Mary Ann McG. v. William R. P.

499 S.E.2d 313, 201 W. Va. 584, 1997 W. Va. LEXIS 263
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 8, 1997
DocketNo. 24000
StatusPublished

This text of 499 S.E.2d 313 (Mary Ann McG. v. William R. P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mary Ann McG. v. William R. P., 499 S.E.2d 313, 201 W. Va. 584, 1997 W. Va. LEXIS 263 (W. Va. 1997).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:1

In this sequel to this Court’s opinion in Mary Ann P. v. William R. P., Jr., 197 W.Va. 1, 475 S.E.2d 1 (1996), the appellant, Mary Ann McG. (formerly P.), who will hereafter be referred to as Mary Ann P., claims that the Circuit Court of Kanawha County erred in authorizing her former husband to resume child visitation when the court-nominated counselor certified that it was appropriate. She suggests that visitation should not take place until such time as the treating psychologist for the parties’ children, Dr. Christina Arco, indicates visitation is in the children’s best interest. The appellant also claims that the court erred in ordering that the parties engage in reconciliation counseling before her former husband completed individual psychological treatment for a domestic violence problem. After reviewing the questions presented and the documents filed in this case, the Court believes that the circuit court did, in effect, rule that child visitation and reconciliation counseling were not to occur until the individual psychological treatment of the appellant’s husband for domestic violence was completed and that the court did not err in entering the order from which this appeal is taken. The judgment of the circuit court is, therefore, affirmed.

As is more fully discussed in Mary Ann P. v. William R. P., Jr., Id., the appellant, Mary Ann P. and the appellee, William R. P., Jr., were married on March 9, 1985, and in the course of a stormy relationship involving mental and physical abuse on the part of William R. P., Jr., they had two boys, William Raphael P., Ill, and Mark P., born in 1985 and 1986. The record also shows that William R. P., Jr., left Mary Ann P. and that Mary Ann P. filed for divorce on July 8,1988. The divorce was granted and Mary Ann P. was granted custody of the children, and William R. P., Jr., was granted visitation privileges.

After the parties divorced, William R. P., Jr., was charged with sexually abusing William Raphael P., Ill, and while this charge was pending, William R. P., Jr.’s, right of visitation with William Raphael P., Ill, and Mark P. was suspended. Subsequently, when it appeared that a criminal sexual abuse charge growing out of the alleged abuse of William Raphael P., Ill, would be dropped, hearings were held before a family law master op the question of whether visitation should resume. During those hearings Christina Arco, a psychologist who had been treating the children, testified that William Raphael P., Ill, who had been exposed to the physical and emotional violence in his parents’ marriage, had fears and anxieties about his father and wished his father would die. Susan Barrows McQuade, Director of Social Services at Family Services of Kanawha Valley, echoed this and testified that she believed that the children’s visitation with their father would potentially be detrimental and that it should not be forced. At the conclusion of the hearings, the family law master found that although there had been physical violence in the parties’ marriage, there had been no sexual abuse of William Raphael P., Ill, as charged, and the criminal charge growing out of the alleged abuse had been dropped and concluded that William R. P., Jr.’s, right of visitation with the children be reinstated.

[586]*586Mary Ann P. filed exceptions to the family law master’s recommendation that visitation resume, and after various hearings, the circuit court, although it recognized that the childrens’ attitude toward their father rendered “exercise of visitation virtually impossible,” ruled that visitation could resume under professional supervision.

Mary Ann P. appealed circuit court’s visitation ruling to this Court, and this Court, mindful of the evidence that the children, because of their exposure to them father’s physical and emotional abuse of their mother, strongly objected to seeing their father, concluded in Mary Ann P. v. William R. P., Jr., supra, Id., that the visitation should not resume immediately, but indicated that it was in the best interest of the children to attend counseling sessions with their father. Specifically, the Court stated:

Based on the foregoing, we agree with the plaintiff [Mary Ann P.] that supervised visitation should not immediately resume. ... The record is clear that forced visitation at this time would be detrimental to the children and futile on the defendant’s behalf without professional intervention. In Mary D. v. Watt, 190 W.Va. [341] at 348, 438 S.E.2d [521] at 528, this Court held that a “family law master or circuit court may condition ... supervised visitation upon the offending parent seeking treatment.” On remand, the circuit court should address this issue. The circuit court should also consider whether it would be beneficial for the defendant and the children to attend counseling sessions together to help build a more positive relationship. “Clearly, counseling for the parties would materially promote the welfare of the children.” Patricia Ann S. [v. James Daniel S.], 190 W.Va. [6] at 14, 435 S.E.2d [6] at 14. The circuit court should also determine when supervised visitation should resume and set forth a specific visitation schedule that takes into account the best interest of the children and the defendant’s interest in attaining a close relationship with his sons. See Weber v. Weber, 193 W.Va. 551, 457 S.E.2d 488 (1995); W.Va.Code, 48-2-15(b) (1993). On remand, the circuit court should determine if the parties can agree on a counseling or therapy setting for these children and them father. If they cannot agree, then the circuit court should take any additional evidence needed and direct the participation in such counseling as a condition of the continuation of the plan’ for restoring visitation.

197 W.Va. at 8, 475 S.E.2d at 8.

Subsequent to this Court’s rendering its opinion, the circuit court held several additional hearings which culminated in the order from which the appellant now appeals. Ultimately the circuit court entered the order from which the appellant now appeals. That order contains two provisions which this Court believes are relevant to this proceeding. The first states:

(1) That child visitation be suspended until defendant [William R. P., Jr.] produces for this Court reports which address that he has undergone psychological treatment therapy in respect to his previous domestic abuse problems.

The second states:

(2) That the plaintiff, mother herein, the defendant, father herein and the two children herein shall submit to family reconciliation counseling and, therapy as herein after nominated and set out.
(3) That visitation, whether supervised or non supervised, should only commence when recommended by the psychologist reconciliator hereafter to be nominated, by written report.
(4) It is ORDERED that the Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychology, Charleston Area Medical Center headed by Dr. Pete Edelman is hereby nominated as the parent-child reconciliator therapist and counselor.

As previously indicated, in the present appeal the appellant asserts that the trial court erred in not terminating visitation until William R. P., Jr., has completed individual psychological treatment for the problems resulting in domestic abuse.

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Related

Lufft v. Lufft
424 S.E.2d 266 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1992)
Mary Ann P. v. William RP, Jr.
475 S.E.2d 1 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1996)
Henry v. Johnson
450 S.E.2d 779 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1994)
Ledsome v. Ledsome
301 S.E.2d 475 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1983)
Weber v. Weber
457 S.E.2d 488 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1995)
Lieving v. Hadley
423 S.E.2d 600 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
499 S.E.2d 313, 201 W. Va. 584, 1997 W. Va. LEXIS 263, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mary-ann-mcg-v-william-r-p-wva-1997.