Title: New Mexico: Appeals Court holds order modifying custody and parenting plan. Mother has custody and father visitation. BY: Susanne M.

Link for opinion: http://statecasefiles.justia.com/documents/new-mexico/court-of-appeals/30-985-12.pdf

The New Mexico Court of Appeals held in Perrault v. Perrault, 2011 N.M. App. Unpub. LEXIS 282 (N.M. Ct. App. July 11, 2011) that order modifying custody and parenting plan for mother Debra Ann Perrault, a/k/a Debra Ann Poor can move with the children to the state of Arkansas with her now new husband.

Jacob Henry Perrault (Father), appeals from the district courts order on Debra Ann Perrault (Mother) verified motion to modify parenting plan and time-share agreement. The order allows mother to move children, ages five and two, to Arkansas for the school year with visitation in summers and holidays to father.

Father also contends that the district court erred in refusing the deposition testimony of his son, that mother had beaten him and that she forces her son to tell people that father beats him. He goes on to say that the district court erred in refusing testimony of CYFD investigators had substantiated child abuse against mother for beating their son, also father says district court did not give proper weight to the photographs that lawyer submitted showing bruises on his son from beating from mother. Father argues that the child should be close by so he can monitor whether they are being beaten my Mother. Mother admits hitting the child once and deeply regrets it and she has been subject or CYFD intervention, and that she had complied with all of CYFD’s requirements for regaining primary physical custody of the children.

The court held that the five year old son is not capable of understanding the questions asked of him during a deposition, so the court quashed it. The court believes the one time incident of the mother hitting son was a lapse in mother’s otherwise normally good judgment, and father could not specify any other specific time that children had been in danger or produce any evidence thereof. The court held to the best interests of the children in allowing them to move to Arkansas with mother, in retaining legal joint custody in father and mother, granting father summers and other visitation. The court weighted all the evidence relevant to the best interest of children including father’s allegations and photographs, mother’s disclosures, and mother’s affidavit concerning her actual job prospects, the available schools, and a family support system that are available to her in Arkansas and not as available to her in New Mexico.

Labels for the post: custody, best interest, deposition, investigator, photographs, beating, visitation, quashing, modify, parenting