Spahmer v. Gullette, 03SC751.
| Decision Date | 06 June 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 03SC751.,03SC751. |
| Parties | Jennifer SPAHMER, Petitioner, v. Todd GULLETTE, Respondent. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Barry J. Seidenfeld, PC, Barry J. Seidenfeld, Denver, Anne Whalen Gill, PC, Anne Whalen Gill, Castle Rock, for the Petitioner.
Todd W. Gullette, Pro Se, Boulder.
Ronald D. Litvak, Litvak, Litvak, Mehrtens & Epstein, PC, Denver, Amicus Curiae for Colorado Chapter American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
In this appeal from an initial allocation of parental responsibilities pursuant to subsection 14-10-124(1.5), C.R.S. (2004), Petitioner Jennifer Spahmer (Mother) argues that the trial court abused its discretion when it ordered her to live in Colorado in close proximity to Respondent Todd Gullette (Father). We agree, and conclude that in an initial determination to allocate parental responsibilities, a court has no statutory authority to order a parent to live in a specific location. Rather, the court must accept the location in which each party intends to live, and allocate parental responsibilities accordingly in the best interests of the child. As a result, we reverse the court of appeals' holding and remand with instructions to return the case to the trial court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Mother and Father met in Colorado in September 2000 and started dating. Shortly thereafter, Mother accepted a job as a financial analyst with Microsoft and moved to the state of Washington. Father continued to visit Mother in Washington and even considered moving there.
Mother learned she was pregnant in January 2001 and the parties subsequently got engaged. Father had originally planned to move to Washington, but changed his mind when he was offered a partnership with a real estate company in Colorado. Consequently, in May 2001, Mother left her job with Microsoft and moved back to Colorado.
A daughter, Jordan, was born to the parties in September 2001. Around this time, the relationship between Mother and Father began to deteriorate. As a result, the parties broke off their engagement and began counseling to mend their relationship. Following this decision, they spent Thanksgiving in Arizona with Mother's extended family and applied for jobs there. Mother's stepfather, mother, and half-sisters offered to assist the parties and Jordan if they moved to Arizona. Despite this offer, the parties separated upon their return to Colorado. Father moved in with his parents and Mother continued to live in Father's town home with Jordan.
The parties differ as to the events giving rise to this litigation. Mother indicates that she asked and received Father's permission to spend the Christmas holiday with her family and Jordan. Accordingly, on December 10, 2001, Mother began the drive to Arizona, informing Father of her departure from the road. Father became very concerned and upset when he learned of Mother's departure. Though he conceded that he had agreed to Mother's spending the Christmas holiday with her family, he claimed not to have known that Mother was leaving on December 10. Father also claimed he was concerned because, unbeknownst to him, Mother had moved most of her belongings from his town home. Father assumed that Mother was planning to leave Colorado permanently with Jordan. Mother maintained that she removed her belongings from the town home because Father had expressed a desire to rent the place to someone else.
On December 10, 2001, in response to these events, Father filed an action for the allocation of parental rights and responsibilities regarding Jordan. In addition, he filed a motion requesting a restraining order requiring Mother to return Jordan to Colorado, and prohibiting Mother from subsequently taking Jordan from Colorado. Mother was served with process at her family's home in Arizona and returned to Colorado with Jordan after Christmas.
The trial court subsequently entered temporary orders restraining Mother from removing Jordan from Colorado, granting Mother sole decision-making authority concerning Jordan, and allocating parenting time between Mother and Father. Since the court's temporary orders provided that Mother must have either Father or the court's permission to remove the child from Colorado, Mother filed a "Motion for Forthwith Hearing on Removal of Minor Child From Colorado." In that motion, Mother requested that the court enter an order "allowing the permanent residence of the minor child to be changed from the State of Colorado to the State of Arizona and to modify previous parenting time orders to accommodate that change." Upon its own motion, the court appointed a special advocate and set a hearing for allocation of parental responsibility pursuant to subsection 14-10-124(1.5).
