Mudge v. Vermillion
| Docket Number | 1928-2021 |
| Decision Date | 30 August 2022 |
| Parties | SAMANTHA MUDGE v. EDWARD VERMILLION |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
Circuit Court for Calvert County Case No. 04-C-11-000118
Arthur, Leahy, Eyler, Deborah S. (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), JJ.
Discerning no error or abuse of discretion, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.
Mother and Father began dating in 2004, moved in together in 2006 and separated when Mother moved back into her parent's house in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, in August 2010. The parties have two daughters: one born in June 2008, and the other born in April 2011.
Approximately one year after their youngest daughter was born, the parties entered into a consent order on April 16, 2012 ("April 2012 Consent Order"). The order granted Mother "sole legal and sole residential custody of the minor children" and granted visitation to Father.[2] The April 2012 Consent Order required Father to pay the sum of $789.00 in child support to Mother each month and obligated Mother to maintain health insurance coverage for the children. The order required Father to pay an additional $100.00 to Mother each month until his child support arrears of $2,750.00 were paid in full. Finally, Father was ordered to enroll in drug/alcohol counseling and to provide documentation of his weekly attendance to Mother.
Based on the record, child support has been a constant source of contention. Mother filed motions for contempt on September 6, 2013, March 24, 2014, and August 28, 2014 due to Father's alleged failure to pay child support. On March 24, 2014, Mother also moved to modify child support and averred that Father's income increased to "around $1,000 a week." The court held a hearing on January 6, 2015 on the related motions, and, on January 12, 2015, entered an order directing Father to pay child support in the amount of $454/month and assessing arrears at a minimum of $7,260 in arrearages.[3] Mother was the primary caregiver for the first ten years of the children's lives. Father was involved in the children's lives as contemplated by the consent order, albeit it less frequently from 2014 to 2017, when he was trying to find employment in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The precipitating event that brought about the underlying action occurred on the morning of November 15, 2020, when Mother sent a three-page suicidal note by text message to the oldest daughter while the children were at their Father's house visiting.[4]
The next day, Father filed a pro se petition for emergency custody and a motion for emergency relief, seeking "sole residential and legal custody" of both children until Mother can "provide[] a safe environment for them[.]" In his petition for custody and emergency motion, he alleged that Mother had mental health issues, as evidenced by the suicide note, and that both children "have developed emotional psychiatric problems related to stress and anxiety."
On November 20, 2020, an emergency hearing was held at which both Father and Mother testified. Mother was represented by counsel, and Father appeared without an attorney. Father testified first and explained that he and Mother had worked out the visitation arrangements over the years, and that this was the first time he filed a motion to modify the 2012 consent order. Father related that his daughters were visiting him on the morning of November 15, 2020 when his oldest daughter showed him the text from Mother threatening suicide. The daughter was upset, crying. Father drove immediately to find Mother and was able to reach her by phone before arriving. Once he arrived, he persuaded her to go to the hospital, and then followed her there in his car because Mother preferred to drive separately.
Father explained that the oldest daughter had already been seeing a psychologist for anxiety and that the situation greatly increased the stress and anxiety for the girls. Father wanted the girls to stay with him for a while, but, Mother, who was ultimately not admitted at the hospital, called the girls repeatedly, made repeat unannounced visits, and insisted that the girls return to her home where she lived with her parents. According to Father, this was upsetting the girls and that is why he filed the emergency motion. On cross examination, Father acknowledged that Mother had not exhibited any mental health issues prior to the recent event.
Mother testified that on the date that she sent the text she was feeling very depressed and that COVID had impacted her and her workplace significantly. She was examined at the emergency room and then released with instructions to follow-up with her primary care physician. Mother testified about her follow-up visits with her doctor and explained that once she was prescribed the medication that she needed, she started feeling much better - she felt "normal." The court asked Mother whether she had shown the doctors at the emergency room or her primary care physician the text message that she had sent her daughter, and Mother admitted that she had not.
The court found that, although Mother was by all accounts a good mother, it was concerning that Mother believed she was fine, despite the disturbing suicide note. The court noted that all of the things that Mother claimed triggered her depression, which she described as temporary, were still present in Mother's life. The court noted that it did not have the necessary medical records to establish Mother's actual medical condition, and explained that "the concern the court has is that [Mother] could easily fall into the same reoccurring depressive state that she was in." Finally, the court noted that Father Accordingly, the court found that it was in the best interests of the children to live with Father.
The court issued a pendente lite order ("Emergency 2020 PL Order") granting Father temporary physical and legal custody of the children and Mother visitation, supervised by Father, at Father's house, for several hours on Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays. The order also directed that "this matter shall proceed in due course once an answer has been filed or order of default has been issued.
Mother filed an answer to Father's petition on December 17, 2020 and a counter-motion to modify custody, visitation, and child support on December 18, 2020. In her counter-motion, she alleged that the parties' eldest daughter's grades had declined and that the children had not been taking their prescribed medication. In addition, Mother alleged that Father owed child support arrears in excess of $30,000 and that the parties' "circumstances have changed in that (a) the children have entered their adolescent years and their expenses have increased; (b) the cost of health insurance . . . has increased significantly; and ([c]) [Father] earns substantially more than he did in 2015." She asked the court to return the parties to the custody arrangement under the April 2012 Consent Order; increase Father's child support payments; and award her reasonable attorney's fees. Mother also served discovery requests on Father.
In the beginning of February 2021, the court appointed Marie Palmquist as the children's best interest attorney ("BIA").
After Father failed to answer her counter-motion or respond to discovery, Mother filed a request for an order of default and a motion to compel and sanctions because Father had not responded to her discovery requests. The court granted the request for a default and entered default against Father but gave him 30 days to file a motion to vacate the order. The court also granted Mother's motion to compel and sanctions, ordering Father to provide discovery but reserving on Mother's request for attorney's fees.
An attorney subsequently entered his appearance on Father's behalf, and over the next several days, Father's counsel filed a motion to extend the discovery deadline; a response to Mother's counter-motion; and a motion to vacate the default order. The court granted the motion to extend the discovery deadline and vacated the default order on March 17, 2021.
In April and again in July, the court entered two pendente lite consent orders modifying...
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