Allison A. Rogers v. Gregory Wasik (2012)

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION REGARDING MOTION FOR MODIFICATION (187)

The parties, never married, are the parents of one minor child, Kayla Wasik born July 10, 1999.   The paternal grandmother was granted intervenor status pursuant to an agreement of the parties dated July 7, 2005.   Throughout the child's short life, the parents have engaged in high conflict litigation punctuated by emergency ex parte applications for custody, motions for contempt, motions for modification, appointments of multiple guardians ad litem, referrals to the regional family trial docket, motions for drug tests, calls to the police, motions for counsel fees, motions for family relations evaluations, and numerous discovery disputes.

The present access schedule is that the paternal grandmother has the child from Saturday at 2 p.m. until Sunday at 5 p.m. and from Wednesday from 3:15 p.m. until 6 p.m., that the father has the child on Thursday after school until Thursday at 6 p.m. and from Friday after school until Saturday at 2 p.m. with the mother having the balance of the time.   The parties appeared, together with the Guardian ad litem and counsel for the intervening grandmother on April 10 and April 11, 2012 regarding this motion.   The parties agreed that the numerous pending motions for contempt could be heard at a later date.

FACTUAL FINDINGS

The court finds proven by a fair preponderance of the evidence the following facts:

1. The parties, never married, are the parents of one minor child, Kayla Wasik born July 10, 1999.

2. The paternal grandmother was granted intervenor status pursuant to an agreement of the parties dated July 7, 2005.

3. The present access schedule is that the paternal grandmother has the child from Saturday at 2 p.m. until Sunday at 5 p.m. and from Wednesday from 3:15 p.m. until 6 p.m., that the father has the child on Thursday after school until Thursday at 6 p.m. and from Friday after school until Saturday at 2 p.m. with the mother having the balance of the time.

4. The parties have maintained a dysfunctional relationship with one another since this litigation was commenced in 2002 and probably before that.   All of them are estranged from one another.   The plaintiff mother has a new husband and a seven-year-old son and a 1 1/2–year–old daughter.   The father has a pregnant girlfriend.   The father is estranged from his mother.   The child is estranged from the father and is particularly estranged from his girlfriend.   The plaintiff mother is estranged from everyone.   The paternal grandmother appears to be grounded, balanced and is more likely to encourage a healthy relationship between the child and the parties than anyone else.

5. The child, nearly 13, was born when her parents were approximately 17 years old.   The paternal grandmother acted as a refuge for the parties as well as for the child.   For much of the child's early life, the grandmother was the primary caregiver with the parents coming and going.   Sometimes one or both of the parents lived with the grandmother.

6. The father has not had communication or access with his daughter since October.   This is due in part to the child disliking her father's girlfriend, the girlfriend being unkind to the child, the father taking his girlfriend's side and the mother either passively or aggressively alienating the child from her father.   Apparently, the mother has done little or nothing to encourage the child to go on her court-ordered visits with the father so they stopped.

7. The child is apparently doing well among all of this chaos.   She was previously receiving special education assistance but has “graduated” from that regimen and is now fully mainstreamed.   She just attained honor roll status in her school.   She was previously receiving therapy and all parties agreed that she should return to therapy, at least to effectuate a reunification with her father.

8. Throughout the child's life, the grandmother has been the stable, consistent and tranquil influence;  she has been the emotional and financial provider for the child.   The grandmother is retired or disabled from full-time employment and she is able and willing to devote all of her time and energy to her granddaughter.   In contrast, both parents work full time, have new significant others and new children or expected children.

9. Kayla lives with her mother in Colchester and takes a long bus ride to and from school each day.   The mother drives to Preston each morning, virtually past the grandmother's home to bring her toddler to her own mother's house and then drives to Uncasville for work each day, repeating the routine in the evening.   Kayla generally takes the bus home from school and is either alone or waits for her stepfather to come home from his job in Manchester each day.

10. Each party and the Guardian ad litem submitted proposed orders.

The father essentially would like to see his relationship with his daughter repaired and to resume his visits on Thursday evening and Friday overnight with the assistance of therapeutic reunification.   He would ask that the current holiday schedule remain in effect, that the child not be exposed to second-hand smoke, and that the parties not disparage one another in the child's presence.

The mother proposes that the father's access time continue, essentially unchanged but that the grandmother's time be limited to Wednesday after school until 6 p.m. and one weekend per month from 4 p.m. on Saturday until 5 p.m. on Sunday.   During the summer, the mother proposes that the father would have from Thursday at 2 p.m. until Saturday at 4 p.m. and the grandmother would have Wednesdays from 7:15 a.m. until 6 p.m. and continue with one weekend per month from Saturday at 4 p.m. until Sunday at 5 p.m. The mother asks that the paternal grandmother will no longer be recognized as an intervening third party.

The paternal grandmother proposes that she would have the child on Monday and Tuesday from after school until 6 p.m. and Wednesday from after school until Thursday morning at school, as school is only five minutes from grandmother's home and she is always home.   She asks for three weekends per month from Saturday at 5 p.m. until Sunday at 5 p.m. She asks that the father have access from Thursday after school until Saturday at 5 p.m. and that the mother would have the balance of the time.

