Utah: Husband Objects to Wife’s Custody of Child. BY: Katherine S.

Link for opinion: http://www.lexisnexis.com.proxy.msbcollege.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/

Title: Utah: Husband Objects to Wife’s Custody of Child

Stephen Norris ALEXANDER, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Diane Jean ALEXANDER, Defendant and Respondent

The Utah Supreme Court held in Stephen Alexander v. Diane Alexander, 737 P.2d 221 (Supreme Court of Utah, 1987) that the custody of the three children of divorced parents is going to to the ex-husband.

The parties’ family life was marred by conflicts that climaxed in March 1984, when their oldest daughter attempted suicide by shooting herself in the head. Although the child recovered and is now doing well, she became impulsive and volatile as a result of brain damage, causing further stress to the parties’ relationship.

In July 1984, defendant took the parties’ youngest child, who was then four, to Missouri to live with the defendant’s brother. Defendant and her child traveled with a male family friend. During the trip, the defendant and her child slept in the same bed with the friend. Although defendant disavowed a sexual relationship with him, the trial court found that one existed. Plaintiff was granted a divorce after a trial held in April 1985.

The court held that the custody of the couple’s three older children should go to the husband and custody of the youngest child should go to the wife.

Plaintiff assigns as error the district court’s award of custody of the youngest child to defendant. Plaintiff was awarded custody of the three older children, who were then sixteen, fourteen, and thirteen years old. Plaintiff proffers three reasons why it was not proper for the district judge to award defendant custody of the youngest child: the decision was not in the child’s best interest; it was inappropriate to separate the children; and the decision was based on a maternal preference.

The trial court awarded defendant, who has only a tenth-grad education, no alimony, but gave her half of the marital estate and ordered plaintiff to pay the couple’s outstanding debts in lieu of alimony. Neither party was awarded child support.