Chapman v. Chapman

218 So. 3d 339, 2016 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 206
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedAugust 19, 2016
Docket2150222
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 218 So. 3d 339 (Chapman v. Chapman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chapman v. Chapman, 218 So. 3d 339, 2016 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 206 (Ala. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

DONALDSON, Judge.

Minda Garcia Chapman (“the wife”) appeals from a judgment of the Jefferson Circuit Court (“the trial court”) divorcing her from Christopher Chapman (“the husband”) and determining the custody of the parties’ child. The wife challenges the trial court’s judgment insofar as it (1) did not order the husband to pay child support, (2) was based on findings of fact that allegedly are not supported by the evidence, and (3) awarded attorney fees to the husband. We reverse the trial court’s judgment and remand the cause to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Background

On July 31, 2013, the husband filed a complaint for a divorce alleging adultery of the wife and incompatibility of temperament as grounds. The husband stated in the complaint, among other things, that he and the wife1 were married in September 2005; that the wife had a child from a previous marriage; that one child, A.C. (“the child”), was born of the marriage in March 2008; that the. wife had committed adultery; that, while he was working in another country, the wife became pregnant by a paramour; that the wife failed to pay household bills while he was working in another country; and that the wife and the child had left the marital home to live with the wife’s páramour. He sought custody of the child and an award of attorney fees. The wife filed an answer denying the allegations in the husband’s complaint and a counterclaim for a divorce alleging that she was the primary caregiver of the child, that she was pregnant with another child, and that there was incompatibility of temperament between the parties. She also requested, among other things, sole custody of the child, subject to the husband’s visitation rights, and an award of attorney fees. The record shows that the wife gave birth to her third child in December 2013 while the divorce case whs pending.

On March 23, 2014, the trial court entered an order appointing a guardian ad litem for the child and requiring each party to pay $750 toward the, guardian ad litem’s fee. On April 2, 2014, the husband filed a motion seeking an order requiring genetic testing of the child born to the wife in December 2013. The trial court granted the husband’s motion. The husband was ordered to pay the expenses for the genetic testing. The order also required the wife to reimburse the husband should the results of the testing reveal that he was not the father of the child born in December 2013. The testing showed that the husband was not the biological father of that child.

On August 29, 2014, the trial court entered a temporary order (“the temporary order”) providing that the parties were to share joint legal custody of .the child and granting the husband “primary physical custody” of the child during the pendency of the divorce case. The trial court, however, ordered that the husband would have custody of the child during /‘the first and third full weeks of each month from 9:00 a.m. on Sunday until 8:00 a.m. the following Thursday” and that the wife would have custody of the child during “the [s]ec-ond and [fjourth weeks of each month from 3:00 p.m. on Thursday until 9:00 a.m. the [fjollowing Sunday.” The temporary order also contained provisions for the par[341]*341ties to exercise specified custodial periods with the child during holidays, other special occasions, and the summer. The trial court did not order either party to pay child support and ordered the husband and the wife each to pay half of the child’s expenses.

Both parties submitted a Child-Sup-pori^-Obligation Income Statement/Affidavit (“CS-41 form”) during the proceedings. On his CS-41 form, the husband stated that he had a monthly gross income of $3,120. He also stated that the child was covered by health insurance at a monthly cost to him of $204. The wife stated on her CS-41 form that she had a monthly gross income of $2,836.16. She stated that the child’s health insurance was provided through Medicaid.

The record contains affidavits from counsel for both parties that were submitted at different times during the proceedings in support of the parties’ requests for an award of attorney fees. On August 5, 2014, the husband’s attorney submitted an affidavit stating that, up to that point in the litigation, her fees in the case amounted to $13,875. The wife’s attorney stated that he had billed the wife $17,305 as of March 23, 2015. ■

The trial court held a trial on March 23, 2015, at which the husband and the wife testified. The husband testified that, although the trial court had granted him sole physical custody of the child in the témporary order, he had not exercised his right to that custody because it would have been disruptive to the child, who attended school’in Chilton County, to move to Jefferson County and to change schools. The husband testified that the wife had allowed him to keep the ‘ child only for a single weekend during the pendency of the proceedings. The husband testified that the mother of the wife’s paramour kept the child while the wife worked and that he had no means of contacting.the child when she was with the mother of the wife’s paramour. The husband testified that there were occasions when he could not get in touch with the wife.

' The husband also testified that, when he had worked in another country, he had sent money to the wife to cover household expenses for the wife, the child, and the wife’s older child who lived with the family. The husband testified that he had had to take emergency leave from his employment and return to the United States when he found out that the wife had left the marital home. He testified that, because of the wife’s failure to properly manage the family’s finances while he was in another country, he lost the marital home to foreclosure and that there were other debts that he had been required to pay due to her' mismanagement of finances.

The husband testified that he provided the child with health-insurance coverage. He testified that he paid for the child’s hair care and bought her shoes for school. He testified that he offered financial support to the wife during the pendency of the divorce proceedings but that he never actually provided- any such support. The husband testified that the temporary order required him to pay half of the child’s expenses for extracurricular activities but that he did not pay any of those expenses because the wife would not permit him to do so.

The wife testified that she lived in a two-bedroom apartment. The wife testified that the child had her own room. She testified that she was employed as a home-health nurse and that she worked from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays,- Wednesdays, and Thursdays, on Friday evenings, and half days on Saturday, The wife testified that she never declined the husband’s requests.to visit the child and that she never interfered with his attempts [342]*342to communicate with the child. The wife testified that the husband never provided her with financial support for the child. She testified that she did not provide the husband with a telephone number for her paramour’s mother. The wife admitted to committing adultery. She testified that she did not allow her paramour to supervise the child alone and that her paramour never spent the night in the same house as her. The child’s report cards were admitted into evidence, and they reflected that the child was performing well in school. The report cards also showed that the child had been tardy on five occasions and had been absent six times during the prior school year.

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Related

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260 So. 3d 55 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
218 So. 3d 339, 2016 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chapman-v-chapman-alacivapp-2016.