Crowe v. Lowe

• Decision Date: 23 June 1971
• Docket Number: No. 19246,19246
• Citation: 182 S.E.2d 310,256 S.C. 321
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: Mavis M. CROWE, Respondent, v. Jesse Thomas LOWE, Appellant.

Page 310

182 S.E.2d 310

256 S.C. 321

Mavis M. CROWE, Respondent, v.Jesse Thomas LOWE, Appellant.

No. 19246.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

June 23, 1971.

M. A. McAlister, Anderson, for appellant.

Respondent represents herself.

BUSSEY, Justice.

This is a child custody proceeding, the parties being the divorced parents of the children involved.Both parties have remarried; the appellantfather is still residing in Anderson, the county of the divorce, and the respondentmother is residing in Laurens County.

There has apparently been intermittent litigation between the parties since March 1966.There were three children born of the marriage; a daughter, Kimberly, and two sons, Randall and Marty, the last named being the youngest.On November 1, 1967, the court, in a consent order terminating an action by the mother for separate support and maintenance, disposed of the custody of the children, giving exclusive custody of Marty to the mother and the custody of the other two children to the parents, but with the mother to have them during the summer months and the father to have them during the winter months, presumably the school year; each parent to have the right of visitation on weekends when the other had custody.

The aforesaid order with respect to custody, support, etc., was made a part and parcel of a decree of the court, dated February 13, 1958, wherein the mother was granted a divorce from the father on the ground of desertion.The custody of Marty is not presently involved, but the parties are at odds as to the custody of both Kimberly and Randall, whose respective ages, according to the statement of the case, are given as 11 and 10.Just when such ages were attained the record does not show.Cross proceedings between the parties were had in the spring of 1970 as a result of which the court, inter alia, ordered an investigation of the homes of the respective parties by the Welfare Departments of Anderson and Laurens Counties.

The present proceeding was commenced by the respondentmother by a petition and rule to show cause, dated June 8, 1970, wherein she sought the complete custody and control of both Kimberly and Randall and support for them.The father demurred to such petition on the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to show a change of conditions since the divorce decree or to justify the court in changing the custody provisions thereof.The rule to show cause was returnable on the 16th day of June, 1970, but the hearing was postponed until August 11th, awaiting reports from the respective Welfare Departments.On that date, according to the statement of the case, the court, in effect, overruled the demurrer on the part of the father; refused to take any testimony, over objection of the father; and, after talking privately with the two children and considering only the reports of the respective Welfare Departments, issued an order under date of August 14th, as follows:

'1.That the Court retain custody and jurisdiction of said minor children until further order of this Court.

'2.That this Court makes placement of the minor child, Randall Lowe, with the father, Jesse Thomas Lowe, and makes placement of the minor child, Kemberly Shaye Lowe, with the mother, Mavis M. Crowe, with the father to have reasonable visitation with the minor daughter, Kimberly Shaye Lowe.'

The order contained no findings of fact and assigned no reasons for modifying the former order of the court with respect to custody.It did recite that it had...