Hallock v. Fatzinger

20 Pa. D. & C.5th 301
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County
DecidedJanuary 10, 2011
Docketno. 07-13733, I.D. #3
StatusPublished

This text of 20 Pa. D. & C.5th 301 (Hallock v. Fatzinger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hallock v. Fatzinger, 20 Pa. D. & C.5th 301 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2011).

Opinion

LASH, J.,

The within matter is a child custody dispute. Plaintiff, Heather M. Hallock (hereinafter “mother”), seeks primary physical custody, with defendant, Corey W. Fatzinger (hereinafter “father”), to have limited supervised visitation. Father seeks partial physical custody. Trial was held on January 4, 2011. The court makes the following findings of fact:

I.FINDINGS OF FACT
1. Plaintiff, Heather M. Hallock, is an adult individual who currently resides at 137 Douglas Road, Kutztown, Berks County, Pennsylvania 19530.
2. Defendant, Corey W. Fatzinger, is an adult individual who currently resides at 9159 Briar Edge Road, New Tripoli, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania 18066.
3. The parties are the natural parents of a minor child, Hailey Fatzinger, bom April 21, 2008 (hereinafter “minor child”).
4. Mother resides in the Kutztown Area School District and father resides in the Northwestern Lehigh School District.
5. At the time of the minor child’s birth, the parties resided together, eventually separating on March 29,2010, when mother obtained a temporary protection from abuse order against father, evicting him from the home.
[304]*3046. On or about April 7, 2010, father agreed, without admission to the entry of a final protection from abuse order, with a duration of three (3) years. Within the order, custody provisions were set forth granting primary physical custody to mother, with father to have visitation supervised by father’s cousin, Sarah Bologna. The supervision would take place in the home of father’s aunt, Susan Burnhardt, in 3103 West Washington Street, Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania 18104. No specific times were set for the visits, which were to be arranged through Ms. Bologna.
7. Through Ms. Bologna and with mother’s agreement, father began receiving supervised visits every other Thursday from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. After father requested additional time, mother agreed to expand his time, initially to every Thursday, then to Mondays and Thursdays from 4:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
8. On October 7,2010, this court entered a temporary custody order providing, among other things, that father’s supervised visits with the minor child would expand to alternate weekends from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday and 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. The visits would now be supervised by the paternal grandfather, at the home of the paternal grandparents, where father resides.
9. The incident giving rise to mother’s protection from abuse petition also resulted in criminal charges being lodged against father, namely, harassment, terroristic threats, and criminal mischief. On September 21, 2010, father pleaded guilty to the terroristic threat charge. Father was sentenced to probation for eighteen (18) months, after [305]*305Lehigh County court ordered a mental health and drug and alcohol evaluation.
10. The minor child has never been enrolled in daycare. When mother is unavailable, the minor child is watched by the maternal grandmother, Virginia Hallock, or Sarah Bologna.
11. Mother is currently employed as a server at Texas Roadhouse, 6268 Hamilton Boulevard, Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania 18106, working thirty-five (35) to forty (40) hours per week, five (5) to six (6) days a week, generally from 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
12. Father is currently employed full time, Mondays through Fridays from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at RHS Trucking.
13. Mother currently resides with the minor child’s maternal grandparents, Virginia Hallock and William Hallock, as well as the minor child.
14. Father currently resides with the minor child’s paternal grandparents, Alden and Ruth Fatzinger. The house has a separate bedroom for the minor child.
15. Father has attended Valley Counseling Group, LLC, in Bethlehem on a weekly basis, recently graduating, for issues involving anger management and domestic violence. The counseling also discussed parenting concepts within the therapeutic context.
16.The parties stipulate that mother shall retain primary physical custody and the parties will share legal [306]*306custody.

II. DISCUSSION

In making disposition, this court considered the testimony of the parties, the intermediary and father’s cousin, Sarah Bologna, friends of the parties, Adam Frey, and his fiancee, Elizabeth Everett, father’s former girlfriend, Gretchen Duke, a friend of father’s, Roy Grube, Jr., the maternal grandmother, the paternal grandparents, and the exhibits submitted into evidence.

Mother seeks to restrict father’s access to the minor child with appropriate supervision, citing three (3) predominate reasons. First, mother is concerned about father’s temper, that he may have a capacity to lash out at the minor child when she is misbehaving or having a tantrum. Second, mother is afraid that father will take the minor child from her and move to some undisclosed location, based upon threats that he had made. Third, she believes that father does not have the capacity to properly care for the minor child.

Regarding her first concern, mother alleged that father maintained a pattern of emotional abuse toward her, making threats and acting in a controlling and demeaning manner. This culminated in the incident on March 29, 2010, which resulted in her obtaining a protection from abuse order. At that time, mother alleged that father, while intoxicated, threatened to kill her on several occasions, made specific and dire threats regarding killing her three-(3) year-old nephew, grabbed her by her neck, dragged her through the rooms of the house, and destroyed property, [307]*307including her car radio and the bathroom door. While this may have been the most extreme incident, father, according to mother, during the course of their relationship, would get angry with her, threaten to kill her, curse at her and call her disparaging names. He would occasionally place his rifle nearby, or hand her a bullet, to menace her. He would withhold her cell phone so that she could not contact others and would watch her wherever she would go, resulting in her deciding to leave the house only to go to work or to the store. On one occasion, during an argument, father pointed a gun, which mother described as a rifle, toward his face or mouth and told her that they were going to play “truth or dare.” He would ask her questions and stated that if he did not like her answers, he was going to pull the trigger, impliedly stating he would kill himself. Friends who were present for the get-together leading up to the incident then intervened. Mother testified that she was also menaced by a “shrine” father constructed when he returned to the house to obtain his clothing soon after the protection from abuse order was lodged. The shrine included photographs of the parties and memorabilia of good times they had together.

Mother stated that father, on several occasions during the course of an argument, threatened to take the minor child and leave. On one occasion, while mother was still breastfeeding the minor child, father stated he was moving to Florida.

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Bluebook (online)
20 Pa. D. & C.5th 301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hallock-v-fatzinger-pactcomplberks-2011.