Anchors v. Guest
Anchors v. Guest
Opinion of the Court
Mrs. P. L. Guest filed a petition seeking to restrain and enjoin Clanton Anchors from taking possession of the person of Ellen Yera Anchors, a little girl three j^ears old, or from removing the child from the home, custody, and possession of the petitioner, Mrs. Guest. The defendant answered, and at the inter-. locutory hearing pursuant to the order of the judge of the superior court it was agreed by counsel for both parties that the decision , of the court in the interlocutory hearing should be a final decision as to the permanent injunction sought. On the trial it appeared that the defendant, Clanton Anchors, married Myrtle Guest, the daughter of petitioner, in 1924. The defendant and his wife lived in the home of Mrs. Guest continuously after their marriage. Ellen Yera Anchors, the daughter of the defendant and his wife Myrtle, was born November 5, 1925. Mrs. Myrtle Anchors died while in childbirth on September 18, 1927. After her death the defendant and his little daughter continued to reside in the home of the petitioner, Mrs. Guest, the child’s grandmother, and so resided at the time of the filing of the petition in this case. During this time Mrs. Guest fed and dressed the child and otherwise cared for her, though the father bought some of her clothes and furnished medical attention when necessary. To support her .claim of right to the custody and control of the child, the petitioner asserted that about four hours before the mother of the child died while attempting to give birth to another baby, she gave her daughter, Ellen Yera Anchors, then nearly two years of age, to petitioner, and requested that she take the little girl into her custody and control and care for her as long as she (the grand
Though the father denied the alleged gift, -the trial judge had before him for his consideration the following testimony concerning the agreement from witnesses in behalf of the plaintiff: Dr. Linton Smith, the physician attending Mrs. Anchors at the time of her death, testified: “I was sitting on the bed, or by the bed, talking to Mrs. Anchors and Mrs. Guest, her mother. Mrs. Anchors said to her mother, ‘Mother, I am not going away from here with you; I am not going home with you.’ Mrs. Guest reassured her, and told her that she thought she was. She said, ‘No, I am not, and I want to give you my babies.’ She had only one baby at that time, but was attempting to give birth to another. She said, ‘Will you promise to take care of my babies ?’ Mrs. Guest said, ‘If anything happens, I will.’ Mr. Anchors was sitting on the porch at the hospital. Whether he heard Mrs. Anchors I don’t know, but he turned and came in from the porch. She turned and said to him, ‘I have given my babies to Mama, and she has promised to take care of them as long as she lives. Will it be all right with you?’ He says, ‘Yes.’ She says, ‘Did you hear that, Mama?’ He agreed to it.” The petitioner testified that Mrs. Anchors “stated to me, just four hours before she passed away, ‘Mother, I am not going back with you this time. I want you to promise me that you will take my babies and take care of them as long as you live; that you will never let anybody else have them;’” that Mr. Anchors was sitting on the porch, and he came in the room, stooped down and kissed her; and she said, “Sugar, I have given Mama my babies, and I want you to promise that you will never take them away from her, but will stay there and help take care of them as long as she lives;” and that Mr. Anchors said, “I certainly will.” Those were the words he used. It appeared that Mrs. Guest had
This case does not differ from a large number which are controlled by the rule that where there is a conflict in the evidence adduced upon an application for an interlocutory injunction, and the judge either grants or refuses the application, his discretion in that regard will not be controlled if there is evidence sufficient to support his judgment. We do not lose sight of the rule that primarily the right to the custody of his child is in the father; and in this case a review of the evidence shows that the respondent father is a young man of fine character and a well-established reputation, qualified mentally and morally and well able financially to properly support and educate his little girl. He denied making the agreement giving the custody of his little daughter to her grandmother during her life, but the petitioner and the physician who was present both swear to the contrary. Neither has more interest than the father in the result of the case. There are other circumstances which tend to corroborate the testimony in behalf of the petitioner. So it can not be said that the judgment of the trial judge was not authorized. According to the terms of the gift made by the mother and said to have been agreed to by the father, the case before us may or may not be one of permanent custody of the little girl during her minority, dependent upon the life of the wife’s mother. The gift by the wife, acquiesced in by the husband, was to the grandmother “as long as she. lives.” Should the. grandmother die at any time, during the infancy of the child, the contract will have been fulfilled, and the father would be entitled immediately to retake possession of his minor daughter. In this
Judgment affirmed.
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