In re Marriage of Ungerman, No. 362

• Court: Court of Appeals of Oregon
• Writing for the Court: TOOKEY, J.
• Citation: 311 Or App 696
• Parties: In the Matter of the Marriage of Nathan Z. UNGERMAN, Petitioner-Respondent, and Serenity J. UNGERMAN, nka Serenity J. Hall, Respondent-Appellant.
• Decision Date: 26 May 2021
• Docket Number: No. 362,A172680

311 Or App 696

In the Matter of the Marriage of Nathan Z. UNGERMAN, Petitioner-Respondent,
and
Serenity J. UNGERMAN, nka Serenity J. Hall, Respondent-Appellant.

No. 362
A172680

COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF OREGON

Argued and submitted April 19, 2021
May 26, 2021

Jackson County Circuit Court
17DR07050;

Timothy C. Gerking, Judge.

Jamie L. Hazlett argued the cause and filed the brief for appellant.

Melisa A. Button and Stefanie L. Burke filed the brief for respondent.

Before Armstrong, Presiding Judge, and Tookey, Judge, and Aoyagi, Judge.

TOOKEY, J.

Vacated and remanded.

Page 697

TOOKEY, J.

Mother appeals a supplemental judgment awarding father custody of their three children. On appeal, in her third assignment of error, mother assigns error to the trial court's ruling "that there had been a change of circumstances that would justify a change of custody over to Father, as there was insufficient evidence to support that ruling." Among other points, mother argues that the "trial court's decision largely rests on an erroneous factual finding." We agree with mother and, for the reasons that follow, we vacate and remand for reconsideration.¹

FACTS & PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In this case, it suffices to recount, without a lengthy recitation of the facts, that mother and father divorced, and mother was awarded sole custody of their three minor children. Father subsequently moved to modify custody.

During the evidentiary hearing on father's motion to modify custody, testimony was given concerning two reports that had been made to the Department of Human Services (DHS), one of which concerned mother's purported "neglect" of the children. Undisputed evidence during the evidentiary hearing reflected that both DHS reports were closed by DHS as "unfounded," and a DHS employee testified that the reports were closed as "unfounded" because DHS was "able to get enough information to say that none of the allegations were true."

Additionally, at the evidentiary hearing, evidence was presented about various concerns father had regarding "hygiene" issues when the children were in mother's care; school attendance issues when the children were in mother's care; mother's violation of a no contact order with mother's former boyfriend, J; and J's drug use.

The trial court determined that there had been "an unanticipated change in circumstance since the entry of the General Judgment" and that it was "in the children's

Page 698

best interest to change custody from mother to father." In making its change of circumstances determination, the trial court focused on "three pieces of evidence," which, in its view, reflected "conduct [that] might be injurious to the child[ren] or a lack of inclination to care for the child[ren] in the best possible manner." The trial court explained that, of those three pieces of evidence, the issue that "concern[ed it] the most" was one of the DHS reports—viz., "the neglect report to DHS that was determined to be founded." It also expressed concerns regarding one of the children's school attendance and "hygiene" issues regarding the children.²

ANALYSIS

A parent seeking to change custody must demonstrate two things:

"(1) After the original judgment or the last order affecting custody, circumstances relevant to the capacity of either the moving party or the legal custodian to take care of the child properly have changed, and (2) considering the asserted change of circumstances in the context of all relevant evidence, it would be in the child's best interests to change custody from the legal custodian to the moving party."

Botofan-Miller and Miller, 365 Or 504, 520, 446 P3d 1280 (2019) (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted).

With regard to whether "circumstances relevant to the capacity of either the moving party or the legal custodian to take care of the child properly have changed," the Supreme Court has observed that "the child custody statutes do not specify what the concept of a change of circumstances means." Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). However, the Supreme Court "has made clear that, to justify a change in custody, a change of circumstances must be 'material.'" Id. (quo...