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In re Estate of Watson12/10/2003
Considered on Briefs October 6, 2003
. On September 18, 2001, Brian Watson (Brian) was killed when a vehicle struck him while he was helping a motorist change a tire by the side of the road. Eventually, Brian's estate reached a wrongful death settlement with the driver of the vehicle involved in the accident. Upon petition of Joan Watson (Joan), Brian's mother, a circuit court undertook the task of equitably dividing the settlement between Joan and Calvin Watson (Calvin), Brian's father. The circuit court found Joan had a reasonable expectation of support from Brian but Calvin, with whom Brian had no meaningful relationship through much of his life, could not claim any reasonable expectation of support from Brian. Therefore, the circuit court awarded $54,956.81 to Joan and $1 to Calvin. Calvin appeals this apportionment of the wrongful death settlement. After thorough review of the record, we cannot say the circuit court abused its discretion, and we affirm.
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
. On September 18, 2001, Brian was killed when a vehicle struck him while he was helping a motorist change a tire by the side of the road. At the time of his death, Brian was twenty-five years old, unmarried, and without children. Brian was survived by his parents, Calvin and Joan, who had been divorced since Brian was thirteen years old.
. The youngest of four brothers, Brian spent the first half of his life growing up in Florida. Because of his dyslexia, Brian struggled in school, and, unfortunately, his home life was often traumatic as well. The marriage between Calvin and Joan was rocky at best and often marred by Calvin's physical and verbal abuse of both Joan and the children. Finally, in July 1989, Joan obtained a divorce from Calvin. Pursuant to the divorce decree, a Florida court granted Joan full custody of Brian, the only minor child, and allowed Calvin rights of visitation.
. After the divorce, Calvin exercised his rights of visitation with Brian from July 1989 until December 1991. In the following six months, however, Calvin failed to exercise any visitation rights with his son. In June 1992, after providing notice to both Calvin and the Florida court which had granted the divorce, Joan and Brian moved to Sturgis, South Dakota. Joan had relatives in the Sturgis area and believed Brian would receive a better education in South Dakota. Calvin did not contest the move. Before leaving, Joan provided Calvin with the address of Joan's sister in Sturgis, pending Joan's search for a permanent address.
. Subsequent to Joan's and Brian's relocation to South Dakota, the relationship between Brian and his father was almost non-existent. In December 1992, Calvin mailed a birthday card and Christmas card to Brian. Both cards contained checks drawn on a closed bank account. The record indicates that over the next few years Calvin sent four more cards to Brian, but because of an incorrect address, the cards were returned to Calvin. Calvin also made two telephone calls to South Dakota - one to Joan's sister and one to Brian's high school. In these conversations, however, Calvin made no attempt to speak with Brian nor did he inquire about Brian's well-being. Outside of the six cards, Calvin made no effort to establish a relationship with Brian over the last twelve years of his life.
. Despite his learning disability, Brian graduated from high school in 1994. After his graduation, Brian and his mother traveled to Florida for a vacation. At the time of the trip, Brian was eighteen years old. During the trip, in response to direct questioning from Joan, Brian expressed no interest in contacting his father while they were in Florida. In fact, Brian neve
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