Higgins v. Merritt

George Rose Smith, Justice.

This is a child custody case. When the divorce was granted in December, 1974, the court awarded custody of the couple’s 18-month-old daughter Tonya to the mother, “subject to reasonable visitation rights” of the father. That somewhat vague language was made specific in April, 1976, when the father’s periods of visitation were fixed as beginning at 3:30 on Friday and ending at 3:30 on Sunday on alternate weekends, “unless Tonya Lynn is ill.” Nevertheless, controversies over visitation continued, with the mother being cited three times for contempt of court.

Eventually,…