Hines v. Hines
| Decision Date | 22 February 2012 |
| Docket Number | 2012-UP-112 |
| Parties | Harold G. Hines, Jr., Respondent, v. Kristen C. Hines, Appellant. |
| Court | South Carolina Court of Appeals |
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
Heard December 6, 2011
Appeal From Greenville County, R. Kinard Johnson, Jr., Family Court Judge
Everett P. Godfrey, Jr., of Greenville, for Appellant.
H Michael Spivey, and Melissa D. Spivey, of Mauldin, for Respondent.
Robert A. Clark, of Greenville, Guardian ad Litem.
In this family law action, Kristen C. Hines (Wife) appeals, arguing the family court erred in issuing a divorce decree without setting forth the specific findings of fact and conclusions of law that support the decision. Wife further contends the family court erred in awarding custody of the parties' children to Harold G. Hines, Jr. (Husband) as he has a history of violence and exposed the children to other women after he and Wife separated. We affirm.
Husband and Wife married in December 2001. Two daughters (Children) were born of the marriage; T in 2004 and H in 2005. Around June 24, 2008, the parties separated following an altercation; the two struggled over Wife's bag of pills [1] and Wife hit her head on a doorframe. Husband claimed he found Wife with a bag in which she kept drugs and while the two struggled over the bag, Wife hit her head on the doorframe. Husband eventually let Wife have the bag and she snorted some crushed pills with a straw. Wife claimed the altercation occurred because she told Husband she wanted a divorce; he grabbed her and dragged her outside, hitting her head on the wall and pushing her into the door jamb, and she snorted the drugs as part of a temper tantrum.
Husband contacted the Greenville County Sheriff's Office. Sergeant Chris Taylor, one of the officers who responded counted Wife's pill bottle and discovered that 76 pills were missing from a 120-pill bottle of Lortab that was refilled four days prior. The prescription called for her to take four pills a day. Wife refused to go with EMS to be evaluated. Wife told Sergeant Taylor that she had snorted the pills. Wife also told Joshua Franseen with the Sheriff's Office she had snorted the pills, Husband had not abused her and she was not fearful for her life. Franseen informed Husband how to obtain an order of protection. According to the Sheriff's Office report, the judge the officers called denied a warrant for criminal domestic violence. Husband took Children to his father's home for the night. Wife moved to Tennessee to live with her parents following the parties' separation.
On June 26, 2008, Husband filed a complaint for divorce on the statutory grounds of habitual drunkenness based on her use of prescription drugs and requested temporary and permanent custody of Children. Wife filed an answer and counterclaim on June 30, 2008, requesting a divorce based on physical cruelty and custody of Children.
On June 30, 2008, the family court held an emergency hearing due to Husband's motion for emergency temporary relief. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court placed the children in the custody of the South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS), finding based on the testimony and evidence presented, Children were in imminent and substantial risk of danger and must be removed from the physical custody and care of both Husband and Wife. On July 1, 2008, DSS filed its pleadings. The guardian ad litem (GAL) moved to have Children placed in Husband's parents' custody, and the family court granted the order on July 24, 2008. The court issued an order on August 15, 2008, dismissing DSS's complaint and returning Children to Husband with alternating custody week to week by agreement of the parties. In June 2009, Husband was given temporary primary placement of Children beginning on August 19 for T to begin attending school in Greenville County.
At the beginning of the final hearing, Husband moved to amend his pleading to seek a divorce based on one year's continuous separation and Wife consented. The parties also informed the family court they had settled all of their financial and property issues.
At trial, Husband testified that during the marriage, Wife stayed at home with Children and he worked full-time as well as attended school full-time. He provided that when he would return home, he would He indicated that Wife cooked occasionally about once a week. He stated "it wasn't like every night but she has cooked." Husband provided he did all of his and Children's laundry, as well as the household linens and towels. He testified he would change Children's clothing when he got home from work if they were dirty. He also stated that when he was present, changing diapers was his responsibility. He testified that he had completed a co-parenting class when Children were in DSS custody because it was required.
Husband provided that he has been able to take care of Children since he has had full-time custody. He testified he gets T up in the morning and gets her ready for school. He calls Ashley, his girlfriend, to come over and lets H sleep while he takes T to school. He comes home from work, plays with Children, and takes them to the library, bowling, roller skating, or to dinner with his father. On the weekends, they go to the park to ride bicycles. In the evening, he helps T with her homework, which they spread out over the week. On Wednesday and Sunday nights, Children go to programs at church, and on Sunday morning they attend church services. He testified Children seemed to enjoy living with him in Greenville. He provided that they have lots of fun and "they do really well." He said that although Wife claimed otherwise, H is "a well-behaved little four year old."
Husband testified Wife told him that her uncle sexually molested her as a child, and when she told her parents about it, her mother called her a "slut, " and her father, who worked for DSS in Tennessee, did not do anything about it. He also stated she told him about her grandfather touching her inappropriately. He testified that as far as he knew, the uncle still lived in the same town as Wife's parents. He also indicated that everyone who lives in Wife's parents' house who smokes does so in the house. He admitted he smokes as well but does it on his back porch. He further provided that during his marriage to Wife, Wife's brother beat her up while she was at her parents' house over an argument about her using drugs. He testified Wife filed charges but her parents' bought her a Jeep and the charges were dropped. Husband believed Wife's brother would regularly throw parties at their parents' house at which people would get drunk and pass out. He also stated that when Children were taken into DSS custody, Wife gathered all of her and Children's possessions and took them to Tennessee.
Husband testified that after he separated from Wife, he dated a woman, Leanne, for a few months. He stated Children had met her and her son at a park one time. About three weeks after he stopped seeing Leanne, he began dating his current girlfriend, Ashley, who he intends to marry. He indicated he introduced her to Children a few months later and about a month after that he found out she was pregnant with his child. He provided that Ashley does not spend the night in his home when Children are present.
Husband did not believe he had an anger management problem. He stated he had never abused Wife. He admitted he had left small bruises on Children's bottoms from spanking them. He said he now spanks them with his hand but he and Wife previously used a spatula. He stated that he took anger management classes as a result of a recommendation from the GAL. He provided that he learned some things in that class. He also testified about an incident that occurred shortly before the hearing at which a process server came to his house at 6:30 in the morning. He stated that his dogs "were going absolutely crazy, which they seldom do unless something is wrong." He testified that he saw a small car that he did not recognize and a person standing his front porch in "loose attire, didn't look professional." He admitted that he opened his door and pointed a gun in the process server's face because he felt threatened. He admitted that he currently has three pistols in his home.
She testified the home was in the country so her parents had a lot of room for the farm animals they owned. She planned for H to stay with her mother during the day and T to be at school when she went back to work. Wife believed Children would be better off living with her because she had taken care of them since they were born. She stated:
I have been up all night with them. I have been...
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