In its subsequent order allocating parental responsibilities, the court briefly discussed the relevant statutes, explaining the tension between the best interests statute, section 14-10-124, and the relocation statute, section 14-10-129, C.R.S. (2004). The court ultimately determined that it was required to allocate parenting time and decision-making responsibilities between the parties in accordance with subsection 14-10-124(1.5). However, the court held that even if subsection 14-10-129(2) applied, its holding would be the same.
Based on the testimony of Mother, Father and the special advocate, the court held that it was in Jordan's best interests for the parents to have joint decision-making authority. The court also determined that it was in Jordan's best interests to remain in Colorado, stating, Accordingly, the court ordered Mother to remain in Colorado:
[Mother] has fifteen hours—one semester—left to graduate from Colorado State University. Should she choose to finish up and graduate the parties could still maintain their co-parenting schedule by living along the northern I-25 or Highway 287 corridors between Longmont and Fort Collins. Such an arrangement would allow [Mother] to go to school in Ft. Collins and [Father] to work in Boulder County. Otherwise, [Mother] is to seek employment and housing in the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area.
The court also ordered the parties to develop their own parenting schedule with the help of a parenting coordinator. Mother appealed.
In In re Responsibility of J.N.G., 2003 WL 21940954 (Colo.App.2003), the court of appeals affirmed the trial court's order, holding that the trial court properly applied the best interests standard "to determine Mother's request to relocate with the child to the State of Arizona." The court of appeals did not address Mother's constitutional argument that the trial court violated her right to travel when it ordered her to remain in Colorado because Mother failed to raise the constitutional issue prior to entry of permanent orders.
We granted certiorari to determine whether a trial court may order a parent to live in a specific location when it determines the best interests of the child. We conclude that in an initial determination to allocate parental responsibilities, a court has no statutory authority to order a parent to live in a specific location.1 Rather, the court must accept the location in which each party intends to live, and allocate parental responsibilities accordingly in the best interests of the child.
To determine whether the trial court abused its discretion in allocating parental responsibilities, we engage in a two-part analysis. First, we must establish that the trial court applied the correct statute. We must then analyze whether the trial court's decision under the statute was manifestly unfair, arbitrary, or unreasonable so as to constitute an abuse of discretion. See People v. Riggs, 87 P.3d 109, 114 (Colo.2004)
. Here, though the trial court applied the correct statute to the facts of the case, its decision was manifestly unfair and unreasonable so as to constitute an abuse of discretion.
This case began as a proceeding to allocate parental responsibilities pursuant to subsection 14-10-124(1.5). However, the proceedings were complicated when, as a result of temporary orders prohibiting her from leaving the state with Jordan, Mother filed a motion to relocate pursuant to subsection 14-10-129(2)(c). Such relocation motions are only appropriate to modify parenting time after an initial proceeding to allocate parental responsibilities. Even if temporary orders allocating parental responsibilities have entered, as here, it is well established that such orders merely allocate parental responsibilities pending a hearing pursuant to subsection 14-10-124(1.5). In re Marriage of Fickling, 100 P.3d 571, 574 (Colo.App.2004); In re Marriage of Lawson, 44 Colo.App. 105, 107-08, 608 P.2d 378, 380 (1980). Accordingly, allocation of parental responsibilities pursuant to subsection 14-10-124(1.5) is separate and distinct from modification hearings pursuant to subsection 14-10-129(2)(c). See In re Marriage of Fickling, 100 P.3d at 574
(); In re Marriage of Lawson, 44 Colo.App. at 107-08, 608 P.2d at 380 ().
Mother first contends that the trial court abused its discretion and exceeded its statutory authority when it ordered her to live in Colorado. We agree.
Interpretation of a statute is a question of law that we review de novo. E.g., United Airlines, Inc. v. Indus. Claim Appeals Office, 993...
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