Jorgensen v. Jorgensen, 16193

• Decision Date: 20 August 1979
• Docket Number: No. 16193,16193
• Citation: 599 P.2d 510
• Parties: Ruth Guenther JORGENSEN, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Ray Lynn JORGENSEN, Defendant and Respondent.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

Page 510

599 P.2d 510

Ruth Guenther JORGENSEN, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Ray Lynn JORGENSEN, Defendant and Respondent.

No. 16193.

Supreme Court of Utah.

Aug. 20, 1979.

Gary L. Gale, Ogden, for plaintiff and appellant.

David E. Bean, Layton, for defendant and respondent.

HALL, Justice:

Plaintiff appeals from a decree of divorce and child custody award.

Plaintiff married defendant of August 17, 1972, in Salt Lake City, Utah. During the ensuing five years, the parties lived together as husband and wife, acquired property and incurred various marital obligations. Two children were born to the couple during this time: Brad Ray Jorgensen (hereafter "Brad"), and Stacy Lynn Jorgensen (hereafter "Stacy"). The parties also accumulated funds in a joint bank account.

Plaintiff filed for divorce on June 21, 1978, alleging neglect and mental cruelty. Defendant answered and counterclaimed for divorce on similar grounds, asserting instances of marital infidelity.

At the inception of the divorce proceedings, defendant had withdrawn funds from the joint bank account, allegedly to pay off certain marital obligations. Plaintiff challenged this action, and demanded that she be paid one-half the amount in the account as of the time the action for divorce first arose. The court prohibited further withdrawals from the account, and preserved the balance therein remaining, which amounted to approximately $650. Defendant had, in the meantime, resolved to purchase a house notwithstanding the divorce, for which purpose he borrowed some $6,000 from his parents.

Upon hearing the evidence, the trial court granted a decree of divorce to defendant. Custody of Stacy was awarded to plaintiff. Defendant was given custody of the older child, Brad. Alimony was denied, but defendant was ordered to pay child support for Stacy in the amount of $100 per month. The court further ruled that the funds in the joint bank account had been used by defendant to discharge obligations incurred by the couple during the marriage, and ordered an equal division only of the balance remaining in the account.

On appeal, plaintiff asks that the child custody decision be reversed, giving her custody of both Stacy and Brad. She also reiterates her request that a sum be paid over to her equal to one-half the amount placed in the joint bank account prior to the inception of the divorce action. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the rulings of the trial court on both points.

Plaintiff relies on U.C.A., 1953, 30-3-13, which states that: "In any case of separation of husband and wife having minor children, or whenever a marriage is declared void or dissolved the court shall make such order for the future care and custody of the minor children as it may deem just and proper. In determining custody, the court shall consider the best interests of the child and the past conduct and demonstrated morals of each of the parties." ¹ While the above section was amended in 1977 to destroy the statutory presumption that the mother is best suited to care for younger children, plaintiff correctly points to the continued vitality of a judicial preference for the mother in child custody matters, all other things being equal. ²

Plaintiff is mistaken, though, in asserting that this preference entitled her to custody of both children in the present case. Pointing to the fact that the trial court made no finding that she was unfit as a mother, plaintiff asserts that the judicial policy entitles her to custody of the children as a matter of law. In fact, the preference operates to give custody to the mother All other things being equal. Since the preference is a creature of judicial policy, however, it must yield to the legislative mandate that the best interests of the child be given primary consideration. ³ Whenever, pursuant to a consideration of such interests, any circumstances in the case preponderate in favor of the husband, all things are not equal.

We should note, also, that the trial court is given particularly broad discretion in the area of child custody incident to separation or divorce proceedings. ⁴ A determination of the "best interests of the child" frequently turns on numerous factors which the trial court is best suited to assess, given its proximity to the parties and the circumstances. Only where trial court action is so flagrantly unjust as to constitute an abuse of discretion should the appellate forum interpose its own judgment.

The record before us in the present action shows nothing to support a finding of such abuse on the trial court's part. The order granting custody of Brad to defendant rests on an ample evidentiary basis. Testimony at trial bore out the court's finding that plaintiff was at the time of trial, and had been for a period of a year prior thereto, living with and carrying on an extra-marital relationship with another man, that such was the second such relationship to arise in the course of the five-year marriage; that plaintiff's present income was minimal; that the defendant is responsible, has adequate employment, enjoys a particularly close relationship with his son, and is in all respects competent to care for him. Thus, while the court conceded that " both parties could qualify as proper persons to be awarded custody of said minor (Brad Jorgensen), the evidence as a whole preponderates in favor of the defendant for the custody of his minor son." As indicated above, the law requires no more than such a preponderance. While it is true that a child custody award which keeps all the children of the...