Surrey v. Surrey, 2241.

• Decision Date: 03 September 1958
• Docket Number: No. 2241.,2241.
• Parties: Walter S. SURREY, Appellant, v. Rita S. SURREY, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

144 A.2d 421

Walter S. SURREY, Appellant, v. Rita S. SURREY, Appellee.

No. 2241.

Municipal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Argued August 11, 1958.

Decided September 3, 1958.

Leonard Braman, Washington, D. C., with whom David G. Bress, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for appellant.

Evelyn N. Cooper, Washington, D. C., with whom Joseph H. Sharlitt, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for appellee.

Before ROVER, Chief Judge, HOOD, Associate Judge, and CAYTON (Chief Judge, Retired) sitting by designation under Code, § 11-776(b).

HOOD, Associate Judge.

This proceeding is the aftermath of a legal contest between two parents for the custody of their two minor children. After a long trial in the Domestic Relations Branch of the trial court before Judge Myers, he found "that from the standpoint of education, morality, religious interest and social attainment, both the mother and the father appear to be equal"; but he further found that the mother "has been the unfortunate victim of a serious mental illness," diagnosed as "Schizophrenia, Paranoid type," and that he was not satisfied she was fully recovered and would not be subject to further recurrences of her illness. Accordingly he concluded: "The best interests of the children require that custody be given to the plaintiff father with whom they are now living, subject to the right of the defendant mother to see and visit with them at stated intervals."

In accordance with these findings an order was entered on December 2, 1957, awarding custody to the father, "with the right reserved to the defendant, Rita S. Surrey, to see and visit with said minor children on alternate Sundays commencing December 15, 1957, until further order of this Court, upon the condition that said children shall be brought to defendant's house in the District of Columbia by their nurse-maid or other competent person authorized by the plaintiff, where said minor children shall remain with the defendant without interference during the hours of 9:30 A.M. and 4:30 P.M. on each designated visit, and said nurse-maid or other competent person aforesaid shall remain at said house during the period of said visit and thereafter return said children to their home with plaintiff, and said children shall not be taken outside of the District of Columbia for any purpose without permission granted in advance by the plaintiff."

Apparently the right of visitation was exercised by the mother until March 1958 when she was admitted to St. Elizabeths Hospital for mental examination. When this occurred the father moved to terminate the visitation rights and on March 21 Judge Myers ordered that the visitation rights be "suspended until the further order of this Court." On April 2 she was found to be of unsound mind and committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital. On June 3 she was discharged from the hospital and on June 4 an order was entered by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia restoring her "to her former legal status as a person of sound mind."

Prior to her discharge from St. Elizabeths Hospital and while she was on "visit status," her counsel filed a motion asking that the visitation rights granted by the order of December 2, 1957, and suspended by the order of March 21, 1958, be reinstated. The husband opposed this motion "on the ground that defendant's present condition is such that visitation with the children would not be in the best interests of the children." Several weeks after entry of the District Court's order restoring the wife to her former legal status as one of sound mind, the motion for reinstatement of visitation rights came on for hearing in the Domestic Relations Branch before Judge Burnett. On June 25 he entered an order granting visitation rights to the wife on practically identical terms with those granted by Judge Myers' order of December 2, 1957. The father has appealed from that order.

He contends that the order reinstating the wife's visitation rights was granted purely on the basis of the order of the District Court; and that the judge was in error in failing...