Johnson v. Domingues

CATHELL, Judge. Diane Johnson, the appellant and former spouse of the appellee, John Domingues, appeals from an order of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County which granted sole custody of the parties’ two minor children to the appellee. As one of the many questions raised by appellant is dispositive, we need not list or address the remaining issues raised. The question addressed is: Did the Chancellor err in terminating the appellant’s physical custody of the minor children and awarding sole custody to the appellee?

Diane Johnson and John Domingues were married on June 25, 1982. Two children were born of the marriage, Kathryn Lynn on December 8, 1982, and Matthew John on February 5, 1984. On January 5, 1985, the parties separated. They entered into a separation agreement on May 14, 1985, in which they agreed to resolve the issue of custody of the children as follows: ¹³⁰ The parties agree that they shall have joint custody of their minor children, with the children to reside with [Ms. Johnson], [Mr. Domingues] shall be allowed liberal visitation with the children, as reasonably agreed to between the parties____ On November 5, 1986, the parties entered into an addendum to the separation agreement, which provided Mr. Domingues with specific overnight visitation every Tuesday and every other weekend.

The parties were divorced absolutely on December 23, 1986. The separation agreement and addendum were incorporated, but not merged, into the divorce decree. On February 26, 1988, Ms. Johnson married Theodore Bowles, Jr., M.D., a physician in the United States Army. In March of 1988, Bowles learned that the Army was transferring him to San Antonio, Texas.

Naturally, the relocation of the children to Texas along with Bowles and Ms. Johnson would, to say the least, affect Mr. Domingues’ visitation schedule. Ms. Johnson claimed that she attempted to discuss the matter with Mr. Domingues, but he refused to talk to her. Mr. Domingues, on the other hand, denied Ms. Johnson’s claim. In any event, the parties ended up before the circuit court on Ms. Johnson’s petition for modification of Mr. Domingues’ visitation schedule, and Mr. Domingues’ counter-complaint in which he sought sole custody of the minor children.

The case was set for hearing before a Master for Domestic Relations Causes. After a five-day hearing which produced approximately 1300 pages of transcript, the Master recommended that sole custody of the children be awarded to Mr. Domingues, with extensive rights of visitation reserved to Ms. Johnson. Exceptions were filed and denied at a hearing at which no further testimony was taken. The Master, in the proceeding below, filed a written report entitled “Report and Recommendations of the Domestic Relations Master.” The report summarized what the Master viewed as pertinent portions of the testimony, ¹³¹ followed by the Master’s findings of fact, conclusions and opinion under appropriate sub-headings.

The facts as found by the Master were as follows: 1. There has been a significant change of circumstance since the Judgment of Absolute Divorce was filed on December 23, 1986. At that time and until the summer of 1988, both parties lived in Montgomery County. [Ms. Johnson] has now moved to San Antonio, Texas. 2. [Ms. Johnson’s] husband interferes with the relationship between the minor children and [Mr. Domingues]. 3. [Ms. Johnson] does nothing to further the relationship between [Mr. Domingues] and the parties’ children. 4. [Ms. Johnson] and her husband are making every effort to establish their family to the exclusion of [Mr. Domingues]. 5. [Ms. Johnson] has refused to communicate with [Mr. Domingues] even when such communication is reasonably necessary to protect the children’s well-being, for example, in regard to her remarriage. 6. Any change in economic circumstances has been due to voluntary decisions on [Ms. Johnson’s] part. 7.

There has been no significant increase in [Ms. Johnson’s] expenses for the children except insofar as she has attributed costs of housing, furniture, swimming pool and her husband’s car to the children. [1] The Master then made the following conclusion: In this case, the plaintiff’s move from Montgomery County, Maryland, the domicile of both parties at the time of the divorce and throughout the period after that until July, 1988, as well as the children’s home from birth, is a substantial change of circumstances in determining whether modification from joint custody with the plaintiff having residential custody to a change in legal and/or physical custody should be determined. ¹³² The Master continued further with a series of conclusory statements which illustrated how the parties simply failed to communicate, resulting in the creation of problems between themselves. The Master mainly attributed this communication breakdown to Ms. Johnson’s conduct. Notably absent from this series of conclusions was a statement that such problems constituted a change in conditions which affected the welfare of the children. 2 The Chancellor heard Ms. Johnson’s exceptions to the Master’s Report, and issued his decision in a written Memorandum Opinion and Order. The Memorandum Opinion and Order, after reciting some of the conclusions reached by the Master, contained the following: Having considered all of the testimony at the hearings, the Master concluded that a continuation of the present joint custodial arrangement is impractical, due primarily to the actions of Plaintiff and her husband.

Having so found, and weighing the respective advantages and disadvantages of placing sole custody with Plaintiff or Defendant, she concluded that the best interests of the children would better be served by the granting of sole custody to their father, with liberal visitation provided the Plaintiff. These conclusions by the Master are well supported by the evidence. In making her determinations the Master properly concluded that the proposed change in custody is justified by either the “best interests of the children ” test or the “change in circumstances” test. The appropriate test for such a modification is a combination of both. [emphasis added] The Standard For a Change of Custody We restated the standard to be met in order to justify a chancellor’s grant of a change in custody in Levitt v. Levitt, ¹³³ 79 Md.App. 394 , 556 A.2d 1162 , cert. denied, 316 Md. 549 , 560 A.2d 1118 (1989).

Quoting Sartoph v. Sartoph, 31 Md.App. 58, 66-67 , 354 A.2d 467 , cert. denied, 278 Md. 732 (1976), we said: “The custody of children should not be disturbed unless there is some strong reason affecting the welfare of the child. To justify a change in custody, a change in conditions must have occurred which affects the welfare of the child and not of the parents. The reason for this rule is that the stability provided by the continuation of a successful relationship with a parent who has been in day to day contact with a child generally far outweighs any alleged advantage which might accrue to the child as a result of a custodial change. In short, when all goes well with children, stability, not change, is in their best interests.” Levitt, 79 Md.App. at 397-98 , 556 A.2d 1162 (emphasis in original, footnotes omitted).

We went on to state in Levitt , quoting Jordan v. Jordan, 50 Md.App. 437, 443 , 439 A.2d 26 , cert. denied, 293 Md. 332 (1982), that: “The burden is on the appellant, who affirmatively seeks