Wolfe v. Wolfe

CourtNebraska Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 3, 2015
DocketA-14-335
StatusUnpublished

This text of Wolfe v. Wolfe (Wolfe v. Wolfe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wolfe v. Wolfe, (Neb. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

IN THE NEBRASKA COURT OF APPEALS

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT ON APPEAL (Memorandum Web Opinion)

WOLFE V. WOLFE

NOTICE: THIS OPINION IS NOT DESIGNATED FOR PERMANENT PUBLICATION AND MAY NOT BE CITED EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY NEB. CT. R. APP. P. § 2-102(E).

SEAN WOLFE, APPELLANT, V.

RACHEL WOLFE, APPELLEE.

Filed March 3, 2015. No. A-14-335.

Appeal from the District Court for Douglas County: LEIGH ANN RETELSDORF, Judge. Affirmed in part, and in part reversed and remanded with directions. Matthew Stuart Higgins and Brandie M. Fowler, of Higgins Law, for appellant. Donald A. Roberts and Britt H. Dudzinski, of Lustgarten & Roberts, P.C., L.L.O., for appellee.

MOORE, Chief Judge, and INBODY and PIRTLE, Judges. INBODY, Judge. I. INTRODUCTION Sean Wolfe appeals from the decree dissolving his marriage to Rachel Wolfe. He contends that the district court erred in, inter alia, granting sole legal and physical custody of the parties’ two children to Rachel, in the award of child support and expenses, in the division of the marital estate, and in failing to accept into evidence the report of the court’s expert witness. II. STATEMENT OF FACTS Sean and Rachel were married on September 6, 1997. The couple have two children: Gwen, who was born in 2001, and Helena, who was born in 2005.

-1- On September 3, 2010, Sean filed a complaint for dissolution of marriage, in which he sought custody of the children, child support from Rachel, and asked for an equitable division of the parties’ property. A temporary order was entered on May 24, 2011 granting Sean sole legal custody of the minor children with the parties sharing joint physical custody. Sean was ordered to pay $350 per month for child support retroactively commencing on January 1, 2011. In October 2011, Rachel requested that the court appoint Cynthia S. Topf, Ph.D., a certified child psychologist, as an expert pursuant to Neb. Rev. Stat. § 27-706(1) (Reissue 2008). The court granted Rachel’s request in December and directed Topf to prepare psychological assessments of the parties and minor children and to perform a child custody evaluation for the court. The matter came on for trial on April 26, 2012. The parties began the trial, but at some point during the day they informed the court that they had reached an agreement; however, they did not put this agreement on the record, nor was an agreement ever signed by Sean and Rachel. On September 14, 2012, Sean filed a motion for entry of a dissolution decree. Sean asserted that his counsel drafted a proposed decree in June and forwarded it to Rachel’s counsel, but that Rachel had refused to endorse the decree. Attached to Sean’s motion for entry of decree is an e-mail to Rachel’s counsel and a draft of the decree, but the decree was not signed by the court or the parties. Rachel responded that the parties had engaged in settlement discussions and exchanged proposed decrees and revisions, and reached a settlement agreement but no record of it was created and Rachel no longer agreed with the proposals and wished to proceed to trial. On October 5, a hearing was held on this motion. At the hearing, no evidence was adduced. The conversation between the court and the attorneys indicate that a trial had been scheduled and started on April 26, but at some point during the day, the parties indicated to the court that a settlement agreement had been reached. However, this settlement agreement was never entered into the record nor was it ever signed by Rachel. Rachel’s attorney stated that a proposed decree drafted by Sean’s attorney reflects the agreement that was reached by the parties on April 26, but Rachel did not want to sign the agreement that was made because she changed her mind. These comments by Rachel’s counsel regarding the parties’ agreement were unsworn and Rachel did not confirm or deny the accuracy of her counsel’s comments. The motion for entry of decree was denied by the court by order entered on October 22. Pursuant to an earlier motion filed by Sean, on January 3, 2013, the court entered a temporary order awarding sole legal and primary physical custody of the minor children to Sean; awarding Rachel parenting time; terminating Sean’s child support obligation to Rachel as of May 1, 2012; and ordering Rachel to pay child support of $747 per month beginning December 1, 2012. Trial in this case was held on February 1 and concluded on April 25, 2013. Sean called Topf as a witness at trial. Topf testified that she completed a child custody evaluation in which she recommended that Sean be awarded physical custody. She found that the visitation schedule the parties had been using, which was a three-two-two-three-day split, was chaotic and dysfunctional for the children, and she suggested bigger blocks of time for visitation. She also suggested one parent have the children primarily during the school year and the other parent have custody in the summer. This opinion was based on the children’s need for stability.

-2- Topf testified that she had received reports of three incidents of domestic violence by Rachel against Sean, and two of which were in the children’s presence. Rachel had also left the children alone in the middle of the night to go shopping on a Black Friday. Rachel also reported that she missed some parenting time because she was seeing her boyfriend and Sean refused to let her make up that time. Topf also noted that Rachel exhibited less control over the children. Topf reported two incidents in which the younger child, Helena, had gotten a kitchen knife and pulled it on her sister, Gwen, and the children were not able to wake up Rachel for help. Topf also testified that both children felt abandoned by their mother at times when Rachel chose to spend time with her boyfriend rather than with the children. Topf said the psychological testing showed that Rachel may become aggressive and act out, especially when under stress. Testing did not show that Sean had any mental disorder, although he admitted to being depressed and taking medication, which appeared to be helping. In addition to Topf’s testimony, Sean offered into evidence the written assessment completed by Topf. Rachel’s counsel objected, arguing that the report was hearsay because it was a statement made by a witness out of court. The court sustained the objection and did not receive Topf’s report into evidence. The court later took in-chambers testimony of Gwen over Sean’s objection. Sean testified that Rachel had missed parenting time with her children because she had been on vacation. He stated that Rachel had slept through an incident in which Helena pulled a knife on her older sister. Sean stated that between August 2010 and January 2011, when the children were in his care, Rachel missed significant chunks of parenting time. Sean testified that the children’s behavior was distressing; Gwen began sucking her thumb again and Helena had potty training accidents, the girls fought with each other and Helena had tantrums. The girls’ behavior improved when they went to a divorce class with other children. However, the behaviors escalated again in February or March 2011 after the parties shared custody of the girls. The joint custody arrangement continued until April 2012. Sean stated that the girls’ performance at school decreased during this period. Sean stated that his attempts to co-parent with Rachel were rebuffed when Rachel did not respond to messages or stated that she had her own rules. At the conclusion of the trial, Sean testified that he wanted sole custody of the children with visitation for Rachel.

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Bluebook (online)
Wolfe v. Wolfe, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wolfe-v-wolfe-nebctapp-2015.