In Re Marriage of Parr and Lyman

240 P.3d 509, 2010 Colo. App. LEXIS 691, 2010 WL 2105957
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 27, 2010
Docket09CA0854
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 240 P.3d 509 (In Re Marriage of Parr and Lyman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Marriage of Parr and Lyman, 240 P.3d 509, 2010 Colo. App. LEXIS 691, 2010 WL 2105957 (Colo. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

Opinion by

Judge TAUBMAN.

In this post-dissolution of marriage proceeding, David Lyman (father) appeals the trial court order restricting parenting time with his minor child. We affirm in part and vacate in part.

The marriage between father and Catherine Lyman, now known as Catherine Parr (mother), was dissolved in 2007. At that time, the parties signed a complete parenting plan that detailed a gradual increase in father's parenting time over a period of seven months, from short, supervised visits to unsupervised, alternating weekend overnights with the child. The parenting plan also provided that father's visits with the child "should be governed by the following guidelines: (iv) Ongoing UA's [urinalysis tests] and drug screenings to demonstrate that he does not return to marijuana use."

Approximately one week after signing the parenting plan, and the same day that the court incorporated the parenting plan into the decree, father learned he had been approved for listing on the State of Colorado Medical Marijuana Registry (Registry), apparently because of his debilitating back and knee pain resulting from a motorcycle accident. He thereafter filed a pro se motion with the magistrate requesting that the portion of the parenting plan regarding urinalysis testing be waived.

At the hearing on his motion, father testified that at the time he signed the parenting plan, he kept the existence of his Registry petition secret from mother on his counsel's advice not to raise the issue until he was certain he would be approved.

Following the hearing, the magistrate concluded that because father voluntarily and knowingly signed the parenting plan, he invited a valid court order requiring urinalysis testing and was, therefore, "stuck with it." The magistrate also found that although father may have acted on the advice of counsel, he nevertheless acted in bad faith by signing the parenting plan knowing that he had begun a separate legal process to apply for the medical use of marijuana. Thus, the magistrate denied father's motion to waive the required urinalysis testing, and, instead, ordered that father continue with such testing until further court order.

Father then filed a timely petition for review of the magistrate's order, arguing, inter alia, that he did not act in bad faith by keeping his petition a secret, and that the requirement for urinalysis testing was contrary to his constitutional right to use medical marijuana under the Colorado Constitution, article XVIII, section 14.

The trial court took no immediate action on father's motion.

Five months later, mother filed a pro se motion to restrict father's parenting time, arguing that he "hald] not provided proof of clean monthly UA drug sereens ... and hald] asked [the child] to keep secrets about his drug use."

No hearing was held on mother's motion.

[511]*511More than one year after father filed his petition for review of the magistrate's order and approximately nine months after mother filed her motion to restrict father's parenting time, the trial court denied father's petition for review. However, in affirming and adopting the magistrate's order, the trial court added the following language (modified provision):

Mr. Lyman's parenting time shall be supervised by a person acceptable to Ms. Parr until such time as he demonstrates to this Court by clear and convincing evidence that his use of medical marijuana is not detrimental to the child. Mr. Lyman may not consume marijuana while with the child. Mr. Lyman may petition this Court for unsupervised visitation after he submits to the Court and Ms. Parr a clean hair follicle test. He shall then submit weekly clean UA's following the date of the clean hair follicle until the hearing on this motion.

Father now appeals the trial court's order.

I. Parenting Time

On appeal, father raises a narrowly tailored argument, namely, that the trial court erred by adding the modified provision to restrict his parenting time. Although his notice of appeal and opening brief imply other contentions of error (e.g., confidentiality of medical marijuana users), because those contentions have not been properly briefed, or were not raised before the trial court in father's petition for review, we will not consider them on appeal. See C.AR. 28(a); In re Marriage of Miller, 888 P.2d 317, 319 (Colo.App.1994) (appellate court will not address arguments raised without supporting argument or authority), aff'd in part and rev'd in part on other grounds, 915 P.2d 1314 (Colo.1996); In re Marriage of Marson, 929 P.2d 51, 54 (Colo.App.1996) (where a party fails to argue the issue in its brief, the reviewing court may deem the issue abandoned); see also People in Interest of K.L.P., 148 P.3d 402, 403 (Colo.App.2006) (party seeking review of a magistrate's decision must raise a particular issue in the district court before seeking appellate review).

A. Standard of Review

Section 14-10-129(1)(a)(1), C.R.8.2009, sets forth the standard for modification of parenting time rights. Generally, the court may make or modify an order granting or denying parenting time rights whenever such order or modification would serve the best interests of the child.

However, pursuant to section 14-10-129(1)(b)(I), C.R.S.2009, the court shall not restrict a parent's parenting time rights unless it finds that the parenting time would endanger the child's physical health or significantly impair the child's emotional development. See In re Marriage of Hatton, 160 P.3d 326, 332 (Colo.App.2007); In re Marriage of Fickling, 100 P.3d 571, 573 (Colo.App.2004).

Whether the court has applied the correct legal standard in making its findings is a question of law that we review de novo. In re C.T.G., 179 P.3d 213, 221 (Colo.App.2007).

B. Prohibition on Marijuana Use While Exercising Parenting Time

Initially, we consider and reject father's implied contention that the prohibition on his use of marijuana while parenting constitutes a restriction on, rather than a modification of, parenting time requiring a finding of endangerment under section 14-10-129(1)(b)(I). Because, here, the prohibition does not present a qualitative change in the nature of father's parenting time, but is, to the contrary, consistent with the parenting plin requiring that father demonstrate he does not use marijuana, it does not constitute a restriction of parenting time. See In re Marriage of West, 94 P.3d 1248, 1251 (Colo.App.2004); see also People in Interest of A.R.D., 43 P.3d 632, 636 (Colo.App.2001) (a trial court is within its discretion to impose a condition precedent to the exercise of parenting time if the best interests of the child dictate such a requirement). But cf.

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In Re Marriage of Parr and Lyman
240 P.3d 509 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
240 P.3d 509, 2010 Colo. App. LEXIS 691, 2010 WL 2105957, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-marriage-of-parr-and-lyman-coloctapp-2010.