The applicant mother sought sole custody, child support, and restricted access for the respondent father, while the father sought joint custody and shared time.
The court found that joint custody was not in the children's best interests due to the parents' inability to communicate and the history of conflict.
The mother was awarded sole custody.
The father, who had struggled with alcohol abuse following his sister's death, was granted a graduated access schedule subject to a strict sobriety condition.
The court also imputed an annual income of $13,000 to the unemployed father for child support purposes, finding him intentionally underemployed, but declined to order him to obtain life insurance due to lack of evidence regarding insurability and ability to pay.