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Winslow v. Winslow3/28/2000
Appeal From: Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Hon. Timothy J. Patterson
Opinion Vote: AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED AND REMANDED IN PART. Rhodes Russell, C.J., concurs. Crahan, J., concurs in part and dissents in part.
Opinion:
Dawn Winslow (Mother) appeals from the trial court's judgment and decree of dissolution of her marriage to William Winslow (Father). On appeal, she challenges the child custody and child support provisions of the decree, as well as the disposition of a workers' compensation settlement to Father. We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.
Mother and Father were married in 1992. A child, Z.W., was born of the marriage in 1993. Mother and Father separated in June of 1996 when Father left Mother and took Z.W. with him. Shortly after Father left, Mother was shooting heroin and threatening to kill herself. Father helped her get into a drug treatment program at Queen of Peace. Mother also spent some time in July of 1996 in the psychiatric ward at Deaconess Hospital. Also in July of 1996, Father filed a petition for a protective order against Mother, "because she tried to run over me with a car with my baby in my arms and her two daughters at my side." Father requested custody of Z.W. in the petition. An order of protection was entered and the court awarded Father custody for six months. In July 1996, Father received a DWI while Z.W. was in the car with him.
In October 1996, Mother obtained an order of protection against Father in St. Louis City. He denied the allegations contained in it and claimed Mother had only obtained that order in an attempt to get custody of Z.W. while Father was serving 10 days in jail for his DWI.
From July to December 1996, Mother did not see Z.W. at all. In December of 1996, Father filed a petition for dissolution of the marriage. Around that same time, a hotline call was made against Father, alleging abuse at Father's father's house, where Father and Z.W. were living. The Division of Family Services (DFS) investigated the incident and concluded it was unsubstantiated. However, at this time, Father consented to give legal custody to DFS, but retained joint physical custody of Z.W. with Mother. This arrangement lasted until the middle of January 1997 when Father's order of protection expired. From January until March or April 1997, Mother saw Z.W. every weekend.
In March or April 1997, an allegation of sexual abuse of Z.W. was filed against Mother's boyfriend, with whom she was living at the time. DFS determined there was probable cause to believe Mother's boyfriend had abused Z.W. Mother denied any sexual abuse had occurred. She continued to live with her boyfriend until about November of 1997. After the allegations of abuse, Father retained physical custody of Z.W., but DFS allowed Mother only supervised visitation one hour per week.
At the time of trial, Father was working with a counselor through DFS to improve his parenting skills. He saw the counselor once every two weeks and the counselor also saw Z.W. every week. Father admitted to a drug and alcohol problem. At the time of the first day of trial, Father had been sober for 18 months and went regularly to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
Mother testified about numerous occasions of abuse by Father during the course of their marriage, claiming Father had abused her and Z.W throughout the marriage. Father testified there was physical abuse in the marriage, but denied that he had ever physically abused Mother or Z.W. He also denied ever physically assaulting her or threatening her in any way. The guardian ad litem appointed by the court recommended that Father receive c
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