Regina C. v. Michael C.

440 P.3d 199
CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedApril 5, 2019
DocketSupreme Court No. S-16421
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 440 P.3d 199 (Regina C. v. Michael C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Regina C. v. Michael C., 440 P.3d 199 (Ala. 2019).

Opinions

BOLGER, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

A mother and father divorced, and the superior court awarded "sole legal and primary physical custody of the children" to the mother. The court did so with "reluctance," finding that the mother had "engaged in ... egregious parental alienation," but also finding that the children had become "adjusted ... to life" in the mother's care. The court awarded substantial periods of visitation to the father. It explained that if the mother interfered with visitation, it "w[ould] likely change its custody determination to award ... custody" to the father. Visitation subsequently failed to occur, and the court ordered the mother to show cause. Following a hearing, the court held the mother in contempt and modified the custody decree to give custody to the father.

The mother appeals the modification of custody. She claims she had inadequate notice that custody would be determined at the show-cause hearing and contends that the superior court should have continued the hearing when her counsel withdrew several days earlier. She also claims the court's modification of custody was based on the court's mistaken conclusion that she committed custodial interference, a crime of domestic violence.1 We conclude that the mother had adequate notice of the hearing and that the trial court did not err when it found that her conduct constituted custodial interference. Accordingly we affirm the superior court's judgment.

II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

A. Background

Regina S. and Michael C. married in 2000, and have two children, both boys, from the marriage.2 Regina filed for divorce in late 2014. Regina alleged, and the superior court found, that Michael had engaged in domestic violence against her. The court thus awarded temporary physical and legal custody of the children to Regina pending a divorce trial *201and permanent custody award. The court restricted Michael to supervised visitation. Michael never actually had any supervised visits with the children, however, because in May 2015 - when the visits were to begin - Regina left Alaska and took the boys with her.

B. The Custody Investigation

The superior court appointed a custody investigator to make recommendations concerning a permanent award of custody. The investigator prepared a report and later testified at trial.

Based on interviews with the parties and the children, psychological evaluations of both parties, references from individuals who were familiar with the family, and the parties' family histories, the custody investigator concluded that both parties had "a diminished ability to parent." The investigator believed the children had already been "psychologically scarred" and that the parties' continuing "actions ... [were] likely to cause lifelong emotional damage to" them.

In particular the investigator found that Regina had taken "steps" - such as removing the two boys from the state - that "ensure[d]" that contact between the children and Michael "would be very difficult." As a result, the children had not been in contact with Michael for over 17 months, and neither child wanted any contact with him. The investigator believed that Regina had "facilitate[d] the boys' change in attitude about their father," and she characterized this case as involving "severe parental alienation."

Finding the case to be "very complex[,] ... with no easy answers," the custody investigator recommended - "[w]ith great difficulty" - that Regina "continue to have custody of" the children. The investigator ruled out a shared custody arrangement because "[t]he parents [were] unable to communicate and [were] unlikely to be able to do so in the near future." And because the boys were attending school in Arizona, where Regina was living, the investigator thought it better for them to remain with Regina. The investigator further indicated that this option was preferable because transferring custody of the boys from Regina to Michael would cause them further trauma.

The investigator believed it was important for the children's development that they reestablish a relationship with their father. She recommended that Michael "have visitation during the summers and alternate holidays." She further stated that "if there are not monumental efforts to facilitate contact between the boys and their father, [she] would likely recommend a change of custody." The investigator said any such change of custody should "be done before the start of the school year[3 ]... to avoid further disruption in the [children's] education."

C. The Custody Award

The superior court decreed the parties divorced in March 2016, and it issued a final custody award in June 2016 following trial. In reaching its custody determination the court considered the testimony of the parties and other witnesses, the recommendations of the custody investigator, and psychological evaluations of the parties.

The court addressed each of the statutory factors concerning the best interests of the children4 in a written order. The court explicitly "discount[ed]" one of the best-interests factors - "the child[ren]'s preference"5 - because the court found that the boys' preference that they not have contact with their father was the "result of ... [Regina's] parental alienation." Indeed, the court stated Regina had "engaged in the most egregious parental alienation that the ... court ha[d] ever seen." The court agreed with the custody investigator "that contact between [Michael] and the children is ... important to the children's development."

The court adopted the custody investigator's recommendation and "reluctan[tly]" awarded Regina "sole legal and primary physical custody of the children." The court gave Michael substantial periods of visitation, *202including the children's summer vacations. The court explained that "[t]here [were] limits to the ... custody award":

If Regina fails to cooperate with [Michael] to ensure that the children have court-ordered visitation ..., the court will likely change its custody determination to award sole legal and primary physical custody of the children to [Michael]. Such a change under those circumstances would be consistent with the custody investigator's recommendation to the court.

D. The Order To Show Cause

The superior court ordered the first period of visitation to begin on July 6, 2016. Regina was required to put the children on a flight so that they could travel from her home to Michael's home in Alaska to spend one month with Michael. She did not do so.

Michael subsequently moved "for an order that Regina ... appear ... and show cause as to why she should not be held in contempt of court for failing to have [the parties'] children in Alaska for visitation." Michael pointed out that "[t]he court stated that it would entertain a change of custody if Regina ... did not make visitation between the boys and [Michael] happen." Regina filed a response in which she claimed that she had "act[ed] in good faith to try to make th[e] travel happen" but that the boys had refused to cooperate.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
440 P.3d 199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/regina-c-v-michael-c-alaska-2019.