Background
After an Adams County dependency and neglect case ended with an allocation of parental responsibilities judgment, Alexander Noel Garcia Sr. and Angel Monique Garcia proceeded with their dissolution case in Denver. The judgment gave the incarcerated father supervised weekly virtual contact with their child, gave mother sole decision-making authority, required her to notify father of major decisions, and barred both parents from disparaging the other to the child.
Father later alleged that mother had failed to make the child available for virtual visits, withheld information, prevented mail contact, and disparaged him. The district court denied his parenting-time-dispute motions, found that the final judgment did not require photographs or mail from the child, and concluded that mother’s disparagement was not substantial or continuing. It also suspended father’s virtual visits pending a therapist’s assessment of the child’s readiness.
The Court’s Holding
The Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed. Because father did not provide the hearing transcript, the court presumed that the record supported the district court’s oral findings, including the findings necessary to support suspension of parenting time as a restriction under Colorado law.
The court also held that the signed final allocation judgment, rather than an unsigned minute order, controlled. The final judgment did not require mother to provide photographs or require the child to send father mail. Father did not preserve his arguments concerning mother’s move and an asserted constitutional right to familial association. Make-up parenting time was discretionary, and the missing transcript required the court to presume support for the finding that mother’s disparagement did not warrant sanctions.
Key Takeaways
- An appellant who omits a necessary hearing transcript faces a presumption that the record supports the trial court’s rulings.
- A signed final judgment controls over conflicting terms in an unsigned minute order.
- Make-up parenting time after a parenting-time-dispute hearing is discretionary, not mandatory.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores the importance of preserving appellate issues and supplying a complete record. In parenting-time appeals, the absence of a transcript can foreclose meaningful review of factual findings supporting a restriction.