Wilburn v. Ferguson

2021 Ohio 4256
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided December 1, 2021·No. 21CA4·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT LAWRENCE COUNTY

MARVIN WILBURN, : Case No. 21CA4 Petitioner-Appellee :

v. : DECISION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY

CRESTA FERGUSON, ET AL., :

Respondents-Appellants. : RELEASED 12/01/2021

APPEARANCES:

Christopher L. Trolinger and Ronald R. Petroff, Columbus, Ohio, for appellant.

Brigham M. Anderson, Ironton, Ohio, for appellee.

Hess, J.

{¶1} Cresta Ferguson appeals from a judgment of the Lawrence County Common Pleas Court, Probate/Juvenile Division, that sustained three of her four objections and overruled one of her objections to the magistrate’s decision. The trial court expanded the parenting time of the father Marvin Wilburn beyond that in Local Rule 15 and adjusted Wilburn’s child support payments by 40 percent. Ferguson contends that the trial court erred in finding that expanded visitation time is in the child’s best interest. She also claims that the trial court failed to make findings of fact and conclusions of law addressing factors in R.C. 3109.051(D), which constituted plain error. Ferguson contends that the trial court erred in adjusting the child support payments by 40 percent, instead of 10 percent. However, we find that Ferguson failed to request findings of fact and conclusions of law under Civ.R. 52, therefore we

presume the validity of the proceedings. We affirm the judgment to award Wilburn extended parenting time because we find that a review of the record supports it. Additionally, the trial court’s decision to reduce Wilburn’s child support payment was consistent with the relevant statutory factors. The trial court set forth a finding and a reason supporting the deviation, which was legitimate and did not represent an abuse of discretion. We overrule Ferguson’s assignments of error and affirm the trial court’s judgment.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

{¶2} Cresta Ferguson and Marvin Wilburn are the parents of S.P.F., born in March 2015. Ferguson is married to Scott Ferguson, but she and Wilburn were engaged in an on-again, off-again sexual relationship from early summer 2014 until approximately February 2019. During that five-year period, Ferguson continued to live with her husband, but at some point in 2017 she moved in with Wilburn for a two to three-month period. During the first two years of the child’s life, Ferguson voluntarily allowed Wilburn to see S.P.F. two or three times a week and Wilburn developed a relationship with the child. In July 2016, Wilburn filed a petition for paternity but later dismissed it. He refiled a petition for paternity and for the child’s name change in February 2017 after Ferguson stopped allowing Wilburn to see S.P.F. DNA results established Wilburn as the biological father of S.P.F. The court initially granted Wilburn supervised visitation with S.P.F., but later expanded it to unsupervised visitation every other weekend and one night a week. Wilburn’s visitation time was extended again by two additional days on the weekends for the summer months in 2019. Wilburn filed a proposed shared parenting plan for consideration.

{¶3} The magistrate conducted a hearing over two days on September 27, 2019 and December 20, 2019 concerning Wilburn’s proposed shared parenting plan, his request for the child’s name change, and the parties’ child support obligations.

{¶4} Ferguson and Wilburn both testified concerning their discussions about their child’s name. Wilburn testified that the child was not given the name he wanted for her and he sought to change the child’s first and last name. Ferguson testified that she never agreed to Wilburn’s suggested name; to the contrary, she mocked it.

{¶5} Ferguson testified that she formerly worked as a nurse making approximately $22 to $23 per hour but she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in May 2018 and stopped working. Ferguson and her husband decided she would not return to work and would stay home to care for the children. She underwent chemotherapy until December 2018, and during those seven months she continued to have a sexual relationship Wilburn.

{¶6} During the course of their on-again, off-again relationship, Ferguson had three pregnancies with Wilburn, two that ended in miscarriages and one in the birth of S.P.F. Ferguson testified that she believed that Wilburn should have only supervised visits with S.P.F., even though he had ongoing unsupervised visitation for several years. Ferguson based her concerns in part on the fact that one of Wilburn’s young children passed away by accidental drowning 16 years earlier in 2003. Ferguson also alleged that, during a visit with Wilburn that occurred a week before the hearing, S.P.F. was bruised while playing hide-and-seek with two other children when she hid in a dryer that one of the children allegedly turned on. Ferguson reported this incident to medical professionals and Lawrence County Children’s Services several days after S.P.F.

Lawrence App. No. 21CA4 4

returned home from the visit with Wilburn. However, at the time of the hearing, Children’s Services testified that the allegations had not been substantiated and they were still investigating. Although S.P.F. had purportedly stated that she and another child had hid in the dryer from a third child, the third child denied turning the dryer on or playing hide-and-seek in the area.

{¶7} Ferguson testified that S.P.F. had been diagnosed with severe adjustment disorder that Ferguson attributes to the child’s visits with Wilburn. Ferguson did not introduce medical testimony or records of this alleged diagnosis into evidence. On cross-examination Ferguson admitted to posting a video of S.P.F. on social media with the caption, “Poor baby knows who is taking her from her family” that depicted the child stating that “Marvin won’t let me stay with my daddy.” Ferguson testified that she tells S.P.F. that she must go visit Marvin because the court is making her, that she has told S.P.F. nothing about the specifics of the situation or who her biological father is, and that S.P.F calls Wilburn “Marvin” and her husband Scott Ferguson “daddy” or “honey.” Despite this, Ferguson contends S.P.F’s confusion is exacerbated by Wilburn, not her, because Wilburn does not use S.P.F’s given name. However, Wilburn testified that he uses the same abbreviated nickname that Ferguson uses for the child.

{¶8} Ferguson testified that she experienced anxiety and depression and was prescribed at least six different medications at various times. However, she decided on her own, without consulting her physician, to stop taking her medications. Additionally, Ferguson testified that she turned Wilburn into the IRS because “he is evading tax fraud. And I gave them specifics * * * I gave them plenty.” Wilburn earns approximately $24,000 to $28,000 per year at a pizza establishment and works as a care giver at a

behavioral center three days a week earning $11.00 per hour, plus health insurance benefits.

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Wilburn v. Ferguson, 2021 Ohio 4256 (Ohio Ct. App. 2021).

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