Gilbert v. Gilbert, 20598
| Decision Date | 08 February 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 20598,20598 |
| Parties | George W. GILBERT, III, Respondent, v. Amy N. GILBERT (Heins), Appellant. |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
Coming B. Gibbs, Jr., of Gibbs, Gaillard, Rowell & Tanenbaum, Charleston, for appellant.
W. Paul Cantrell, Jr., of Holmes, Thomson, Logan & Cantrell, Charleston, for respondent.
This controversy is between divorced parents over the custody of their minor daughter who suffers from a severe learning disability. The decree, under which the parties were divorced, was issued in April 1972, when the child was about two and one-half years of age, and awarded custody to the appellant mother. The order, from which this appeal comes, was issued in November 1976, and changed custody of the child from the appellant mother to the respondent father.
The order under appeal found both parties to be "fit and proper parents" and motivated in their respective contentions by great love and affection for the child and sincere concern for her welfare and comfort. The parents' differences arose over where the best available care and schooling for the child, with her learning disability, could be provided. This was the basic issue before the lower court and the consideration which prompted the decision to transfer custody to the father as the means to provide the care, custody and education necessary to best advance and aid the child in combating her learning disability.
It appears that concern arose over the child's learning ability about the time the parents were divorced. Subsequently the child's condition was recognized as one requiring special training and treatment; and, in May 1975, an agreement was entered into between the parents under which the father was given temporary custody for a one year period ending August 15, 1976, so that the child could be enrolled in Davison School in Atlanta, Georgia. This school is described as one of only three schools in the nation noted for treatment of the child's particular disorder. The father had remarried and established a home in Atlanta, although his job at the Charleston Naval Yard allowed him to be in Atlanta only during the weekends and when on annual leave.
Shortly before the expiration of the foregoing temporary agreement between the parties, the respondent father brought this action to retain custody, alleging that the child's condition had been greatly improved by the training and treatment at Davison School, and that...
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Glanton v. Glanton, 2172
...such significant changes of circumstances as to justify the modification of the previous custody arrangement. See Gilbert v. Gilbert, 270 S.C. 202, 241 S.E.2d 559 (1978) (child's severe learning disability subsequent to original custody award combined with existence of superior educational ......