Marriage of Tamasy v. Kovacs

929 N.E.2d 820, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1106, 2010 WL 2571365
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 28, 2010
Docket49A05-0910-CV-563
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 929 N.E.2d 820 (Marriage of Tamasy v. Kovacs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marriage of Tamasy v. Kovacs, 929 N.E.2d 820, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1106, 2010 WL 2571365 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

BRADFORD, Judge.

Appellant/Respondent Julianne E. Ta-masy ("Mother") appeals the trial court's order granting physical custody of the parties' children to Appellee/Petitioner Peter S. Kovacs ("Father"). Mother raises several issues on appeal, which we restate as follows:

I. Whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying Mother's request to transfer the custody proceedings to Massachusetts;
II. Whether the trial court abused its discretion in excluding certain testimony at trial;
Whether the trial court abused its discretion in modifying the previous custody order; and IIL
IV. Whether the trial court abused its discretion in issuing the July 23, 2009 order regarding Mother's emergency motion to compel parenting time.

Concluding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in any regard, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Mother and Father are the parents of three sons: AK., who was born on December 22, 1994; J.K., who was born on October 23, 1996; and N.K., who was born on October 30, 1998. Mother and Father were divorced on August 14, 2000. Pursuant to the parties' divorce decree, Mother and Father shared joint legal custody of the boys, and Mother had primary physical custody. Mother moved with the boys to Shrewsbury, Massachusetts shortly after the parties' divorce was finalized.

*825 Since that time, Mother and Father have shared joint legal custody, Mother has had primary physical custody, and Father has exercised parenting time with the children, including a six-week visit to Father's home in Indianapolis every summer. The parties have, however, litigated a variety of custody, parenting time, and child support issues in the same Marion County Superior Court ("the trial court") which entered the parties' divorcee decree in 2000.

On May 7, 2008, Father filed a petition seeking a modification of the prior custody order in the trial court. Six days later, Mother filed custody proceedings in a Massachusetts court. Mother subsequent ly requested that the trial court decline jurisdiction over Father's custody petition because she claimed that the Massachusetts court would be a more convenient forum. On June 10, 2008, the trial court denied Mother's request and issued an order finding that Indiana was the most convenient forum to hear the custody issue. 1

The trial court set the matter for a hearing on August 7, 2008. Mother filed numerous motions for continuances of the hearing on the matter. Eventually, the trial court conducted a series of hearings in the instant matter on November 15, 2008, March 27, 2009; May 19, 2009; and May 21, 2009. During this ongoing series of hearings, the trial court considered the testimony of numerous witnesses and many exhibits, including a custody evaluation that was performed by Dr. John Ehrmann. Dr. Ehrmann determined that "[gliven all of the concerns addressed and reviewed in this entire parentiilg time evaluation, the suggestion/recommendation of this psychologist/evaluator is that the boys' overall best interests would be served by supporting their relocation to Indianapolis." Appellant's App. p. 655. On June 5, 2009, the trial court issued its order modifying the prior custody order and granted Father primary physical custody of the parties' three children. Mother now appeals.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION 2

I. Whether the Trial Court Abused Its Discretion in Denying Mother's Request to Transfer the Custody Proceedings to Massachusetts

Mother first contends that the trial court abused its discretion in denying her request to transfer the instant custody proceedings to Massachusetts.

A. Standard of Review

Where, as here, the issue at hand deals with an interstate custody determination, the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act ("UCCJA"), which is codified at Indiana Code Chapter 31-21-5-1 et seq. (2007) governs. One purpose of the UC-CJA is to prevent parents from seeking custody in different jurisdictions in an attempt to obtain a favorable result. In re Marriage of Kenda and Pleskovic, 873 N.E.2d 729, 736 (Ind.Ct.App.2007), trams. denied; Christensen v. Christensen, 752 *826 N.E.2d 179, 184 (Ind.Ct.App.2001). "The UCCJA has provisions for the determination of jurisdiction." In re Kenda, 873 N.E.2d at 735. Under the UCCJA, an Indiana court has an affirmative duty to question its jurisdiction when it becomes aware of an interstate dimension in a child custody dispute. Christensen, 752 N.E.2d at 181-82. The trial court must first determine whether it has jurisdiction, and, if it does, whether to exercise that jurisdiction. Id. at 182. In determining whether a trial court has improperly exercised jurisdiction under the UCCJA, we apply an abuse of discretion standard. Id. An abuse of discretion occurs when the trial court's decision is clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances before the court, or if the court has misinterpreted the law. Id.

Where, as here, the trial court issues special findings and conclusions thereon pursuant to Indiana Trial Rule 52, "we apply the following two-tiered standard of review: whether the evidence supports the findings and whether the findings support the judgment." Staresnick v. Staresnick, 830 N.E.2d 127, 131 (Ind.Ct.App.2005).

The trial court's findings and conclusions will be set aside only if they are clearly erroneous, that is, if the record contains no facts or inferences supporting them. A judgment is clearly erroneous when a review of the record leaves us with a firm conviction that a mistake has been made. We neither reweigh the evidence nor assess the credibility of witnesses, but consider only the evidence most favorable to the judgment. We review conclusions of law de novo.

Id. (citations omitted).

B. Analysis

Initially, we observe that Mother first argues that the trial court abused its discretion in finding that she waived her challenge to the jurisdiction of the trial court in the instant custody matter because she had actively availed herself of the trial court's jurisdiction in related matters over the previous eight years. In support, Mother correctly asserts that the trial court could find the Massachusetts court to be a more convenient forum for the instant custody matter and decline jurisdiction over said matter even if she did waive her objection to the trial court's continuing jurisdiction. See Stewart v. Vulliet, 888 N.E.2d 761, 767 (Ind.2008) (providing that even if a party has waived the right to claim forum inconvenience, a trial court has the discretion to decline to exercise jurisdiction on the grounds of forum inconvenience).

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Bluebook (online)
929 N.E.2d 820, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1106, 2010 WL 2571365, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marriage-of-tamasy-v-kovacs-indctapp-2010.