The Guardian ad litem recommended that the father have parenting time every Thursday after school until 7:30 p.m. and every Friday after school until Saturday at 2 p.m. She recommended that the grandmother have the child from Saturday at 2 p.m. until Sunday at 5 p.m. and Wednesday from after school until 6 p.m.

11. The court finds that the grandmother's plan, with some modifications, offers the child the most stability, serenity and undivided attention to the child.   The parents have been fighting for at least ten years with no end in sight and appear unaware of or uncaring as to the effect their acrimony has on their child.

ORDERS

1. The parents shall continue to enjoy joint legal custody of the minor child.   There shall be no designation of primary physical custody but for school purposes only, the mother shall be designated as having primary physical custody and the child shall continue her education in the Colchester public school system.

2. The paternal grandmother's access time will include every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from after school until 6 p.m. and if there is no school, from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. and the third weekend of each month from Saturday at 5 p.m. until Sunday at 5 p.m.

3. Commencing with sessions of therapeutic reunification, and when the child's therapist and the child deem it appropriate, the father shall enjoy every Thursday from after school until 6 p.m. and every Friday from after school until Saturday at 5 p.m. If there is no school on those days, the father's access will begin at 8 a.m. Until the child consents, the father will not exercise his access in the presence of his girlfriend.

4. The mother will have the child for all other times.

5. The child shall immediately be enrolled in therapy with a stated purpose of reunifying the father and the child.

6. Each party shall be entitled to two nonconsecutive weeks during the summer vacation beginning and ending on Friday at 5 p.m. The mother shall declare her two weeks of summer vacation by April 30 of each year, the father will declare his two weeks by May 15 of each year and the paternal grandmother will declare her two weeks by May 30 of each year.   If there is a conflict in the declared weeks, the mother's schedule shall have priority in even-numbered years and the father's schedule shall have priority in odd-numbered years.   Whoever's vacation week it is, they must not work during that week but be available to the child throughout that week or forfeit that week to the normal weekly access schedule described above.   For all other times during the summer vacation, the normal weekly access schedule shall be observed.

7. Each year for the Christmas holiday week, commencing December 26 through the return to school, the mother shall have the first year, the father will have the second year and the paternal grandmother will have the third year following the date of these orders.

8. Each year for the February holiday week, the father will have the first year, the paternal grandmother will have the second year and the mother will have the third year following the date of these orders.

9. Each year for the spring holiday break, the paternal grandmother will have the first year, the mother will have the second year and the father will have the third year following the date of these orders.

10. The child will be with the mother on Mother's Day and on mother's birthday from noon until 5 p.m. The child will be with the father on Father's Day and father's birthday from noon until 5 p.m. The parents will share the child's birthday with the father having the child from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. and the mother having the child from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The child will spend Christmas Eve from 6 p.m. until Christmas day at 3 p.m. with the mother and from 3 p.m. until 9 p.m. Christmas Day with the father.   The child will spend Thanksgiving with the father on Thanksgiving Day from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. and from 3 p.m. overnight with the mother.   The child will spend Easter with the mother from 8 p.m. the Saturday before until 2 p.m. on Easter Sunday and the father shall have Easter Sunday from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. The child will be with the paternal grandmother on her birthday from after school until 8 p.m. and if there is no school from noon until 8 p.m.

11. On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the grandmother will pick up the child at school, from her bus stop or from the mother's home.   On Saturday, the father will bring the child to the grandmother's house on grandmother's weekend and to mother's house on mother's weekends.   On the father's visitation days, he will pick up the child from school and return the child to the home of whichever party has the next access.   Whenever the mother's time begins on school days, she will pick up the child at grandmother's home.   On Saturdays, the father will bring the child to the mother's house on the mother's weekends and to grandmother's house on grandmother's weekends.   On Sundays, following the grandmother's visit, the grandmother will bring the child to the mother's home.

12. Whoever has the minor child for access time during the child's curricular or extracurricular activities will insure that she has been brought to that activity.   Whoever has the child on a school night will insure that her homework has been completed for the next day.

13. The Guardian ad litem fees are found to be reasonable and shall be paid with each party paying one-third within 90 days of receipt of a final bill.

14. The presumptive child support based on the mother earning $656 per week and the father earning $700 per week is $123 per week from the father to the mother.   In view of the unique shared parenting relationship between the three parties and in recognition of the fact that the child will be spending a substantial amount of time and expense away from the mother's home, the court will deviate downward such that the father will pay $70 per week in support and 25% of any unreimbursed medical and dental expenses.

15. All parties shall allow the child telephone, text and e-mail communication during their respective time consistent with the child's schedule.

16. The child shall be immediately enrolled in therapy and continue until successfully discharged by the therapist or in the agreement of both parents that it is no longer necessary.   She shall be required by her parents to attend therapy and to resume visits with her father.

17. All three parties will refrain from discussing this case with the child.   No parent shall make disparaging remarks about one another in the child's presence nor permit third parties to do so.

18. The child shall not be exposed to secondhand smoke either in a vehicle or in a home.

19. The vacation and holiday schedules summarized above will take priority over the normal weekly schedule.

20. So long as the father is current on his child support as of December 31 of each year, he shall be permitted to claim the dependency exemption for even years and the mother shall take odd years.

Shluger, J.

Shluger, Kenneth L., J.