Nein v. Columbia

517 S.W.3d 492, 2017 WL 836828, 2017 Ky. App. LEXIS 41
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedMarch 3, 2017
DocketNO. 2016-CA-000681-ME
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 517 S.W.3d 492 (Nein v. Columbia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nein v. Columbia, 517 S.W.3d 492, 2017 WL 836828, 2017 Ky. App. LEXIS 41 (Ky. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

JONES, JUDGE:

Appellant, Kelly Nein, appeals from the Clark Family Court’s order granting Ap-pellees, Paul and Patti Columbia, grandparents’ visitation rights with her son, J.T.C. Kelly argues that the family court’s decision was inconsistent with the evidence presented. She further argues that the trial court improperly allowed the appointed Guardian ad Litem (“GAL”) to act as both a friend of the court and a GAL, as evidenced by the alleged adoption of the GAL’s recommendations to the court in the court’s order. After review of the record, we affirm the order of the Clark Family Court.

I. Background

J.T.C. was born to Kelly Nein and Stephen Columbia in 2005, while both parents were young college students. Kelly and Stephen were never married. While Stephen acknowledges J.T.C. as his son, he has never had custody of the child, has never paid child support, and currently resides in South America. Stephen is not a party to this appeal.

About four months after J.T.C.’s birth, Stephen’s parents, Paul and Patti Columbia, discovered that J.T.C. was them grandson. While the Columbias initially intended to fulfill traditional grandparent roles, their involvement in J.T.C.’s life quickly increased. When Kelly went back to school to finish up her college degree, Patti and Paul provided child care services for her. This consisted of J.T.C. spending most days with Patti and Paul, as well as several overnight visits throughout the week and on weekends.

This care continued even after Kelly had finished college. The Columbias were often the ones responsible for taking J.T.C. to the doctor or dentist, and routinely paid the expenses for these visits and for J.T.C.’s medication. When J.T.C. began attending pre-school, the Columbias paid most of his tuition expenses. As J.T.C. entered elementary school, the Columbias’ involvement in his life began to increase even more. The Columbias would pick J.T.C. up from school each day. They would often pay for J.T.C.’s lunches at school, or pack him a lunch when he had stayed overnight at their house. Patti volunteered as a homeroom mother for J.T.C.’s first-grade class, and was generally at his school five days a week. When J.T.C. began playing sports, Paul helped coach his teams, paid entrance fees and fees for equipment, and practiced sports with J.T.C. at home.

If J.T.C. felt sick at school, he would always ask for his teacher to call either Paul or Patti. Even when J.T.C. attended school in Lexington one year, the Colum-bias would make the drive to pick him up after school or bring him items of which he was in need. J.T.C.’s teachers noted that it was usually Paul who would sign J.T.C.’s homework log, and that Paul would frequently communicate with the teachers regarding J.T.C.’s schoolwork.

For most of J.T.C.’s life, Kelly and the Columbias had a friendly, even familial, relationship. In the summer of 2014, however, Kelly began decreasing her and J.T.C.’s contact with the Columbias. The most significant example of this was Kelly’s refusal to attend the Columbias’ daughter’s wedding, despite the fact that J.T.C. was in the ceremony, claiming that [495]*495it would be unfair to her fiancé and family. That August, the Columbias discovered that Kelly had sent Paul’s elderly mother an email asking for $2,000. In the email, Kelly explained that she was behind on her bills, was unable to manage herself emotionally or financially, and was unable to ask her own parents for help as they were going through a divorce—a statement that she admitted was a lie at the final hearing. She further asked Paul’s mother not to disclose to the Columbias that she had made this request. When the Columbias found out about the email, they offered to loan Kelly the money instead, but she refused their offer.

As time passed, Kelly continued limiting J.T.C.’s time with the Columbias. Although J.T.C. had previously spent all snow days with the Columbias, Kelly refused to allow him to do so during the 2014-2015 school-year. On one occasion, Kelly came to the Columbias’ house to pick J.T.C. up in the middle of the night. This growing tension culminated at the end of J.T.C.’s fourth-grade year when Kelly informed the Co-lumbias, in J.T.C.’s presence, that she no longer wished for them to spend significant time with J.T.C. Kelly claimed that the reason for this decision was her desire for J.T.C. to spend more time with her, her fiancé, and J.T.C.’s half-sister. She also testified that J.T.C.’s behavior worsens when he returns home after spending time with the Columbias—he talks back to her, refuses to do chores, and is mean to his younger half-sister.

The Columbias initially tried to resolve the matter by sending Kelly a letter through their prior attorney. This letter only caused Kelly to reduce the Columbias’ time with J.T.C, almost completely—Kelly claims she told the Columbias they would not see J.T.C. again until this matter was resolved; the Columbias claim Kelly told them they would never see J.T.C. again, without qualification. Around this time, the Columbias learned that Kelly had pled guilty to a felony theft by deception charge involving her former employer.

Shortly thereafter, on May 22, 2014, the Columbias filed a Petition for Custody/Grandparent Visitation. The custody request was subsequently dropped, leaving only the petition for grandparent visitation. Following mediation, Kelly and the Columbias agreed to a temporary time-sharing order. Kelly did not comply with this order, taking J.T.C. on vacation during the week scheduled for the Columbias to take him on vacation. The court ordered that the missed days be made up; however, at the time of the final hearing they had not been rescheduled. Upon the Colum-bias’ motion, a GAL was appointed to represent J.T.C.’s interests.

The court held a hearing on February 24, 2016. At the hearing, the court heard from Kelly, Paul, Patti, and two of J.T.C.’s elementary school teachers. All attorneys, including the GAL, were permitted to cross-examine each of the witnesses. Additionally, the GAL conducted a direct examination of J.T.C. While the other parties and attorneys were in a separate room at the time of the examination, they watched J.T.C.’s testimony live via video feed and were permitted to tender their own questions and preserve any objections for the record. Following closing arguments by all parties, the court entered an order from the bench whereby it granted the Colum-bias their requested visitation with J.T.C., and asked all parties to tender proposed findings of facts and orders to the court.

Before either party had tendered a proposed order to the court, the Columbias moved to hold Kelly in contempt for violation of the court’s February 25, 2016, bench order. A contempt hearing was held, and the court entered a handwritten order that outlined the visitation schedule on [496]*496March 22, 2016, On April 12, 2016, the court entered its Findings of Facts, Conclusions of Law, and Order Granting Grandparents’ Visitation Rights,

This appeal follows.

II. Standard of Review

Trial courts are given broad discretion in child custody and visitation matters. See Drury v. Drury, 32 S.W.3d 521, 525 (Ky. App. 2000), Absent an abuse of discretion, we will not disturb the court’s judgment. Young v. Holmes, 295 S.W.3d 144, 146 (Ky. App. 2009).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
517 S.W.3d 492, 2017 WL 836828, 2017 Ky. App. LEXIS 41, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nein-v-columbia-kyctapp-2017.