David W. Beem v. Kimberly D. Beem

• Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
• Decided: April 20, 2021
• Docket: 2020CU0897
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

STATE OF LOUISIANA

COURT OF APPEAL

FIRST CIRCUIT

Ims NUMBER 2020 CU 0897

DAVID W. BEEM

VERSUS J', G KIMBERLY D. BEEM

APR 2 0 2021 Judgment Rendered:

Appealed from the Twenty -Second Judicial District Court In and for the Parish of St. Tammany State of Louisiana Docket Number 2016- 13877, Division " L"

Honorable Dawn Amacker, Judge Presiding xx c9ricx9cdex* hx e

Angela Cox Williams Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee, Jesman Basanti Finley David W. Beem Slidell, LA

Shandy Arguelles Counsel for Defendant/Appellant, Slidell, LA Kimberly D. Beem

exx3ex Yx9e**

BEFORE: WHIPPLE, C.J., WELCH, AND CHUTZ, JJ. WHIPPLE, C. J.

This custody case is before us on appeal by the mother, Kimberly Howell,

from a judgment of the trial court, overruling her exception of no cause of action

and naming the father, David W. Beem, as domiciliary parent. For the reasons that

follow, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

David W. Beem and Kimberly Howell ( formerly Kimberly D. Beem) were

married in 2008 and had two children together, born on October 28, 2009, and on

August 5, 2011. Mr. Beem filed a petition for divorce on September 15, 2016;

however, on December 12, 2016, he filed an additional petition for divorce

pursuant to LSA -C. C. art 103( 4),' and the parties were subsequently divorced on

February 8, 2017. Subsequently, on. February 2, 2017, after the parties reached an

agreement, the trial court signed a consent judgment, granting them joint and

shared physical custody of their two minor children, but naming no domiciliary

parent. The consent judgment also made provisions for, inter alio, child support,

health insurance, and income tax exemptions.

On June 17, 2019, Mr. Beem filed a " Motion to Modify Child Support and

for Designation of Domiciliary Parent." On September 13, 2019, Ms. Howell

responded to Mr. Beem' s motion and filed a " Rule for Contempt, Motion to

Modify, Rule for Increase in Child Support[,] and Incidental Relief," wherein she

also sought to be named domiciliary parent of the two minor children. The parties

appeared before a hearing officer on October 3, 2019.2 The hearing officer issued

a detailed report and made various recommendations, including a recommendation

Louisiana Civil Code article 103( 4) provides for an immediate, fault -based divorce when one spouse physically abuses the other during the marriage.

z Louisiana Revised Statutes 46: 236.5( C) allows for the use of hearing officers in cases for the establishment of paternity and the establishment and enforcement of support and other related family and domestic matters."

2 that Mr. Beem be designated the domiciliary parent and that his child support

obligation be reduced. Ms. Howell filed a general objection to the hearing

officer' s " findings and recommendations."

A hearing on the matter was set for June 1, 2020. After the hearing date was

set, through new counsel, Ms. Howell filed an amended motion and a peremptory

exception of no cause of action.. In her exception, Ms. Howell alleged that Mr.

Beem' s motion to be named domiciliary parent could not be granted because he

failed to allege a material change in circumstances that would warrant a

modification of the existing consent custody judgment.

Prior to the hearing date, the parties entered into a consent judgment

whereby they agreed that neither party would owe child support to the other and

that they would split the statutory allowable expenses on a 50/ 50 basis.

Accordingly, the only outstanding matters that remained for the trial court to

decide were Ms. Howell' s exception of no cause of action and the parties'

reciprocal requests to be named domiciliary parent. Following a hearing, the trial

court overruled Ms. Howell' s exception of no cause of action, denied her motion to

be named domiciliary parent, and granted Mr. Beem' s motion to be named

domiciliary parent. On June 16, 2020, the trial court signed a judgment in

accordance with the oral reasons for judgment given at the hearing.

Ms. Howell then filed the instant appeal, contending that the trial court erred

in overruling her peremptory exception of no cause of action and in finding that the

burden of proving a material change in circumstances was inapplicable when a

party sought to modify a consent custody decree that did not initially designate a

domiciliary parent to one designating a domiciliary parent.

DISCUSSION

At the outset, we note on appeal, Ms. Howell does not assign as error the

designation of Mr. Beem as the domiciliary parent of their two minor children, or

3 the underlying factual findings of the trial court. Instead, her appeal challenges the

propriety of the denial of her exception and whether the trial court applied the

correct evidentiary standard. As such, these arguments present legal issues, which

we will address in this appeal.

