In re Marriage of Webb

2024 IL App (5th) 220686-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 7, 2024
Docket5-22-0686
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2024 IL App (5th) 220686-U (In re Marriage of Webb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois 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 Webb, 2024 IL App (5th) 220686-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

2024 IL App (5th) 220686-U NOTICE NOTICE Decision filed 02/07/24. The This order was filed under text of this decision may be NO. 5-22-0686 Supreme Court Rule 23 and is changed or corrected prior to the filing of a Petition for not precedent except in the

Rehearing or the disposition of IN THE limited circumstances allowed the same. under Rule 23(e)(1). APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIFTH DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________

In re MARRIAGE OF ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of LUCAS C. WEBB, ) Johnson County. ) Petitioner-Appellant, ) ) and ) No. 20-D-33 ) KYLA E. WEBB, ) Honorable ) Cord Z. Wittig, Respondent-Appellee. ) Judge, presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________

JUSTICE WELCH delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Boie and McHaney concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶1 Held: The trial court’s denial of the petitioner’s petition to modify the allocation of significant parental decision-making authority and parenting time with regard to the parties’ youngest child was not against the manifest weight of the evidence.

¶2 The petitioner, Lucas W., appeals the October 7, 2022, order of the circuit court of Johnson

County denying, in part, his petition to modify the court’s November 17, 2020, allocation of

parental responsibilities and parenting time regarding the parties’ minor child, Vera W. For the

following reasons, we affirm.1

1 We note that the respondent has failed to file an appellee’s brief. There are three distinct, discretionary options a reviewing court may exercise in the absence of an appellee’s brief: (1) it may serve as an advocate for the appellee and decide the case when the court determines justice so requires, (2) it may decide the merits of the case if the record is simple and the issues can be easily decided without the aid of the appellee’s brief, or (3) it may reverse the trial court when the appellant’s brief demonstrates prima facie 1 ¶3 I. BACKGROUND

¶4 The petitioner and the respondent, Kyla W., were married on October 14, 2006, and had

three children, Vada W., born May 1, 2007; Deacon W., born January 16, 2010; and Vera W., born

August 21, 2016. On November 17, 2020, the trial court entered a judgment of dissolution of

marriage, which incorporated the parties’ agreed judgment of allocation of parental responsibilities

and parenting time. According to the agreed judgment, the parties were allocated joint significant

decision-making authority, and the respondent was designated the parent with the majority of the

parenting time. However, since the petitioner was awarded and remained in the marital residence

in Johnson County, the petitioner’s residence was designated the primary residence of the minor

children for school registration purposes.

¶5 On September 3, 2021, the petitioner filed a petition to modify parental responsibilities,

alleging that there had been a substantial change in circumstances in that Vada and Deacon resided

with him full-time due to verbal and/or physical abuse they suffered from the respondent’s

boyfriend, Bryce Gibson. The petitioner indicated an order of protection was entered against

Gibson after an incident where Gibson allegedly called Deacon derogatory names and also grabbed

Deacon by the arm and threw him on the bed, causing bruising on his arm. Thus, the petitioner

requested that the respondent’s parenting time be restricted and that the minor children reside with

him full-time. That same day, the petitioner filed an emergency petition to modify, requesting that

the minor children be allowed to fully reside with him until the matter was resolved.

¶6 Before the August 2022 hearing on the petition to modify, the trial court conducted an in

camera interview of Vada and Deacon outside the presence of the parties. Subsequently, at the

reversible error that is supported by the record. Thomas v. Koe, 395 Ill. App. 3d 570, 577 (2009). In this case, the record is simple, and the claimed errors are such that we can easily decide them without the aid of the appellee’s brief. 2 hearing, the following testimony was presented by the parties. Rhonda Carlton, Deacon’s sixth

grade homeroom teacher at Ewing Northern Grade School, testified that, since Deacon began

attending school there in late September 2021 or early October 2021, his grades had improved,

and the petitioner assisted with that. She also noticed that his interactions with the other students

had improved. He was initially nervous being at a new school, but he eventually became a class

leader and was very well behaved and respected by his peers. She had no conversations with the

respondent about Deacon. However, she acknowledged that she did not witness anything unusual

in Deacon’s behavior and that it was not uncommon for new students to be nervous and have initial

issues adjusting to a new school.

¶7 Jeri Miller, the principal at the Goreville school, testified that, in the fall of 2021, Deacon

approached her and told her that the respondent was coming to pick him up from school, and he

did not want to go with her. He then asked Miller to call the petitioner, which she did. He did not

leave with the respondent that day, and shortly thereafter, he stopped attending school there.

¶8 The petitioner testified that he has lived in Whittington, Illinois, for 1 to 1½ years, and he

was to married Chelsea W. His wife, Vada, and Deacon lived with him, and Vera spent

considerable time there. Vada was 15 years old and was a sophomore at Benton High School. She

had been living with him full-time since March 2021 after she made allegations of abuse against

the respondent. The petitioner explained that the Illinois Department of Children and Family

Services (DCFS) became involved in the matter, and he was told that it would be in Vada’s best

interests to live with him. Since then, the respondent had not contacted him about having parenting

time with Vada or inquired about her wellbeing. Vada felt some resentment toward the respondent

and had sent some inappropriate text messages to the respondent after learning that the respondent

3 was having a baby with Gibson. However, the petitioner punished her and explained that her

language in the messages was inappropriate.

¶9 Deacon was 12 years old and was in seventh grade at Ewing grade school. Deacon came

to live with the petitioner in the fall of 2021 after an incident that occurred at the respondent’s

house. The petitioner explained that, that day, Deacon was very upset and had bruising on his arm

that looked like a handprint, so they reported it to the police department. Subsequently, Deacon

moved in with him. Although DCFS was involved, the petitioner did not inquire as to whether they

made any findings of abuse or neglect related to the incident. He acknowledged that the photograph

taken of the bruising on Deacon’s arm did not show a handprint. However, he explained that the

photograph was in black and white, so it was not visible. After the incident, the respondent did not

contact him about Deacon until January 2022. The petitioner noted that Deacon received Ds and

Fs at his previous school, but after Deacon was enrolled in his new school, the petitioner worked

with him and the school to improve his grades.

¶ 10 Vera was five years old, and the petitioner exercised his parenting time with her; the parties

had equal parenting time. She was very close to Vada and Deacon, and she saw them when she

was at the petitioner’s house.

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Related

In Re Marriage of Bates
819 N.E.2d 714 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2004)
Thomas v. Koe
924 N.E.2d 1093 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2009)
Christopher M.L. v. Kenjula L.L.
710 N.E.2d 875 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1999)
Jameson v. Williams
2020 IL App (3d) 200048 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2020)

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2024 IL App (5th) 220686-U, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-marriage-of-webb-illappct-2024.