Dettman v. Rablee

809 So. 2d 373, 2001 WL 1150311
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 28, 2001
Docket2001 CU 1228
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 809 So. 2d 373 (Dettman v. Rablee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dettman v. Rablee, 809 So. 2d 373, 2001 WL 1150311 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

809 So.2d 373 (2001)

Ann DETTMAN
v.
Christopher RABLEE.

No. 2001 CU 1228.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

September 28, 2001.

*374 Jennifer Matte, New Orleans, for Plaintiff-Appellant Ann Dettman.

Rebecca N. Robichaux, Raceland, for Defendant-Appellee Christopher Rablee.

Before: CARTER, C.J., PARRO, and CLAIBORNE,[1] JJ.

CLAIBORNE, J.

This appeal arises out of a trial court judgment sustaining the objection of the father of two children to the mother's notice to relocate the minor children out of state. Appellant also seeks review of the trial court's denial of her request for attorney's fees and court costs in her rule to make unpaid child support executory and for contempt.

*375 FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY[2]

Ann Dettman and Christopher Rablee are the parents of two children, Lillian (Lilly), born July 16, 1997, and Thomas (Tommy), born January 15, 1999.[3] The parties were never married. Pursuant to considered custody decrees rendered October 16, 1998, and March 12, 1999,[4] the parties were awarded the joint custody of Lilly and Tommy, with Ms. Dettman named the domiciliary parent. Mr. Rablee was granted visitation, which was ultimately established in the second custody decree, for every other weekend and alternating holidays.

On April 26, 2000, Ms. Dettman filed a rule seeking permission to relocate the children to Indiana. Mr. Rablee responded by filing an opposition to the proposed relocation and a request for a change of custody. He also filed a rule for contempt alleging interference with his visitation rights. The parties entered into a consent judgment on May 26, 2000,[5] in which the rule to relocate was dismissed, as was Mr. Rablee's request for change of custody. Ms. Dettman also consented to a judgment of contempt for interference with Mr. Rablee's visitation,[6] and further agreed that the minor children would not be removed from the state without the consent of the other parent. Finally, Mr. Rablee was granted additional visitation pursuant to this judgment.[7]

On July 14, 2000, less than two months after entering into this consent judgment, Ms. Dettman again attempted to relocate the children to Indiana by sending Mr. Rablee notice of her intent to relocate. Mr. Rablee again responded by filing an opposition to the proposed relocation and a rule to change custody. Ms. Dettman also filed a rule for contempt based on Mr. Rablee's failure to pay child support as previously ordered by the court.

In the notice to Mr. Rablee, Ms. Dettman set forth the reasons that she wished to move to Indiana. Specifically, she expressed a desire to be close to her family in Michigan. She also stated that she had found employment in Indiana, and that she felt the children had better educational opportunities there.

The trial court conducted evidentiary hearings on September 1 and 27, 2000. At the time of the hearings, Lilly was three years old and Tommy was 20 months old. Both children were born in Thibodaux and had lived there with their mother and half-brother since birth.[8] The children's visitation with Mr. Rablee had been sporadic early in their lives, but for several months *376 prior to the hearing, Mr. Rablee had been exercising regular and consistent visitation.[9]

Ms. Dettman testified that she had grown up in Michigan but had come to Louisiana to complete her education at Nicholls State University. Her mother continued to reside in Sturgis, Michigan, and certain other family members lived in Michigan as well.[10] Ms. Dettman expressed a desire to relocate to Elkhart, Indiana, with the children. According to her testimony, Elkhart is five miles south of the Michigan border, and is approximately thirty-five miles from her mother's home in Sturgis. Ms. Dettman testified that being close to her family so that her children could get to know their extended family was a major factor in her desire to relocate.

Ms. Dettman was employed as a certified school psychologist in the Lafourche Parish school system making $31,351 per year at the time of trial. She had obtained comparable employment in her field in Elkhart and would be making $35,853 with an increase of one to three percent the next year. Ms. Dettman also testified that in the job in Elkhart she would be working four fewer weeks per year and would be on the same schedule as the children, thus reducing the time the children would need to be in day care or with a babysitter.

The issue of Mr. Rablee's visitation with his children was also addressed in the notice sent to Mr. Rablee, as well as in Ms. Dettman's testimony at trial. Ms. Dettman proposed that Mr. Rablee travel to Elkhart at his expense once a month for the nine months of the school year while she was working. He would then be able to visit with the children for four consecutive days in Elkhart. She further proposed that she would take the children down to Thibodaux for three one-week visitation periods during the summer months at her expense. This, she reasoned, would keep the travel costs for each party approximately equal, and would allow Mr. Rablee the same amount of time with the children that he would have had under the visitation schedule in effect at the time.[11]

Although Ms. Dettman stated that she did not want to interfere with Mr. Rablee's visitation, she expressed continued resistance to other suggested visitation arrangements during her testimony. She did not appear open to allowing the children to fly down to Louisiana to visit with their father during the nine months that she would be working. She was also extremely resistant to allowing the children, who were not yet school age, to come to Louisiana to live with their father for either six or three month periods. As to each of these proposals, Ms. Dettman expressed her preference to remain in Louisiana if the court were to require her to comply with one of them.

After weighing all of the testimony and the evidence, the trial court determined that it would not be in the best interest of *377 the children for them to be removed from the state and relocated to Indiana away from their father. Accordingly, the trial court rendered judgment upholding Mr. Rablee's opposition to the proposed relocation. The trial court denied Mr. Rablee's request for a change of custody, however, stating that he had failed to meet the heavy burden necessary under Bergeron v. Bergeron, 492 So.2d 1193 (La.1986).[12]

At the hearings, Mr. Rablee consented to a judgment of contempt for his failure to pay child support as ordered. Although the judgment made the arrearage executory, the trial court did not award attorney's fees or costs to Ms. Dettman. From these rulings, Ms. Dettman now appeals urging two assignments of error.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

The appellant sets forth two assignments of error in her brief: (1) the trial court abused its discretion in sustaining the opposition of the father to the notice to relocate; and (2) the trial court abused its discretion in not awarding attorney's fees to appellant for her successful rule for contempt for failure to pay child support.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

An appellate court may not set aside a trial court's finding of fact absent manifest error or unless it is clearly wrong. Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840, 844 (La.1989). A child custody matter must be viewed within the context of its own particular set of facts.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
809 So. 2d 373, 2001 WL 1150311, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dettman-v-rablee-lactapp-2001.