North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
Where the trial court’s unchallenged findings show that the plaintiff-Father was passionate about and involved with the children’s education while the defendant-Mother was not, these findings and the children’s established familial and academic care in Surry County support the assignment of primary physical custody to Father.
We affirm the trial court’s custody order.
When asked what concerns the children’s paternal aunt and retired teacher, Candy Lowe, would have with the children attending a school in Forsyth County, where Mother lives, Lowe replied that “it would just depend on the type of school that it was . . . a lot of the schools that are in Winston-Salem are not necessarily the smaller community schools.”
The trial court found, “Candy Lowe is concerned about the children attending Forsyth County Schools because children in larger cities generally do not graduate or otherwise go to school with the same children during the course of their education.”
To the extent, if any, the trial court drew a misguided generalization about the efficacy of urban schools from Lowe’s testimony, the remaining unchallenged findings of fact support the trial court’s physical custody determination. The trial court’s unchallenged findings about Father’s involvement in his children’s education and the children’s established familial and academic care in Copeland support the assignment of primary physical custody to Father.
Affirmed.
Bodenhamer v. Bodenhamer (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-439-22, 10 pp.) (Lucy Inman, J.) Appealed from Surry County District Court (Marion Boone, J.) y John Vermitsky, for plaintiff; Clark Fischer for defendant. 2022-NCCOA-719
