Watkins v. Wiley

• Decision Date: 14 January 2022
• Docket Number: 2020-CA-1363-MR,2020-CA-1442-MR
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals
• Parties: TARA A. WATKINS APPELLANT v. STEVEN JOSEPH WILEY APPELLEE AND TARA A. WATKINS APPELLANT v. STEVEN JOSEPH WILEY; AND HON. COREY SHIFFMAN APPELLEES

TARA A. WATKINS APPELLANT
v.
STEVEN JOSEPH WILEY APPELLEE

AND

TARA A. WATKINS APPELLANT
v.
STEVEN JOSEPH WILEY; AND HON. COREY SHIFFMAN APPELLEES

Nos. 2020-CA-1363-MR, 2020-CA-1442-MR

Court of Appeals of Kentucky

January 14, 2022

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

APPEAL FROM JEFFERSON CIRCUIT COURT HONORABLE LAUREN ADAMS OGDEN, JUDGE ACTION NO. 11-CI-503954

BRIEFS FOR APPELLANT: Harold L. Storment Louisville, Kentucky

BRIEF FOR APPELLEE STEVEN JOSEPH WILEY: Corey Shiffman Nicholas A. Wheatley Louisville, Kentucky

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BEFORE: CLAYTON, CHIEF JUDGE; CETRULO AND McNEILL, JUDGES.

OPINION

CLAYTON, CHIEF JUDGE

Tara A. Watkins brings two consolidated appeals from multiple orders of the Jefferson Family Court pertaining to custody, visitation, and child support for her son, T.W. Tara also challenges the family court's decision not to allow T.W. to testify, its admission of the testimony of T.W.'s counselor, and its imposition of Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure 11 ("Rule 11") sanctions. Having reviewed the record and the applicable law, we affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

Tara A. Watkins and Steven J. Wiley are the biological parents of T.W., who was born in 2007. They were not married and never lived together. Initially, T.W. lived primarily with Tara and Steven had visitation on alternate weekends. In November 2011, Tara sought custody and child support from Steven in Jefferson Family Court. She and Steven thereafter entered into an agreement regarding custody, parenting time, and child support which was entered by the family court as an order on December 13, 2011. Its main provisions were that Tara would "maintain custody" of T.W. and Steven would have reasonable parenting time, including alternate weekends. Steven was to pay monthly child support of

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$350 dating from November 30, 2011, with an increase to $468 per month beginning on November 11, 2014.

On February 14, 2013, the family court entered an order incorporating another agreement between the parties which resolved issues regarding notice to the other party if one of them intended to move out of state and included an expansion of parenting time for Steven. In May 2014, Steven filed a motion seeking equal timesharing which was denied. According to Tara, Steven stopped paying child support in 2014.

In June 2016, Tara and Steven entered into an agreement concerning timesharing and child support. It stated in pertinent part:

As of 4/7/16, Steven J. Wiley and Tara A. Watkins consider any and all previous debts in child support reconciled. Mr Wiley and Ms. Watkins have agreed, in an effort to maximize the quality of life for [T.W.], to amend the court ordered agreement in Jefferson County, KY in regards specifically to child support and visitation between Mr. Wiley and Ms Watkins.

The agreement described how the parties had forged a working relationship that allowed parenting time to be distributed more evenly. In recognition of this, the agreement provided that "Child support will no longer be paid through the state as Mr. Wiley and Ms. Watkins have agreed to split all costs 50/50 for school, medical, and dental for [T.W.] until [T.W.] reaches the age of 18[.]" T.W. was to continue living primarily with Tara. The agreement specified

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that each parent would be responsible for T.W.'s housing, food costs, clothing, and other basic needs while he was in that parent's care and that he could stay at either household at any time.

This 2016 agreement was not filed with the court. During the following two years, T.W. lived with his mother during the week and his father on the weekends, and each parent provided for him while he was staying with them.

In 2018, Tara and Steven agreed to reverse the schedule. T.W. began living with his father during the week and attending school from his home in Shelby County, and staying with his mother on weekends. Steven assumed most of the child's day-to-day care. He scheduled his medical, dental, and counseling appointments, attended school functions, and met with T.W.'s teachers.

The relationship between the parents began to worsen. They argued over T.W.'s access to a cell phone and Steven accused Tara of behaving erratically and being under the influence of drugs. In May 2019, Steven kept T.W. from Tara and refused to allow her any contact with him. On August 15, 2019, the court ordered T.W. to continue living primarily with Steven and with Tara every weekend except for the third weekend of the month.

In October 2019, T.W. ran away from Steven's home, allegedly at Tara's instigation. He was found several miles away at a friend's house. Steven took T.W. to Tara's home and told her "he's your problem now." Tara was living

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in Louisville at the time, but she withdrew T.W. from school and moved to Sellersburg, Indiana. Tara explained that she relocated to live with her sister who would help her care for T.W.

Tara thereafter stopped returning T.W. to Steven. Steven filed motions to hold Tara in contempt for refusing to return T.W. and for changing his school.

The family court entered an order on November 5, 2019, requiring the parties to resume the parenting schedule established in its August 15, 2019 order; another order on December 2, 2019, again requiring the parties to follow the parenting schedule and for T.W. to be returned to Steven; and a third on December 16, 2019, allowing Steven to pick up T.W. directly from his school in Indiana because Tara had not followed the previous orders.

On July 14, 2020 and August 14, 2020, the family court held a bifurcated hearing on several outstanding motions, including Steven's motion to modify custody, establish child support, and to hold Tara in contempt and on both parties' motions to modify parenting time. The family court declined to hear testimony from T.W. at the hearing. It did allow testimony from Edwin Raidt, a licensed professional clinical counselor. T.W. had been receiving counseling from Raidt, at the recommendation of his school, since February 2019. Raidt testified at the hearing that T.W. has an adjustment disorder. He has few friends, is socially

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disconnected, and possibly suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder ("PTSD"). T.W. told Raidt about several traumatic events he had witnessed in Tara's home, including domestic violence, evidence of...