AC v. AC
| Decision Date | 28 November 2014 |
| Docket Number | No. SCWC–12–0000808.,SCWC–12–0000808. |
| Citation | 134 Hawai'i 221,339 P.3d 719 |
| Court | Hawaii Supreme Court |
| Parties | AC, Respondent/Plaintiff–Appellee, v. AC, Petitioner/Defendant–Appellant, and Child Support Enforcement Agency, State of Hawai‘i, Respondent/Defendant. |
Micky Yamatani, for petitioner.
Michael A. Glenn, for respondent.
RECKTENWALD, C.J., NAKAYAMA, and McKENNA, JJ., and Circuit Judge TRADER, in place of ACOBA, J., Recused, with POLLACK, J., Concurring Separately.
This case requires us to consider the circumstances under which a family court can limit the time for trial on a petition to determine custody over minor children. Father and Mother, who were never married, are the biological parents of two minor children, Son and Daughter. Mother and Father eventually separated, and Father sought custody of Son and Daughter. The instant appeal arises out of Father's Petition for Custody, Visitation and Support Orders After Voluntary Establishment of Paternity, which sought sole physical and legal custody of the children, and sought to exclude Mother from visitation.
Prior to and during the pendency of the proceedings on Father's petition, Father and Mother filed several competing petitions for orders of protection against each other. The family court granted Father's petition for an order of protection against Mother. Thereafter, Father relocated with Son and Daughter to Texas without obtaining prior authorization of the family court.
The family court considered Mother's and Father's competing custody petitions during a trial that lasted approximately three hours on June 25, 2012. It appears from the record that the family court had set a three-hour limit beforehand. Although Father was able to present his evidence, the family court cut short Mother's evidence despite her motion for additional time, and awarded sole legal and physical custody to Father. A divided panel of the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) affirmed that decision.
Mother asserts that the family court erred by strictly enforcing a preset time limit that was too short given the complexity of the case, and excluded critical testimony bearing upon the best interests of Son and Daughter. We agree with Mother. While trial courts are given considerable discretion in managing their calendars, the family court's strict enforcement of the time limit here unduly curtailed Mother's ability to present evidence relevant to the proper determination of the children's best interests. Accordingly, we vacate the ICA majority's decision and remand to the family court for further proceedings.
The following factual background is taken from the record on appeal.
Mother and Father apparently began dating in 2005 and had two children together: Son, who was born in 2005, and Daughter, who was born in 2008. Mother and Father separated in 2009, and Mother thereafter lived with Son, Daughter, and Mother's child from a previous relationship ("Older Son"). Father subsequently married another woman and lived with his wife and Stepdaughter in Texas. In the summer of 2011, Father, his wife, and Stepdaughter relocated to Hawai‘i.
A. Family court proceedings
Upon relocating to Hawai‘i, Father filed a petition for an order of protection against Mother on behalf of himself, Son, Daughter, and Stepdaughter. The family court issued a temporary restraining order. Approximately one month later, Father filed a Petition for Paternity or for Custody, Visitation and Support Order After Voluntary Establishment of Paternity, which is the subject of the instant appeal. Father's custody petition sought full physical and legal custody of Son and Daughter, and sought to preclude visitation by Mother due to allegations of "[r]eckless child endangerment and neglect and failure to provide a safe and enriching environment for the children."
Mother filed a competing custody petition, also seeking full physical and legal custody of Son and Daughter. Mother also filed a petition for an order of protection against Father on behalf of herself, Son, Daughter, and Older Son. The family court issued a temporary restraining order on behalf of Mother and Older Son.
At the conclusion of a trial on Mother's and Father's petitions for an order of protection, the family court denied Mother's petition on the grounds that Mother was not credible and did not establish her need for an order of protection. The family court granted Father an order of protection against Mother, but removed Son and Daughter from the order. The family court found there was past domestic abuse and a threat of harm to Father from Mother, but that there were no safety concerns for Son and Daughter. Since Son and Daughter were already in the custody of Father, no custody orders were entered at the time.
