year-old daughter, and a seventeen-year-old son. Mother

worked at a bar called Jazmin on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and sometimes

Sunday nights, going to work approximately between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. and returning

home between 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. Father testified Mother drank heavily at work

and outside of work, brought different men home and drank with them, and would be

hungover until at least lunch. He further testified Mother’s son took care of Mariana

and Mother’s other daughter while she was not home. Following a report of neglect

of the children in Mother’s home, the Wilson County Department of Social Services

filed a safety assessment on 20 April 2022 in which it reported no safety issues existed

in Mother’s home and closed the case.

Mother filed for child support in 2022 and submitted to DNA testing for

Mariana to prove Father’s paternity. Mother testified Father called her from a

private number and told her if she tried to get child support from him, he would do

everything he could to take custody of Mariana.

-3- AGUILAR V. MAYEN

On 7 June 2022, approximately two weeks after Mother filed for child support,

Father filed a complaint, requesting temporary custody of Mariana, an ex parte

custody order, and drug testing of Mother. Father alleged Mother was involved in

illegal substance use and trafficking as well as prostitution. Along with his

complaint, Father attached three exhibits which were affidavits from three of

Mother’s coworkers generally reaffirming Father’s allegations that Mother was

involved in illegal drug- and sex-related activities. The same day, the trial court

entered an ex parte order granting custody of Mariana to Father.

A law enforcement officer accompanied Father to serve the custody complaint

and to take custody of Mariana from Mother. Mother “became irate” and yelled at

them. The officer served her with the complaint but left Mother’s home without

Mariana. On 8 June 2022, Father filed a motion to show cause for Mother’s alleged

contempt of court for refusing to give him custody and for a warrant directing law

enforcement to take physical custody of Mariana. The trial court entered an order

requiring Mother to appear for a show cause hearing and issued the requested

warrant that same day. Father and law enforcement officers returned to Mother’s

home with the warrant and took custody of Mariana from Mother.

On 27 June 2022, Mother filed an answer to Father’s complaint and a

counterclaim for custody of Mariana. The return hearing on the ex parte order was

set for the same day. The parties entered a consent order granting Father temporary

custody of Mariana and granting Mother supervised visitation for two hours per week

-4- AGUILAR V. MAYEN

pending a hearing on the ex parte order. On 11 July 2022, the parties entered a

consent order whereby they would share legal and physical custody of Mariana on a

temporary basis until a hearing on permanent custody.

On 13 September 2022, Mother obtained an Ex Parte Domestic Violence

Protective Order against Father. On 20 September 2022, Father filed another motion

for an ex parte emergency custody order and motion for modification of custody of

Mariana. On 26 September 2022, the trial court entered an order directing Father

and Mother to sign up for and only communicate through Our Family Wizard, jointly

attend Mariana’s medical appointment scheduled for 10 October 2022, follow all

medical recommendations, and inform each other of all medical appointments. The

trial court further ordered Mother to provide a Medicaid card for Mariana to Father.

The trial also modified the existing Ex Parte Domestic Violence Protective Order to

allow the parties to exchange the minor child with each other, provided Father’s wife

was not present. On 6 October 2022, the parties entered a consent order restricting

Father’s and Mother’s contact with each other and allowing contact only during their

exchanges of Mariana and also dismissing Mother’s pending domestic violence action

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Related

In Re M.R.D.C.
603 S.E.2d 890 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2004)
Hardee v. Mitchell
51 S.E.2d 884 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1949)
Scoggin v. Scoggin
791 S.E.2d 524 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2016)
Dixon v. Gordon
734 S.E.2d 299 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2012)

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Aguilar v. Mayen, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aguilar-v-mayen-ncctapp-2024.