Ex Parte Amb

4 So. 3d 472, 2008 WL 4097595
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedSeptember 5, 2008
Docket1061455
StatusPublished

This text of 4 So. 3d 472 (Ex Parte Amb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ex Parte Amb, 4 So. 3d 472, 2008 WL 4097595 (Ala. 2008).

Opinion

4 So.3d 472 (2008)

Ex parte A.M.B.
(In re A.M.B. v. R.B.B. and P.B.)

1061455.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

September 5, 2008.

*473 Brenda L. Harrell and N. Katherine Pritchett of Legal Services Alabama, Inc., Birmingham, for petitioner.

Elizabeth S. Parsons of Blair & Parsons, P.C., Pell City, for respondents.

MURDOCK, Justice.

We granted A.M.B.'s petition for a writ of certiorari to review the Court of Civil Appeals' affirmance of a May 2006 judgment entered by the St. Clair Juvenile Court. See A.M.B. v. R.B.B., 4 So.3d 468 (Ala.Civ.App.2007). The May 2006 judgment declared that A.M.B. was an unfit parent, and it awarded custody of A.M.B.'s daughter, H.S.B., to R.B.B. and P.B. ("the paternal grandparents"). We now quash the writ, noting that this case involved ore tenus proceedings and that the following summary reflects those factual findings the trial court made or could have made in support of its judgment. See Transamerica Commercial Fin. Corp. v. AmSouth Bank, 608 So.2d 375, 378 (Ala.1992); see also Ex parte Patronas, 693 So.2d 473, 475 (Ala.1997) ("`Neither the Court of Civil Appeals nor this Court is allowed to reweigh the evidence in this case. This case, like all disputed custody cases, turns on the trial court's perception of the evidence. The trial court is in the better position to evaluate the credibility of the witnesses ... and the trial court is in the better position to consider all of the evidence, as well as the many inferences that may be drawn from that evidence, and to decide the issue of custody.").[1]

Facts and Procedural History

The record supports the facts that follow. A.M.B., who was born in June 1986, gave birth to H.S.B. in March 2003. K.S.B., who was born in April 1979, is the father of H.S.B. K.S.B. and A.M.B. have never been married; they have had an "on-again-off-again" relationship.

A.M.B. dropped out of school when she was in the 10th grade. She was employed at a McDonald's fast-food restaurant when H.S.B. was born, but she was unemployed for most of the time between H.S.B.'s birth and the March 2006 trial in the present case.[2]

After H.S.B.'s birth, A.M.B. and H.S.B. resided at various times with A.M.B.'s mother, A.M.B.'s sister, and the paternal grandparents. In the fall of 2004, A.M.B. requested that the paternal grandfather adopt H.S.B. "or she would find somebody that would." (According to the paternal grandfather, it was the third adoption request A.M.B. had made to him.) In November 2004, the paternal grandparents filed an adoption petition in the St. Clair Probate Court. Along with their petition, the paternal grandparents submitted a notarized "Consent of Minor for Adoption" that had been executed by A.M.B. and a similar consent that had been executed by *474 K.S.B.; the consents were dated October 29, 2004.[3]

After the paternal grandparents filed their adoption petition, the probate court entered an interlocutory judgment of adoption. Because the paternal grandparents were related to H.S.B., the court concluded that no pre-placement investigation was necessary, see Ala.Code 1975, § 26-10A-28, and it "grant[ed] custody of [H.S.B.] to [the paternal grandparents,]... hereby confer[ring] the responsibility of the maintenance and support of the adoptee." The probate court set the matter for a "dispositional hearing" to be held on January 18, 2005. See Ala.Code 1975, § 26-10A-25.

In November 2004, after the entry of the interlocutory judgment, A.M.B. was arrested for disorderly conduct at the paternal grandparents' home after a dispute between her and K.S.B. concerning H.S.B.[4] A.M.B. was taken to jail and was subsequently released.

On January 16, 2005, K.S.B. apparently forcefully removed A.M.B. from a friend's home, violently beat her, and left her unconscious in an abandoned mobile home. A.M.B. subsequently was taken to the hospital, where she remained until February 28, 2005, when she was discharged for outpatient physical therapy.[5] K.S.B. was arrested and placed in jail; he remained in jail until August 2005, when he was released *475 pending a criminal trial on charges of kidnapping and attempted murder resulting from the incident involving A.M.B. Despite K.S.B.'s attack on A.M.B., she and K.S.B. continued their "on-again-off-again" relationship after his release from jail in August 2005. In fact, A.M.B. admitted that she asked that the charges against K.S.B. be dropped.[6] Also, according to the paternal grandmother, A.M.B. requested that K.S.B. stay with her while she was visiting with H.S.B.

The probate court conducted the scheduled dispositional hearing in January 2005. Before the hearing, the paternal grandparents informed their attorney that A.M.B. was in the hospital. According to the paternal grandparents' attorney, he did not convey that information to the probate court because A.M.B. had already consented to the adoption and had waived further notice of the adoption proceedings. After the January 18, 2005, hearing, the probate court entered a final judgment, granting the paternal grandparents' petition to adopt H.S.B.

According to A.M.B., while she was in the hospital recovering from the beating by K.S.B., she "discovered" that the paternal grandparents had adopted H.S.B. While she was in the hospital, A.M.B. also met with an attorney concerning the adoption. It is undisputed that after her release from the hospital, A.M.B. did not contact the paternal grandparents concerning H.S.B. or attempt to visit her for several months.[7]

In July 2005, A.M.B. filed a motion to set aside the January 2005 judgment of adoption on the ground that she had not consented to H.S.B.'s adoption, see note 3, supra, and on the ground that the probate court failed to appoint a guardian ad litem to represent A.M.B., who was a minor in January 2005. See Ala.Code 1975, § 26-10A-8(a) ("Prior to a minor parent giving consent a guardian ad litem must be appointed to represent the interests of a minor parent whose consent is required."). A.M.B. argued that the January 2005 judgment of adoption was void. The paternal grandparents opposed A.M.B.'s petition.

In September 2005, at the request of the paternal grandparents, the St. Clair Probate Court transferred the case to the St. Clair Juvenile Court. Upon receipt of the case, the juvenile court appointed a guardian ad litem to represent H.S.B.'s interests; no guardian ad litem was appointed for A.M.B., who was by then no longer a minor and had retained counsel.

The paternal grandparents allowed A.M.B. to visit with H.S.B. during the pendency of the juvenile court proceedings, and the evidence would support a finding that, contrary to A.M.B.'s assertions, the paternal grandparents did not attempt to keep her from visiting H.S.B. In September 2005, upon A.M.B.'s request, *476 the paternal grandparents agreed to a regular visitation schedule. Thereafter, however, according to the paternal grandfather, "[a] lot of times" A.M.B. did not attend the scheduled visitation.

In December 2005, A.M.B. was arrested and charged with domestic violence based on an incident involving her sister that occurred in the presence of the sister's young children. Specifically, A.M.B. was charged with harassment under Ala.Code 1975, § 13A-11-8(a)(1)a, a Class-C misdemeanor ("A person commits the crime of harassment if, with intent to harass, annoy, or alarm another person, he or she...

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Bluebook (online)
4 So. 3d 472, 2008 WL 4097595, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-amb-ala-2008.