C.W. v. T.J.T.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 19, 2017
Docket1957 WDA 2016
StatusUnpublished

This text of C.W. v. T.J.T. (C.W. v. T.J.T.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
C.W. v. T.J.T., (Pa. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

J-A16044-17

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION – SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P 65.37

C.W., : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA Appellant : : v. : : T.J.T., : : Appellee : No. 1957 WDA 2016

Appeal from the Order Entered December 2, 2016 in the Court of Common Pleas of Greene County, Civil Division, at No(s): 218 AD 2013

BEFORE: STABILE, J., FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E., and STRASSBURGER,* J.

MEMORANDUM BY STRASSBURGER, J.: FILED SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

C.W. (Mother) appeals from the December 2, 2016 order that denied

her petition to relocate to Washington County with A.A.T. (born in June

2006) and L.M.T. (born in February 2010) (Children, collectively), and

established a custody schedule between Mother and T.J.T. (Father). We

affirm.

Mother and Father married in 2005 and divorced in 2015. They each

live in the same school district in Waynesburg, Greene County. Pursuant to

an interim custody order entered by the trial court on December 17, 2015,

Mother and Father shared legal custody, Mother had primary physical

custody, and Father had substantial periods of partial custody.1

1 The schedule provided for alternating periods of nine overnights with Mother and five overnights with Father who lives with his wife, E.P. (Stepmother). Interim Custody Order, 12/17/2015, at ¶ 3(a).

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court J-A16044-17

In April 2016, Mother served Father with a notice of proposed

relocation, wherein she indicated that she wished to relocate with Children to

Washington County to live with Mother’s paramour, D.H., in his home there.

Subsequently, Father filed an opposition counter-affidavit, as well as a

petition for contempt. The trial court held hearings in August and

September 2016, at which it heard testimony from the parties, Children, and

other witnesses regarding Mother’s petition for relocation as well as Father’s

pending motions.

On December 2, 2016, the trial court entered (1) an opinion and order

denying all of the pending motions, and (2) a custody order providing for

shared legal custody between Mother and Father and alternating periods of

physical custody of nine overnights with Mother followed by five overnights

with Father. Custody Order, 12/2/2016, at 2 (pages unnumbered). Mother

timely filed a notice of appeal, and later a statement of errors complained of

on appeal.2

Mother presents the following questions for this Court’s review.

1. Did the trial court abuse its discretion and/or err as a matter of law in awarding Father shared legal and shared physical custody (five unsupervised overnight visits with children) of [C]hildren both of whom have suffered since birth from potentially life-threatening allergies to various common foods, and some pets in light of its findings that (a) Father repeatedly “self-tests” this diagnosis subjecting [C]hildren to

2 This Court denied Father’s motion to quash the appeal based upon Mother’s failure to file her statement contemporaneously with the notice of appeal as required by Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a)(2)(i). Per Curiam Order, 1/12/2017 (citing In re K.T.E.L., 983 A.2d 745 (Pa. Super. 2009). -2- J-A16044-17

harm (including risk of death); (b) Father repeatedly rejected the advice of [C]hildren’s allergy doctor; (c) Father displays an obsession with his son’s success at sports to the point of rejecting medical advice when the boy is injured; (d) Father ignored the court’s orders to attend counseling and (e) Father resides with and intends to marry a woman who owned brass knuckles, which she attempted to bring into the courtroom[?]

2. Did the trial court abuse its discretion and/or err as a matter of law in rejecting Mother’s request to relocate where the proposed relocation would benefit Mother (and therefore [C]hildren) financially, where Mother would benefit emotionally, where Mother and her boyfriend would be in a position to marry, where the relocation would provide [C]hildren with a larger home, a larger yard, and the opportunity to attend a better school and where the relocation would not interfere with Father’s relationship with [C]hildren[?]

3. Did the trial court abuse its discretion and/or err as a matter of law in rejecting Mother’s relocation request based solely on the wishes of [C]hildren where all other factors establish that relocation is in their best interests[?]

4. Did the trial court abuse its discretion and/or err as a matter of law in rejecting Mother’s relocation request where [C]hildren would not be required to change school districts mid- year since Mother, who is employed in the area, could have transported [C]hildren to and from school for the remainder of the year[?]

Mother’s Brief at 6-7 (unnecessary capitalization and suggested answers

omitted).

We begin with our standard of review.

In reviewing a custody order, our scope is of the broadest type and our standard is abuse of discretion. We must accept findings of the trial court that are supported by competent evidence of record, as our role does not include making independent factual determinations. In addition, with regard to issues of credibility and weight of the evidence, we must defer to the presiding trial judge who viewed

-3- J-A16044-17

and assessed the witnesses first-hand. However, we are not bound by the trial court’s deductions or inferences from its factual findings. Ultimately, the test is whether the trial court’s conclusions are unreasonable as shown by the evidence of record. We may reject the conclusions of the trial court only if they involve an error of law, or are unreasonable in light of the sustainable findings of the trial court.

We have stated that

the discretion that a trial court employs in custody matters should be accorded the utmost respect, given the special nature of the proceeding and the lasting impact the result will have on the lives of the parties concerned. Indeed, the knowledge gained by a trial court in observing witnesses in a custody proceeding cannot adequately be imparted to an appellate court by a printed record.

R.L.P. v. R.F.M., 110 A.3d 201, 207-08 (Pa. Super. 2015) (citations

Our legislature has promulgated lists of factors that a court must

consider in fashioning a custody award. See 23 Pa.C.S. §§ 5328(a). The

trial court in the instant case set forth in the opinion filed along with its

custody order the statutory factors and the court’s findings as to each.

1) Which party is more likely to encourage and permit frequent and continuing contact between child and other party.

Both parties encourage and permit frequent and continuing contact with the other, but it seems, only as is spelled out in a court order. Mother interprets the orders very strictly. Father is compliant in general terms. Both want what they can’t have. Mother cooperated in counseling services, but Father would not.

-4- J-A16044-17

2) Present and past abuse representing a continuing risk of harm to child, and which party can provide adequate physical safeguards and supervision.

Given [C]hildren’s allergies, Father presents (at times) a continuing risk of harm to both [C]hildren in that he is willing to “experiment” with things that do/do not, may/may not cause allergic reactions - against medical advice.

3) Parental duties performed by each on behalf of the child.

Both parents are equally capable of performing all the parental duties, except Father will not accept the medical advice of [C]hildren’s allergy doctor, which presents a risk.

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Related

Morgante, S. v. Morgante, K.
119 A.3d 382 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
In re K.T.E.L.
983 A.2d 745 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2009)
C.M.K. v. K.E.M.
45 A.3d 417 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2012)
R.L.P. v. R.F.M.
110 A.3d 201 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)

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Bluebook (online)
C.W. v. T.J.T., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cw-v-tjt-pasuperct-2017.