Townsend v. Vasquez

569 S.W.3d 796
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 20, 2018
DocketNO. 01-17-00436-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 569 S.W.3d 796 (Townsend v. Vasquez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Townsend v. Vasquez, 569 S.W.3d 796 (Tex. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

Harvey Brown, Justice

Monica Townsend and Erik Vasquez are the parents of a child, C.V. After their 2012 divorce, a court entered an agreed order that the parents would be C.V.'s joint managing conservators and that Monica would have the exclusive right to determine C.V.'s domicile.

Erik initiated this suit and sought to modify the conservatorship order to grant him the exclusive right to determine C.V.'s domicile. After a bench trial, the trial court granted Erik's requested modification. In four issues, Monica challenges the trial court's actions. We affirm.

Background

Erik and Monica divorced in 2012, and the court entered an agreed custody order providing that C.V.-then almost six years old-would live with Monica and that Erik would exercise standard visitation rights. The order also named both parents as joint managing conservators. It gave Monica the exclusive rights to determine C.V.'s domicile and to direct C.V.'s education and gave both parents the shared right to jointly direct C.V.'s medical and psychiatric care. Monica and either Erik or his relatives would meet at a designated place to transfer C.V. for visitation.

Things changed around 2015, when, according to trial testimony, Monica began refusing to transfer C.V. at the designated place unless a police officer was present. Erik then initiated this suit to change the visitation-transfer location to a local police department, in accordance with Monica's wish to have a police officer present. Monica counter-petitioned to have Erik's future visitation periods supervised and to be named as sole managing conservator. Erik later amended his petition to seek the exclusive right to determine C.V.'s domicile. Both parents alleged that a material and substantial change in their and C.V.'s circumstances supported a modification. See TEX. FAM. CODE § 156.101(a)(1)(A).

By Rule 11 agreement, which was later entered as the court's temporary order, Erik and Monica agreed to the appointment of a licensed psychologist, Dr. Marie Alvarez, to evaluate C.V. and the living situation at each parent's home.

The parties tried the case without a jury. Though the suit was pending before the 300th District Court of Brazoria County, Hon. Randall Hufstetler presiding, the elected judge of the Brazoria County County Court at Law No. 3, Hon. Jeremy Warren, presided over the trial.

At trial, Erik called several witnesses in support of his requested modification. He testified first, explaining that he has remarried and has lived with his new wife and her biological sons for about two years. His parents live in a different home on the same property. His parents help care for C.V. during visitation periods, and C.V. gets along with the other children. Erik's wife takes C.V. to school from time to time too, and the family takes trips and goes fishing together.

Erik testified that until recently his visitation with C.V. generally went well. He helps C.V. with his homework, and he tries to learn about C.V.'s grades. He eats lunch with C.V. at school on occasion. And he enjoys fishing with C.V., watching C.V. play basketball at the YMCA, and going to the movies with C.V.

*801Erik testified that Monica's and her mother's conduct in 2015 and 2016 changed things. According to Erik, he stopped the school lunch visits because Monica's mother would also show up and chill C.V.'s interaction with him. Monica requested that Erik undergo drug and alcohol testing, and all tests were negative. Though the most recent summer visitation went well, CPS investigated Erik anyway, apparently at Monica's request. He also testified that Monica has been trying to turn C.V. against him-trying to "brainwash" him-and he feared that her efforts would continue absent a custody modification.

Erik admitted, though, that there had been limits to his past involvement. He had not attended any meetings with school personnel to address C.V.'s academic performance2 or any of C.V.'s appointments with medical and psychiatric caregivers. He does not know whether C.V. needs to take any medication, though he has noted that no medication comes with C.V. during scheduled visitations, and C.V. has only taken Tylenol during his visits. Erik has not read C.V.'s school or therapy records, though he could have. He also admitted his 2005 and 2006 convictions for family violence against Monica. Finally, he admitted that Monica is not a bad mother, she would never intentionally harm C.V., and his only concern about C.V. continuing to live with Monica is her attempt to undermine Erik's relationship with C.V.

Erik's mother, Pauline Moeller, also testified. She picks up C.V. frequently at the visitation exchanges, and C.V. often stays with her on Friday evenings while Erik is still working, before spending the rest of the weekend with Erik and his family. According to Pauline, no medication is sent with C.V. for his visitations. Pauline takes C.V. out to eat, goes to movies with him, and lets him ride a four-wheeler on their property. C.V. seems happy spending time with both her and Erik. C.V. now gets along with Erik's wife's children, though Pauline acknowledged some early tension.

According to Pauline, C.V. once told her of an incident when he saw his mother strip naked while drinking alcohol and smoking. Pauline also described how Erik used to drink alcohol in front of C.V. and how C.V. told her that people drinking in front of him scared him.

Dr. Alvarez, a licensed psychologist, testified that she performed a psychological and custody evaluation of C.V. and his extended families. She conducted several lengthy interviews with C.V., Monica, and Erik, sometimes including C.V. in meetings with one or the other parent.

Dr. Alvarez noted what she called "a lot of inconsistencies in [Monica's] recollection and facts and data that she offers depending on who she is talking to." Monica accused Erik of "being a violent and aggressive individual," and while there were two convictions for family violence in 2005 and 2006, Monica's post-divorce accusations appeared to Dr. Alvarez to be riddled with inconsistencies. Many of Monica's responses were untruthful or, in Dr. Alvarez's professional opinion, intended to deny or mask "problems, pathology, and personality difficulties." Monica's accounts of events often shifted. Dr. Alvarez also thought that Monica underreported personality factors and associated pathology. Dr. Alvarez concluded that Monica likely "has a lot of self-esteem and a lot of low confidence issues" and suffers from some psychopathologies, including frequent untruthfulness; agenda-driven interactions with others; "under-report[ing of] the common faults that the vast majority of the *802adult population readily admits having"; moderate anxiety; somatization; possible depression; "attention-seeking and dramatic" behaviors; and narcissism. In contrast, according to Dr. Alvarez, Erik "does not have any significant psychological disorders." He demonstrated low levels of "some personality traits of narcissism" and "some personality traits of some obsessive compulsive behaviors," but "nothing reached clinical level," which "was confirmed by all of the evaluation results."

Dr. Alvarez stated that she had confidence in Erik's truthfulness and found that he had no significant psychological disorders, with parenting scores within the normal range.

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Bluebook (online)
569 S.W.3d 796, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/townsend-v-vasquez-texapp-2018.