I.S.T. v. R.W.B.

54 So. 3d 427, 2010 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 211, 2010 WL 2885949
Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama·Decided July 23, 2010·No. 2090585·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

THOMPSON, Presiding Judge.

An earlier opinion of this court set forth the procedural history of this case as follows:

“In March 2008, R.W.B. (‘the father’) filed a complaint seeking to terminate the parental rights of his former wife, I.S.T. (‘the mother’), to the parties’ minor child, J.B. (‘the child’). References in the record indicate that, at approximately the same time, the father also filed a separate action seeking to modify the visitation provisions of the judgments pertaining to the parties’ divorce and their postdivorce litigation. The transcript of the ore tenus hearing in this matter indicates that the juvenile court considered the actions together and that it treated the modification-of-visitation claim to be moot after it reached its decision to terminate the mother’s parental rights. On June 15, 2009, the juvenile court entered a judgment terminating the mother’s parental rights to the child. The mother timely appealed.”

I.S.T. v. R.W.B., 42 So.3d 128, 128 (Ala.Civ.App.2010) (“I.S.T. I”).

In I.S.T. I, supra, this court reversed the termination judgment because the juvenile court had applied an incorrect standard. This court explained:

“Our legislature has specified that parental rights may be terminated only if the trial court receives ‘clear and convincing evidence’ supporting the termination. Specifically, the 1984 Child Protection Act, § 26-18-1 et seq., Ala.Code [429]*4291975, which governed actions pertaining to the termination of parental rights, specified, in part:
“ ‘If the court finds from clear and convincing evidence, competent, material, and relevant in nature, that the parents of a child are unable or unwilling to discharge their responsibilities to and for the child, or that the conduct or condition of the parents is such as to render them unable to properly care for the child and that such conduct or condition is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future, it may terminate the parental rights of the parents.’
“§ 26-18-7(a), Ala.Code 1975. See also D.O. v. Calhoun County Dep’t of Human Res., 859 So.2d 439, 443 (Ala.Civ.App.2003) (‘A nonparent who seeks to terminate a parent’s parental rights must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the children are dependent and that there are no viable alternatives to the termination of parental rights.’); and Ex parte Beasley, 564 So.2d 950 (Ala.1990) (same).”

I.S.T. I, 42 So.3d at 128-29 (footnote omitted).

On February 6, 2010, the juvenile court entered a judgment identical to the original termination judgment except for a statement indicating that it had found, by clear and convincing evidence, that the mother’s parental rights should be terminated. The mother timely appealed.

The record indicates that the parties are divorced; the date of that divorce judgment is not contained in the record on appeal. The record indicates that the same judge who entered the divorce judgment presided over this matter as a juvenile court judge.

At the time of the June 3, 2009, termination hearing, the child had recently completed the second grade, and he turned eight years of age in the month after the termination hearing. The father testified that he has been the primary physical custodian for the child since 2004 or 2005.

The father alleged that the mother used illegal drugs, but his testimony provided no details regarding that allegation. The father also stated that the mother had been arrested numerous times since he had obtained custody of the child. The father alleged that those arrests included charges of possession of drug paraphernalia. The record contains no other evidence pertaining to those alleged charges.

The mother denied that she currently uses illegal drugs, and she stated that she goes to a methadone clinic. According to the mother, the terms of the parties’ divorce judgment provided that each would submit to the other’s request for a drug-screen test but that the requesting party had to pay for the test; the mother stated that the father had never requested that she submit to a drug-screen test.

The mother admitted to having been arrested eight times since 2005. The mother explained that those recent arrests were for outstanding warrants or tickets; she insisted that none of the arrests was drug-related and that, with respect to drugs, she had “remained out of trouble for over two years.”

It is undisputed that in the three to four years before the termination hearing the mother had not maintained her own residence; rather, the mother had lived with men with whom she was in a relationship or had lived with her father when she was between relationships. In 2005, the mother was involved with a man and the court ordered that the mother not allow the child to have any involvement with that [430]*430man.1 The mother then lived with a second man and then, until shortly before the termination hearing, with another man named Boyington.

The record does not set forth a clear picture of the frequency and nature of the mother’s visitation with the child before the spring of 2008. The father testified that the mother’s visitation with the child had been intermittent. He explained that when the mother was released after an arrest, she typically asked for visitation with the child and attempted a more appropriate lifestyle for a period of time. However, there is no evidence in the record pertaining to the length of the intervals between the mother’s visitation with the child.

The father testified that since 2005 the mother has violated the terms of the parties’ divorce judgment by visiting the child in the presence of the man with whom she was living at that time. The mother stated that she usually spent time alone with the child during at least some of the visitation, and she testified that the father had never objected to the presence of any of her boyfriends during visitation.

According to the father, in March 2008, when the child was in first grade, the mother began enforcing the visitation rights afforded her under the parties’ divorce judgment; we note that the father’s termination complaint was also filed in March 2008. The record is not clear as to whether the mother sought visitation in response to the father’s March 19, 2008, termination complaint or whether that complaint was filed in response to the mother’s seeking visitation with the child. Regardless, the father testified that law-enforcement officials had forced him to allow visitation at that time. The father stated that that was the most recent period during which the mother had spent any substantial time with the child.

The father stated that difficulties with visitation began immediately upon the resumption of the mother’s visitation. According to the father, the mother returned the child to his custody progressively later after each visit. The mother testified that the visitation occurred between March and June 2008, and that it went well. She stated that she exercised her alternating weekend visitation during that time and spoke on the telephone with the child every night.

The father testified that the mother was to have some extended visitation -with the child during the summer after he completed first grade. The father described the child as being reluctant to visit the mother at that time.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

I.S.T. v. R.W.B., 54 So. 3d 427, 2010 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 211, 2010 WL 2885949 (Ala. Ct. App. 2010).

54 So. 3d 427 (I.S.T. v. R.W.B.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Baldwin v. Baker
86 So. 3d 1006 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 2012)