Brooke Mosier v. Derrick Pickett (mem. dec.), 47A05-1702-DR-224

Mother and Father divorced in 2007, sharing joint legal custody; Mother had physical custody of three children (E.P., H.P., B.P.).
Over years the parties returned to court repeatedly on custody/contempt and related disputes; an in camera interview of the children was conducted in 2016.
A Guardian ad Litem (GAL) was appointed; GAL investigated and reported concerns about parental alienation and the children’s behavioral issues.
Major factual concern: Mother frequently refused to provide E.P. with prescribed ADHD medication; evidence showed violent behavior by E.P. when unmedicated (property damage, threats to family and animals).
GAL recommended awarding Father legal custody and extensive parenting time to Mother; Father moved to modify custody and the trial court granted him physical and legal custody.

Issue	Mother’s Argument	Father’s Argument	Held
Whether modification of custody was unsupported by evidence/abuse of discretion	Trial court lacked proof of a substantial change in circumstances and modification was not in children’s best interests	Deterioration in parents’ relationship, Mother’s refusal to medicate E.P., children’s safety and behavioral issues justified modification	Affirmed — evidence supported substantial change and best-interest finding; no abuse of discretion
Whether trial court erred by allowing GAL to testify without a written report	GAL should have filed a report ten days before hearing; testimony without report was improper and prejudicial	Mother failed to object at trial, elected not to cross-examine, and suffered no prejudice; court not required to order a GAL report before testimony	Affirmed — issue waived for appeal; no prejudice and no statutory requirement that GAL file a report before testifying

Perdue Farms, Inc. v. Pryor, 683 N.E.2d 239 (Ind. 1997) (standard of review when special findings are absent)
Baxendale v. Raich, 878 N.E.2d 1252 (Ind. 2008) (custody judgments are factual and will be set aside only if clearly erroneous)
In re Marriage of Richardson, 622 N.E.2d 178 (Ind. 1993) (deference to trial judges in family law matters)
Kirk v. Kirk, 770 N.E.2d 304 (Ind. 2002) (appellate courts should not reweigh credibility based on cold record)
Best v. Best, 941 N.E.2d 499 (Ind. 2011) (evidence viewed most favorably to the judgment in custody appeals)
Winkler v. Winkler, 689 N.E.2d 447 (Ind. Ct. App. 1997) (trial court must consider all relevant best-interest factors)
M.S. v. C.S., 938 N.E.2d 278 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010) (issues not raised in trial court are generally waived on appeal)