The peremptory exception raising the exception of no cause of action tests

the legal sufficiency of a pleading by determining whether the law affords a

remedy under the facts alleged. Tracer Security Services, Inc. v. Ledet, 2018- 0269

La. App. 1St Cir. 9/ 24/ 18), 259 So. 3d 353, 355. Generally, the exception is triable

solely on the face of the petition and any attached documents, and no evidence may

be introduced at any time to support or controvert the objection that the petition

fails to state a cause of action. LSA-C. C. P. art. 931; see also Paulsell v. State,

Department of Transportation and Development, 2012- 0396 ( La. App. 11t Cir.

12/ 28/ 12), 112 So. 3d 856, 864, writ denied, 2013- 0274 ( La. 3/ 15/ 13), 109 So. 3d

386. However, the jurisprudence recognizes an exception to this rule, which

allows the court to consider evidence admitted without objection. In those

instances, the pleadings are considered to have been enlarged. Misita v. St.

Tammany Parish Government, 2018- 1595 ( La. App. 1St Cir. 9/ 11/ 19), 286 So. 3d

440, 444, writ denied, 2019- 01877 ( La. 1/ 28/ 20), 291 So. 3d 1060. Otherwise, the

court must accept all factual allegations of the petition as true and maintain the

exception only if no remedy is afforded under the allegations asserted. Woodland

Ridge Association v. Cangelosi, 94- 2604 ( La. App. 1St Cir. 10/ 6/ 95), 671 So. 2d

508, 510.

The burden of establishing that a petition fails to state a cause of action is on

the mover. Because the exception of no cause of action raises a question of law

and the trial court' s decision is based solely on the sufficiency of the petition,

review of the trial court' s ruling on the exception is de novo. Maw Enterprises,

L.L.C. v. City of Marksville, 2014- 0090 ( La. 9/ 3/ 14), 149 So. 3d 210, 215. The

12 pertinent inquiry is whether, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and

with every doubt resolved in the plaintiff' s favor, the petition states any valid cause

of action for relief. Maw Enterprises, L.L.C., 149 So. 3d at 215.

In a proceeding for divorce or thereafter, the trial court shall award custody

in accordance with the best interest of the child. LSA- C. C. art. 131. Indeed, the

best interest of the child is the sole criterion to be met in making an initial custody

award, and the trial court must actively pursue that course of conduct that will be

of the greatest benefit to the child. It is the child' s emotional, physical, material

and social well-being and health that are the court' s very purpose in child custody

cases; the court must protect the child from the real possibility that the parents are

engaged in a bitter, vengeful, and highly emotional conflict. Hodges v. Hodges,

2015- 0585 ( La. 11/ 23/ 15), 181 So. 3d 700, 702; Harrell v. Harrell, 2017- 0561 ( La.

App. 111 Cir, 12/ 5/ 17), 236 So. 3d 704, 709, writ denied, 2018- 0018 ( La. 2/ 2/ 18),

235 So. 3d 1112. The legislature has mandated that the court look only to the

child' s interests so that the court can fulfill its obligations to the child. Hodges,

181 So. 3d at 702. As set forth by the Louisiana Supreme Court in Hodges, LSA-

R.S. 9: 335 " manifests the legislature' s clear intent to establish a custodial system

in which a child has a domiciliary parent and no more than one such parent. The

text is clear." Hodges, 181 So. 3d at 706.

In cases where the underlying custody decree is a stipulated judgment, and

the parties have consented to a custodial arrangement with no evidence as to

parental fitness, the heavy burden of proof enunciated in Bergeron v. Bergeron,

492 So. 2d 1993 ( La. 1986) is not applicable. Instead, the party seeking

modification of the stipulated judgment must allege and prove that there has been a

change in circumstances materially affecting the welfare of the child since the

original custody decree was entered and that the proposed modification is in the

5 best interest of the child. Tinsley v. Tinsley, 2016- 0891 ( La. App. I" Cir. 1/ 18/ 17),

211 So. 3d 405, 412; Evans v. Lungrin, 97- 0541 ( La. 2/ 6/ 98), 708 So. 2d 731, 738.

As noted above, on appeal, Ms. Howell asserts that the trial court erred in

denying her exception raising the objection of no cause of action and further in

finding that, when seeking to be designated as the domiciliary parent, Mr. Beem

did not have to prove a change in circumstances materially affecting the welfare of

the children. Conversely, Mr. Beem maintains that under LSA-R.S. 9: 335 and

Hodges, when parties are awarded joint custody, the court must designate a

domiciliary parent unless the implementation order provides otherwise or for other

good cause shown justifying the failure to designate a domiciliary parent. Mr.

Beem avers that in the absence of a designation, an implementation plan, or good

cause shown, the parties are not precluded from seeking what the law provides

shall occur," namely, the designation of a domiciliary parent .3

The initial custody decree herein was a consent judgment, whereby the

parties agreed to joint and shared physical custody of the children, with neither

parry designated as the domiciliary parent. Approximately two years later, Mr.

