Edwards v. Austin ex rel. Robinson

EDWARD N. SCRUGGS, Retired Circuit Judge.

This is a child custody case.

Robert Austin and Carrie Edwards Austin were married in 1968 and were never divorced. The child in question was born to Carrie in 1974. The mother died in July 1983, at which time Mittie Edwards, the maternal grandmother, took this child and Carrie’s other two children into her home to raise them.

In April 1984, Jessie Robinson filed his petition in Coffee County for a writ of habeas corpus for the custody of the child. He alleged that he was the child’s natural father and that the child’s mother is deceased. The…