Ex Parte Jacobs

In this divorce case we granted certiorari review to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion in (1) denying the wife's motion for a continuance and trying the case in the wife and child's absence and (2) awarding custody of the couple's minor daughter to the father.

The facts are as follows: The couple was married in 1975 in Alabama. On October 1, 1991, the husband filed a divorce complaint, alleging an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage and requesting, inter alia, custody of the couple's six-year-old daughter. The wife, who currently resides in Germany, obtained counsel…