Summary
The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed a Family Court order modifying custody to permit the father alternate weekend visitation while denying his requests for sole and primary residential custody. The Court held that it could not review the mother's claims because she failed to provide the relevant hearing transcripts and improperly attempted to supplement the appellate record with materials not presented below.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the Supreme Court could review Mother's custody-modification claims without transcripts of the relevant Family Court hearings.
- Whether Mother could supplement the appellate record with documents that were not part of the Family Court record.
- Whether the Family Court judgment should be affirmed.
Holdings
- An appellant must provide the portions of the trial transcript necessary to give the Supreme Court a fair and accurate account of the alleged error, including the transcript of evidence relevant to the challenged finding or conclusion.
- Material that was not part of the trial-court record may not be used to supplement the record on appeal and cannot be considered by the Supreme Court.
Key quotations
“The Supreme Court Rules state that the appellant is required to provide the Court with “such portions of the trial transcript as are necessary to give this Court a fair and accurate account of the context in which the claim of error occurred [as well as] a transcript of all evidence relevant to the challenged finding or conclusion.”” (¶ 3)
“Her attempt to supplement the record on appeal by submitting documentation that was not part of the Family Court record is inappropriate and cannot be considered by the Court on appeal.” (¶ 4)
Factual background
Father petitioned to modify custody of the parties' son. The Family Court granted the petition in part by permitting Father alternate weekend visitation, while denying sole custody and primary residential custody. Mother alleged on appeal that Father had testified falsely and that the Family Court had failed to consider evidence of Father's abusive conduct, but she provided no transcript of the relevant hearings.
Procedural history
The Family Court held hearings on Father's custody-modification petition on August 16 and September 7, 2016. Its September 7, 2016 order granted Father alternate weekend visitation, denied his requests for sole custody and primary residential custody, and stated that those requests could be reconsidered if Mother failed to cooperate with visitation. Mother appealed without providing transcripts of the hearings and attempted to supplement the appellate record with materials not presented below. The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed.