11Appellant Kristi Grove challenges the order of the Garland County Circuit Court awarding custody of her two children to their father, appellee Jeffrey Grove, and giving her supervised visitation based on the court’s findings that a material change in circumstances occurred and that the change of custody was in the children’s best interests. Kristi argues on appeal that (1) the trial court abused its discretion when it relied on expert witness testimony about Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) because it does not meet the Dauberb test for the admissibility of scientific evidence, and (2) the trial court’s custody and visitation rulings are clearly erroneous. We affirm.
The parties have two children, AG and RG, who at the time of the hearing were eleven and seven, respectively. The parties’ divorce decree was entered on August 10, 2004, at which time Kristi had custody of the children and Jeffrey had visitation.
lain June 2006, Jeffrey filed a petition for contempt and for modification of visitation, alleging that Kristi was in violation of the parties’ custody agreement due in large part to her efforts to alienate the children from him. He later filed a motion for a mental evaluation of the parties and their children. In January 2007, the trial court ordered a family psychological evaluation by Dr. Paul Deyoub. In a May 8, 2007 report, Dr. Deyoub concluded that Kristi and her parents were poisoning the children against their father with unsubstantiated abuse allegations in an effort to alienate them from him. In November 2007, the parties agreed to a consent order wherein Kristi and Jeffrey shared joint custody of the children with Kristi having primary physical custody and Jeffrey having
On February 24, 2009, Kristi filed a petition for change of custody. She alleged that a material change in circumstances had occurred since the 2007 consent order was entered and that it was in the children’s best interests that she have sole custody. Jeffrey counterclaimed for a change of custody, alleging that Kristi failed and refused to comply with the 2007 consent order regarding visitation and counseling and that she continued to alienate the children from a meaningful relationship with him. As part of his counterclaim, Jeffrey requested that the parties and the children submit to another evaluation with Dr. Deyoub, which the trial court granted.
| sDr. Deyoub authored a second report dated September 25, 2009. In his twenty-four-page report, Dr. Deyoub concluded, as he did in 2007, that Kristi and her parents had continued to coach the children to make false allegations of abuse against Jeffrey in an effort to alienate them from him. He opined that Kristi should not have sole custody. Instead, Dr. Deyoub concluded that Jeffrey should have primary custody of the children with Kristi having visitation rights.
Thereafter, Kristi requested, at her expense, that the parties submit to a psychological evaluation with an expert of her choosing. The trial court granted the request, and Dr. Warren Seiler Jr. was selected. In his December 11, 2009 twenty-six-page report, Dr. Seiler also concluded that the children had been “regularly pressured and brainwashed [by Kristi and her parents] into becoming convinced that their father is a villain and a man to be feared.” Dr. Seiler stated that he was concerned about the future well-being of the children in Kristi’s primary custody. He concluded that full custody of the children should be given to Jeffrey and that Kristi be given supervised visitation.
Hearings were held on December 18, 2009, February 10, 2010, and April 27, 2010, and many witnesses testified.
1. A significant and material change of circumstances has occurred so that it is in the best interest of the children that legal and physical custody of the minor children ... should be placed with the Plaintiff, Jeffrey Grove.
2. Such significant change of circumstances includes, but is not limited to, the following:
a) Defendant has failed to comply with the parties’ Joint Custody Agreement;
b) Defendant has failed to follow the visitation schedule and initially interfered with visitation with the Plaintiff;
c) Defendant has failed and refused to cooperate in counseling as ordered by the Court;
d) Defendant has alienated the minor children from a meaningful relationship with their father;
e) Defendant has embarked on a course of conduct designed to end or substantially limit the contact of the children with the Plaintiff; and
f) Defendant has intentionally perpetrated or acquiesced in false accusations against the Plaintiff and has allowed such statements to be made in the presence of the minor children.
Kristi timely appealed from this order.
On appeal, Kristi argues that the trial court abused its discretion in relying on expert witness testimony about PAS because it does not meet the Daubert test for the admissibility of scientific evidence. Our case law clearly states that we review the admission of expert testimony under an abuse-of-discretion standard. Dye v. Anderson Tully Co.,
Kristi argues that the testimony of Drs. Deyoub and Seiler, about the discredited psychological theory of PAS, should have been excluded as unreliable scientific evidence under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,
We, however, are unable to address this argument because it is not preserved for appeal. At no time below did counsel for Kristi object to the PAS evidence. No motions were filed seeking to exclude the PAS evidence. Counsel did not object to the admission of the reports or testimony of Drs. Deyoub or Seiler that contained the PAS evidence. Objections to evidence must be made at the time the evidence is introduced. Oates v. Oates,
Next, in two separate points on appeal, Kristi argues that the trial court clearly erred in awarding Jeffrey full custody of the children while awarding her only supervised visitation. She argues there was a lack of evidence of a material change in circumstances; specifically, she contends that there was no evidence that she failed to follow the court’s visitation schedule, that she failed to cooperate in counseling, or that she alienated the children from Jeffrey. She also argues that the change of custody was not in the children’s best interest, claiming that there is an abundance of evidence in the record that she is the better caregiver. She points to evidence that she has been the children’s primary caretaker; she has been heavily involved in the boys’ school and extracurricular
Our standard of review in child-custody cases is well established. We consider the evidence de novo, but will not reverse unless the trial court’s findings are clearly erroneous or clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Tribble v. Tribble,
In order to make changes to custody or visitation, the moving party must first demonstrate a material change in circumstances. Maley v. Cauley,
Giving due deference to the superi- or position of the trial court to weigh the credibility of the witnesses, we cannot say that its findings were clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. The trial court found that Kristi failed to comply with the parties’ custody-and-visitation agreement, she failed to cooperate in counseling as ordered, she alienated the children from a meaningful relationship with Jeffrey, sought to end or substantially limit the contact between Jeffrey and the children, and she intentionally perpetrated or acquiesced in false accusations against Jeffrey and allowed such statements to be made in the presence of the children. The record supports these findings.
Jeffrey testified that Kristi had not complied with the prior custody order. He offered more details about this to Dr. Deyoub, who reported that since the 2007 consent order was entered, Kristi had consistently frustrated Jeffrey’s visitation. Jeffrey told Dr. Deyoub that for seven months he did not receive regular phone visitation as ordered; he had only one Thanksgiving holiday with his children in the past six years; he was not permitted to participate in the children’s Halloween
In addition, the trial court found that Kristi was alienating the children from Jeffrey and was seeking to end their contact with him. The evidence supporting this finding was overwhelming. First, it was Kristi, who already had primary custody of the children, who initiated this current action seeking to acquire sole custody with the intent to eliminate Jeffrey’s visitation.
Second, as stated above, both Drs. Dey-oub and Seiler recommended that Kristi not have primary custody, that primary custody be changed to Jeffrey, and that Kristi be given supervised visitation initially. Both doctors testified that Kristi and her parents had engaged in a course of conduct to alienate Jeffrey from the children by trying to convince or pressure them into thinking that Jeffrey is an evil father/person. According to the evidence, this was accomplished by Kristi and her parents either coaching or pressuring the children to lie about their father for fear of loss of affection by their mother and grandparents. In this case, there were many false allegations of abuse made by the children.
In Swadley v. Krugler, our court held that the mother’s continuous and unfounded sexual-abuse allegations against the father provided sufficient evidence of a material change in circumstances.
Affirmed.
Notes
. Jeffrey also requested, and the trial court granted the request, that an attorney ad litem be appointed for the benefit of the children.
. Those witnesses included Dr. Deyoub (forensic psychologist), Dr. Seiler (adolescent and adult psychiatrist), Kathy Gladden (counselor), Jimmy Forsythe (children’s school principal), Ward Menzies (children’s teacher/coach), Lawrence Bishop (Kristi's boyfriend), John Plyler Jr. (RG's baseball coach), Julia Mathews (Jeffrey’s ex-wife), Kevin Smead (pastor of Kristi, her children, and her parents), Grady Richard Nutt (Kristi’s father), Carol Ann Nutt (Kristi's mother), Kristi, Carol Grove (Jeffrey’s mother), Beverly Bejarano (counselor), Donna Trumbo (Jeffrey's girlfriend), and Jeffrey.
. The record includes unsubstantiated allegations that Jeffrey is an alcoholic, that Jeffrey locked the children in his girlfriend's closet for thirty minutes, that Jeffrey spanked RG so many times that his rectum bled, that Jeffrey punched AG in the nose causing it to bleed, that Jeffrey locked the children outside his girlfriend’s home and made them sleep all night outside in the cold, and that Jeffrey was exposing the children to pornography and other sexual behavior.