Thereafter, Mother filed a motion to modify visitation, which sought to change the third party responsible for supervising her visitation with Son and Daughter. Mother complained that her visits were supervised by the pastor of Father's church and held at the pastor's apartment, where the children "were required to do church related activities for the first hour" of the two-hour visit. Mother also declared that she was prohibited from giving the children food or taking pictures with them. During a subsequent visit, the pastor presented Mother with a document entitled "Visitation Rules" that purported to set forth rules imposed by the family court judge, including that Mother had to speak English at all times, that conversations between Mother and the children must be audible to supervising personnel, and that Mother's two-hour visits were to include one hour of "class work" for the children.
According to Mother, two days after the visit involving the "Visitation Rules," police officers arrested her after Father notified them she had violated the family court's temporary restraining order. The day after Mother was released from custody, she had another visit with Son and Daughter, during which police officers again arrived, this time informing Mother that Father had reported her for violating the temporary restraining order and had provided the time and place of her visit with the children.
On the same day Mother's motion to modify visitation was filed, the family court held a return hearing regarding the State Custody Investigation Unit's (CIU) report on the custody of the children. Father was not present at the hearing, and his counsel informed the court that he had relocated with Son and Daughter to Texas. Father did not have the court's permission to remove Son and Daughter from Hawai‘i, and the family court's minutes reflect that removal of the children was in violation of the court's order.1 Father was ordered to return the children to Hawai‘i within 30 days unless an order allowing relocation pending trial was granted before then.
The family court scheduled Mother's and Father's custody petitions for a "half-day trial." The record does not reflect the basis for this limitation, or whether either party voiced any concern about it.
The CIU report noted Mother's and Father's "concerns" regarding the other's parenting. For example, Father was concerned that Mother did not emphasize education, was physically and emotionally abusive (particularly when "menstruating or pregnant"), abused drugs and alcohol, lied, was unstable, and exposed the children to a "sexual lifestyle." Father also expressed concern that Older Son was a danger to Son and Daughter, but the CIU noted that a case involving allegations of sexual assault by Older Son against Son and Daughter had been closed by HPD and that the prosecutor's office had declined to accept the case. Father reported four incidents of domestic violence by Mother against Father.
Mother expressed her concern that Father had extreme anger issues, was abusive, did not provide a good example to the children, did not provide the children with educational activities despite his claim that he homeschooled them, had unstable relationships with women, and was never the children's primary caretaker. Mother reported over 50 incidents of domestic violence by Father against Mother. Mother also alleged that Father was abusive to Older Son.
The CIU report indicated that interviews with the children could not be conducted because Father and the children had relocated to Texas. According to the report, the CIU also could not conduct a home visit with Father due to his relocation. Additionally, no home visit with Mother could be conduc ted because she had relocated to Washington, and later to Sweden. Nevertheless, the CIU report recommended that Father have sole legal and physical custody of the children, and be permitted to relocate with the children to Texas, with Mother allowed unsupervised visitation.
Father subsequently filed a motion to allow the children to remain in Texas, which the family court granted. Father was awarded temporary sole legal and physical custody pending trial, with Mother allowed telephone and internet visits. The CIU was ordered to interview the children and to prepare a supplementary report prior to trial. The children were never interviewed.
Prior to trial, Mother submitted a witness list that included nine lay witnesses and two expert witnesses. Father submitted a witness list that included three lay witnesses.
The family court held a bench trial on the competing custody petitions. At the start of trial, the court did not address the length of trial or state on the record the amount of time available for trial. The court stated that it was most interested in testimony regarding the respective abilities of Mother and Father to care for Son and Daughter, so that it could determine "whether or not you're the right choice as a dad or you're the right choice as a mom to have the custody."
Father testified that he lived with his mother, wife of three years, Stepdaughter, and Son and Daughter in Texas, where he cared for Son and Daughter during the day and worked at night...
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