Beem filed his motion to be designated the domiciliary parent of the two minor

children, setting forth in his motion that he is " better equipped to be the ` scheduler'

for the children' s affairs, handles conflicts more level[-] headed than the Mother,

and is best suited to be the domiciliary parent." Notably, shortly thereafter, Ms.

Howell likewise requested to be designated the domiciliary parent, contending that

it was " in the best interest of the children" that she be designated as the domiciliary

3 Mr. Beem also notes that LSA- C. C. art. 134, LSA-R.S. 9: 341, and 9: 364 were revised in 2018 to change the custody rules in regards to a " parent who has a history of perpetrating family violence." He avers that because he was granted a LSA-C. C. art. 103( 4) divorce and a protective order from Ms. Howell, these provisions apply to her and that if he filed to modify custody, she would only be granted supervised visitation. This argument was not raised in the trial court; therefore, we decline to address it on appeal. See Uniform Rules, Courts of Appeal, Rule 1- 3.

6 parent because she was the children' s " primary caregiver and most responsible

parent" for the children.

Thus, despite her contention that the trial court could not grant the relief of

designating a domiciliary parent when the prior consent judgment contained no

designation of either as the domiciliary parent, the record shows that by their

filings, both parties placed the issue before the trial court. We conclude that

inherent in her request that the trial court make such a designation in her favor was

an acknowledgement that the designation of a domiciliary parent by the trial court

was both necessary and in the children' s best interest.

Moreover, although Mr. Beem may have failed to use the phrase " change

in circumstances," we find that his pleading sufficiently stated a cause of action for

the designation of a domiciliary parent and for his qualifications as such.

Accordingly, on de novo review, we find no error by the trial court in rejecting Ms.

Howell' s arguments and overruling her exception of no cause of action.

Ms. Howell further avers that the trial court applied the incorrect legal

standard for the modification of a consent custody decree. Pretermitting whether

the trial court misspoke in its reasons for judgment, the law is clear that the trial

court' s oral or written reasons for judgment form no part of the judgment, and

appellate courts review judgments, not reasons for judgment. Judgments are often

upheld on appeal for reasons different than those assigned by the trial judges.

Wooley v. Lucksinger, 2009- 0571 ( La. 4/ 1/ 11), 61 So. 3d 507, 572. Accordingly,

we find no merit in this argument either.

Moreover, after our careful review, we note that Ms. Howell did not brief or

assign as error on appeal the trial court' s ultimate bases for the designation of Mr.

Beem as the domiciliary parent of the two minor children, nor did she challenge on

appeal the underlying factual findings of the trial court. However, to the extent

that her assignment of error could be viewed as raising the propriety or merits of

II the trial court' s ruling and findings, we find the trial court properly considered the

evidence presented at trial under the applicable legal standard and properly

concluded that the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to find that Mr. Beem

had proven a change in circumstances materially affecting the welfare of the

children since the rendition of the consent custody judgment of February 2, 2017

and that the designation of him as a domiciliary parent was in their children' s best

interests.

As shown in the record, since the February 2, 2017 judgment, Ms. Howell

has demonstrated a complete inability to co -parent or communicate with Mr.

Beem, or act in a positive manner toward him. The record also contains numerous

instances where the parties disagreed on co -parenting issues ( such as the children' s

counselor) and could not co -parent, and where Ms. Howell made disparaging

comments or mistreated Mr. Beem and demonstrated her inability or unwillingness

to communicate or to alter her conduct, which was detrimental to the best interests

of the children. In addition, at the time of the February 2, 2017 judgment, Mr.

Beem was serving in the Navy and due to his schedule, he was not always

available or able to help make decisions regarding the children' s activities and

schedules, but has since retired from the Navy and is now in a position to make

such decisions. Furthermore, pursuant to the terms of the February 2, 2017

judgment, Ms. Howell was required to complete an anger management program

approved by the court, but failed to do so by the time of trial. Thus, the evidence at

trial overwhelmingly established that it was in the children' s best interest that Mr.

Beem be designated as the domiciliary parent. Accordingly, on the record before

us, we find no abuse of the trial court' s vast discretion in appointing Mr. Beem as

domiciliary parent, and affirm the judgment of the trial court.

This assignment lacks merit. CONCLUSION

For the above reasons, the trial court' s June 16, 2020 judgement, overruling

Kimberly Howell' s exception of no cause of action and designating David W.

Beem as domiciliary parent of their two minor children, is hereby affirmed in all

respects. Costs of this appeal are assessed to the defendant, Kimberly Howell.

AFFIRMED.

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