Mwf v. Ddf

926 So. 2d 923, 2005 Miss. App. LEXIS 482, 2005 WL 1744979
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJuly 26, 2005
Docket2003-CA-02642-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 926 So. 2d 923 (Mwf v. Ddf) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mwf v. Ddf, 926 So. 2d 923, 2005 Miss. App. LEXIS 482, 2005 WL 1744979 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

926 So.2d 923 (2005)

M.W.F., Appellant
v.
D.D.F., Appellee.

No. 2003-CA-02642-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

July 26, 2005.
Rehearing Denied October 11, 2005.

Billy Parlin, attorney for appellant.

Darryl A. Hurt, Jr., Lucedale, attorney for appellee.

*924 Before KING, C.J., CHANDLER and BARNES, JJ.

BARNES, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. M.W.F. argues that the lower court's findings of fact were insufficient to grant his wife a divorce on the ground of habitual, cruel and inhuman treatment. Based on a review of the evidence adduced at the hearing, we find that the chancellor did not commit manifest error in awarding D.D.F. the divorce. The judgment of the Chancery Court of Greene County is, therefore, affirmed.

STATEMENT OF FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. D.D.F.[1] filed her complaint for divorce against her husband M.W.F. on February 25, 2003. The parties had been lawfully married for eighteen years and had two daughters, aged seventeen and fifteen. D.D.F. sought a divorce on the ground of habitual, cruel and inhuman treatment. The matter came on for hearing on October 9, 2003, the parties agreeing to bifurcate the issues and to try first the ground for divorce. M.W.F. and D.D.F. were both present and represented by counsel. M.W.F., D.D.F., and their oldest daughter, Jane, were the only witnesses.

¶ 3. D.D.F. testified that the marriage deteriorated in the three years prior to the parties' separation. At the beginning of that period, Jane informed her mother that when she was approximately six years of age, she had been molested by M.W.F.'s brother, who was approximately thirteen years of age at the time of the molestation. D.D.F. had previously noticed that Jane was never around when her uncle was present and wondered why. D.D.F. informed M.W.F. of Jane's accusation against his brother and became "furious" when M.W.F. did nothing. M.W.F. continued to invite his brother to the family home, on occasion even for overnight visits. D.D.F. testified that after they learned of Jane's accusation, M.W.F. allowed his brother to visit in their home approximately once a month. Although D.D.F. asked M.W.F. not to allow his brother back into their home, he refused. D.D.F. testified that she and M.W.F. constantly fought over the matter, with D.D.F. telling M.W.F. that it was unfair to Jane to allow him in their home. At times, the children would hear these arguments, and occasionally Jane "would become a part of it . . . because she knew that it was about . . . the issues that . . . had happened with her."

¶ 4. D.D.F. testified that every time M.W.F.'s brother came to the house, Jane "kept herself locked in her bedroom. Very seldom did she ever come out of her room any time that he was ever in the home." D.D.F., herself, was "depressed all of the time. It made me feel like . . . [M.W.F.] never cared about me or his daughters." She testified that her blood pressure worsened, and her medication was increased; D.D.F. attributed the increase to the stress of her constant arguing with M.W.F. D.D.F. testified that the couple's relationship "steadily deteriorated" and "got horribly worse" because she felt that M.W.F. was continuously putting his brother's needs over his own child and that M.W.F. "turned his back" on her and the children. Towards the end, D.D.F. "could not even bring [her]self to even look at [M.W.F.] with any kind of feelings of the way [she] used to, of loving him for the loving father that he was supposed to be, or the loving husband that he was supposed *925 to be. That no longer existed for [her]. Not after [she] saw . . . what happened over and over again, with him allowing a person that had molested his child into the home." D.D.F. testified that she did not confront her brother-in-law herself because M.W.F. told her not ever to discuss the matter with "his family, that he would take care of it if he thought that was something that needed to be done. And it was never t[aken] care of." Finally, just before the separation, D.D. F. informed M.W.F. that she was "just . . . not going to allow this to be around my daughter anymore."

¶ 5. D.D.F. further testified that in this three-year period, M.W.F.'s alcohol consumption became "excessive." She described that on the days he was off work, M.W.F. would drive to Alabama, buy an eighteen-pack of beer and consume it "probably before the night was over. And this was continuously." She testified that M.W.F. would "practically pass out . . . almost every night from drinking excessively." The children stopped inviting their friends to the house and stopped having M.W.F. go anywhere with them. D.D.F. recounted once instance just before the separation, when she and the younger daughter were riding in the car with M.W.F. to Mobile; D.D.F. realized that he was too intoxicated to drive. He "couldn't even remember what road he was on." He pulled over and allowed D.D.F. to drive only after she threatened to open the door and get out of the car; the younger daughter was "scared . . . to death." D.D.F. testified that she repeatedly asked M.W.F. to stop drinking and finally "asked him to choose between his alcohol and his family;" the response she received was "well, I hope you don't think that I am going to stop drinking." D.D.F. filed for divorce shortly thereafter.

¶ 6. D.D.F. testified that she did not feel there was any possibility of reconciliation between herself and M.W.F. "[b]ecause I have no feelings left for [him] whatsoever anymore." Court-ordered counseling proved unsuccessful, with the counselor terminating the sessions.

¶ 7. Jane confirmed much of her mother's testimony. Jane testified that when she was approximately four or five years old, her uncle molested her. She was not asked to reveal the specifics of the molestation at the hearing but did confirm that her uncle touched her in an improper fashion on more that one occasion. When she spoke with her father about the incidents, he "made [her] feel like he wasn't going to say [any]thing to his family about it especially his brother, [and] . . . it made me feel like he cared more about what they thought than about my feelings towards him." She testified that M.W.F. "still let [his brother] come up there whenever he wanted to." She further testified that she told her father she did not like his brother's being at the house and left every time he was present. When questioned on cross-examination regarding her uncle's age at the time of the alleged molestation, Jane confirmed that he was six years older than she and added, "[h]e was old enough to know what he was doing." Jane reported that he told her "never to talk about it." When asked if she had any indication that her uncle would try to engage in inappropriate behavior again, Jane responded that she was "not around him enough." Jane testified that she heard her parents discuss, during the course of their arguments, the fact that it was her father's "place" to tell his brother that he was not allowed in their home. She stated that when her uncle was at their home, D.D.F. was not "rude" or "hateful" but "just kind of acted like he wasn't there."

*926 ¶ 8. Jane testified that M.W.F. drank "heavily. Like every day that I can recall. I stopped having friends over because it is just like every time I turned around he was embarrassing me because he was drunk." She testified that his drinking prevented the family from ever going anywhere; D.D.F. "would ask him over and over again . . . to kind of calm down on his drinking and he would just ignore her like. . . it didn't matter." Jane recounted that her mother would ask M.W.F.

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Related

M.W.F. v. D.D.F.
926 So. 2d 897 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2006)

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Bluebook (online)
926 So. 2d 923, 2005 Miss. App. LEXIS 482, 2005 WL 1744979, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mwf-v-ddf-missctapp-2005.