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Spaulding v. Butler8/31/2001
parent may not be awarded custody BASED ON THAT ALIENATION.'") (quoting McAdams v. McAdams, 530 N.W.2d 647, 650 (N.D. 1995) (emphasis in original)); Renaud, 168 Vt. at 309, 721 A.2d at 466 ("a sustained course of conduct by one parent designed to interfere in the child's relationship with the other casts serious doubt upon the fitness of the offending party to be the custodial parent").
Under factor two, the court is to consider "the ability and disposition of each parent to assure that the child receives adequate food, clothing, medical care, other material needs and a safe environment." 15 V.S.A. ยง 665(b)(2). The court determined that factor two favored father. According to the court, while mother may be able to provide an adequate material and safe environment if she were not having to meet Michael's needs as well as Nathan's, the court found:
t appears that she has a pattern of relationships with men whose behavior threatens the safety of the environment for her children. The facts show that her relationships with Mr. Pero, Mr. Spaulding, and Mr. Havens all produced threatening and abusive environments for her children.
The court noted that father was able to provide an adequate material environment, but that:
The safety of the environment he offers is questionable considering his history of violent domestic relationships in the past, his history of shooting a cat with a gun on small provocation, and the recent incident in which he reacted to stress by slapping his wife and breaking a chair with four and two year old children in the home. There are problems with safety in both homes. This factor favors Mr. Spaulding on the whole because of his better ability to follow through on providing routine basic medical care.
It is confusing at best to fault mother for having relationships with abusers, citing father as one of her lapses in judgment, but nonetheless conclude that awarding custody to father is in Nathan's best interest. While it is true that mother's relationship with Pero and with father were abusive, the court found that she responded to each situation by obtaining relief-from-abuse orders against both men. The record is silent as to the resolution of her relationship with Havens. Thus, the court's conclusion that there is a problem with safety in mother's home is speculative at best. See In re Farley, 469 N.W.2d 295, 302 (Mich. 1991) ("When [the mother's] lawyer questioned the professionals whether [the mother] could, as a single parent, provide a fit home for the children, they dodged a direct response by stating that they were concerned that she would enter into another relationship with a man who might again abuse her and the children. There is no evidence other than myth of such a risk or that [the mother] would do so.").
On the other hand, the court found that father had threatened his first wife, causing her to obtain a relief-from-abuse order against him; had shot and killed Michael's cat; had threatened the mother's friends; had physically abused Michael and threatened mother, placing her in fear of serious physical abuse, thereby causing mother to obtain a relief-from-abuse order against him; had recently physically abused his current wife, Penelope, in front of Nathan, causing Nathan to curl up in a fetal position; had recently flown into a rage in the courtroom and had to be restrained; and generally has a temper. Thus, the court's findings support its conclusion that the safety of the environment father offers is questionable. Given the above, to the extent the court based its conclusion that factor two favored father on its determination that the risk of violence was equal in both households, its conclusion was in
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