Niles v. Niles, 73--730

• Decision Date: 04 September 1974
• Docket Number: No. 73--730,73--730
• Citation: Niles v. Niles, 299 So.2d 162 (Fla. App. 1974)
• Parties: Gloria Marion NILES, Appellant, v. Donald Milton NILES, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 162

299 So.2d 162

Gloria Marion NILES, Appellant, v.Donald Milton NILES, Appellee.

No. 73--730.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

Sept. 4, 1974.

Gerald R. Herms, Tampa, for appellant.

Horace A. Knowlton, III, of Hughes & Knowlton, Tampa, for appellee.

GRIMES, Judge.

Appellant appeals a post-dissolution order which changed the custody of her two minor children from herself to appellee.Appellant, a white woman, asserts that she was improperly deprived of her custody rights by reason of her impending marriage to a black man.

From a study of the record we do not believe it can fairly be said that appellant lost her children solely because of her proposed interracial marriage.The evidence shows that on a number of occasions following the dissolution, men have spent the night in appellant's apartment while the children were present.Moreover, appellant has suffered from emotional instability as reflected by the fact that she was hospitalized with a nervous breakdown.Testimony indicates that the conduct of the children has changed for the worse in recent months.The circuit court counsellor recommended that custody of the children be awarded to appellee because appellant had 'chosen for herself, and therefore for herself And the children, a life style unacceptable to the father of the children and the society in which we live.'

In change-of-custody cases the welfare of the children is always of paramount concern.Jayne v. Dennison, Fla.App.2d1973, 284 So.2d 237;Bolton v. Gordon, Fla.App.4th1967, ...