Lrm v. Dm

962 So. 2d 864, 2007 WL 80485
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJanuary 12, 2007
Docket2050092 and 2050093
StatusPublished

This text of 962 So. 2d 864 (Lrm v. Dm) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lrm v. Dm, 962 So. 2d 864, 2007 WL 80485 (Ala. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

962 So.2d 864 (2007)

L.R.M. and J.M.
v.
D.M.
L.R.M. and J.M.
v.
D.M.
D.M.
v.
L.R.M. and J.M.

No. 2050092 and 2050093.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

January 12, 2007.
Rehearing Applications Denied February 23, 2007.

*865 Ralph K. Strawn, Jr., of Henslee, Robertson, Strawn & Sullivan, L.L.C., Gadsden, for appellants/cross-appellees L.R.M. and J.M.

*866 Christopher G. McCary, Legal Services Alabama, Anniston, for appellee/cross-appellant D.M.

MURDOCK, Judge.

These appeals, which are more correctly classified as an appeal and a cross-appeal, see discussion infra, involve a custody dispute between D.M., who is the mother of A.M., and L.R.M. and J.M., who are A.M.'s paternal great-grandparents. In the underlying proceedings before the Cherokee Juvenile Court, the mother, the paternal great-grandparents, and A.M.'s father all sought custody of A.M. The juvenile court awarded custody to the mother, awarded the father supervised visitation, and awarded the paternal great-grandparents standard visitation. We note that the father has not appealed from the juvenile court's judgment.

The mother and the father began dating in January 2002. Their daughter, A.M., was born in May 2003. A few days after A.M.'s birth, the mother graduated from high school. The mother and A.M. resided with A.M.'s maternal grandmother in Cedar Bluff. The father resided with the paternal great-grandparents, who had raised him, in Jamestown.

In September 2003, the father and the mother, who were both approximately 19 years old, married. After their marriage, the father, the mother, and A.M. resided in a home next door to the paternal great-grandparents. It is undisputed that A.M. spent almost all of the time between September 2003 and the end of May 2004 in the paternal great-grandmother's care. It is also undisputed that the mother spent the night with the paternal great-grandparents on occasion and that the mother spent many days in the paternal great-grandparents' home with A.M.

The above-described care arrangement was attributable, in part, to the father's insistence that the mother leave A.M. with the paternal great-grandparents because A.M. interrupted his sleep. The father has a history of drug problems, and he has a violent temper. Based on the evidence presented to the juvenile court, it could have found that the young mother was in the unenviable position of acceding to the father's desires or facing unpleasant consequences for her and the child. For example, on one occasion, the father actually struck A.M. when he and the mother got into an argument in bed. Also, on three occasions during the few months that the mother and the father resided together, they separated because of domestic violence committed by the father against the mother. On each occasion, the mother took A.M. and they resided with the maternal grandmother for a few days.

Except for the three brief periods of separation described above, the father and the mother resided together between September 2003 and early April 2004, when they permanently separated. During the time that the father and the mother resided together, they regularly used marijuana and they also used methamphetamine. It appears, however, that the mother's drug use was heavily influenced by her relationship with the father. Unlike the father, the mother did not use drugs before she met the father, and she apparently ceased using drugs after she and the father separated in April 2004. The mother also did not use drugs from July 2002, when she suspected that she was pregnant with A.M., until the parties married and began residing together in September 2003. Also, the first time that the mother used methamphetamine was one month after she observed the father using that drug and after she and the father had married.

As stated above, the father and the mother separated in April 2004. Thereafter, the mother moved back into the maternal *867 grandmother's home, and the mother began working at a local restaurant. The mother continued to leave A.M. in the paternal great-grandmother's care much of the time because of her erratic work schedule and because of disagreements between she and the father about who should care for A.M. The mother testified that occasionally she had to be at work at 5:00 a.m. and that she would leave A.M. with the paternal great-grandmother overnight because she did not want A.M. to have to wake up that early. The mother also testified that when she attempted to leave A.M. in the maternal grandmother's care, the father would obtain A.M. from the maternal grandmother and take her to the paternal great-grandmother's home while the mother was at work.

In early June 2004, the mother moved with A.M. to Rome, Georgia, where the mother had resided in the past and where her younger sister and some of the mother's extended family still resided.[1] The mother moved into a public-housing apartment located next door to her sister's public-housing apartment. Not long after the mother moved to Rome with A.M., she arranged for the paternal great-grandparents to retrieve A.M. for a weekend visit. The paternal great-grandparents returned A.M. to the mother after the weekend visit.

Approximately three days after the paternal great-grandparents returned A.M., the father went to Rome to visit A.M. According to the mother, when the father arrived she was preparing to take A.M. to a doctor because A.M. had developed a rash after a recent inoculation. Upon his arrival, the father stated that he would take A.M. to a doctor instead. Thereafter, the father took A.M. to the paternal great-grandparents' home; the paternal great-grandparents subsequently took the child to a doctor.

Two days after the father left A.M. with the paternal great-grandparents, he filed a complaint for a divorce in the Cherokee Circuit Court (case number DR-04-80). The father alleged various grounds for divorce, and he alleged that the mother had abandoned A.M. to the paternal great-grandmother. The father also alleged that the mother had "been in the company of known drug users with the child [and that she]. . . . currently resides in a two bedroom apartment with five people residing therein where parties are engaging in deviate, inter-racial sexual acts, homosexual acts, consuming drugs and endangering the health, safety and welfare of [A.M.]." The father requested that he be awarded "immediate ex parte custody" of A.M. and that he be awarded permanent custody of A.M. In support of his complaint, the father filed an affidavit from the paternal great-grandmother. The affidavit stated:

"That I have been the primary caregiver for the minor child made the basis of this action with the child sleeping in my home and providing all of the activities of daily living for the child since September, 2003. That the . . . mother of the minor child is not gainfully employed, has provided little or no support or maintenance for the minor child and has failed to provide medical attention for the minor child.
"That on or about April, 2004, the [mother] confided in me and advised me that she was associating with known drug users . . . and that the said individuals were engaging in deviate, interracial homosexual relations. That one [Al.M.] is a known drug user.
"That on June 11, 2004, the [mother] asked me to meet her in Rome, Georgia *868 to pick up the child and when I found the minor child she suffered from a severe diaper rash.

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Bluebook (online)
962 So. 2d 864, 2007 WL 80485, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lrm-v-dm-alacivapp-2007.