Hoffman v. Hoffman
Decision Date | 02 September 1966 |
Docket Number | CA-CIV |
Parties | Richard E. HOFFMAN, Appellant, v. Ruthann Fair HOFFMAN, Appellee. 1204. |
Court | Arizona Court of Appeals |
Preston & Flournoy, by William R. Preston, Flagstaff, for appellant.
Grace & Egan, by William M. Egan, Flagstaff, for appellee.
This is an appeal from a judgment modifying a previous divorce decree as to the custody and support of the parties' minor children.
We are called upon to determine whether or not there was a sufficient change in circumstances to warrant the court granting a change in custody.
The facts necessary for a determination of this matter on appeal are as follows: The appellee-wife filed a complaint for divorce 3 March, 1964. In the complaint she alleged that she was a fit and proper person to have the custody of the two youngest children, ages 1 year and 2 years, and that the appellant-husband was a fit and proper person to have the care, custody and control of the two older children (both girls) ages 6 and 7. The husband filed an answer and waiver of notice the same day. On 6 April, 1964, a judgment of divorce was granted, granting the care and custody of the two older children to the husband, and the care and custody of the two younger children to the wife, both subject to rights of reasonable visitation, and ordering the husband to pay to the wife the sum of $50.00 per month as and for the support of the two children awarded to the wife. Both the husband and the wife remarried shortly after the decree of divorce. A son was born the issue of the wife and her second husband.
In December of 1964, the husband and his second wife separated and a divorce was pending at the time of the hearing on the modification of the decree. The husband had sought, prior to that separation, psychiatric help from a doctor in Spokane, Washington. The two older children had been sent to the husband's parents in Montana where they were staying and attending school at the time of the hearing. At the time of the divorce, the husband lived in Page, Arizona. At the time of the hearing he was living at Lee's Ferry, Arizona, where he had been transferred by his employer, the National Park Service.
Hearing on the wife's petition to modify judgment was held 3 May, 1965, at which hearing both the husband and wife testified. The court amended the decree of divorce respecting the custody to provide that the wife would have the custody and control of the minor children during the summer months of each year and that the husband would retain the custody and control of the two older children during the remaining months, or during the school year. The court further provided that visitation rights of both parties should be full and complete and that the husband should pay an additional sum of $75.00 per month to the wife during the time that the said two minor children should be in the custody of the wife. From this judgment the husband appeals.
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...who was seeking the change, had the burden of showing changed circumstances affecting the welfare of the children. Hoffman v. Hoffman, 4 Ariz.App. 83, 417 P.2d 717 (1966). The appellate role is a limited one--we do not sit as a super trial court but confine ourselves to one question: Is the......
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