Justia South Dakota Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

When Mother and Father divorced, they agreed pursuant to a parenting plan incorporated into the divorce decree to share custody of Child, with Mother having primary physical custody. Father later moved to obtain primary physical custody. The circuit court granted Father's motion. On appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the circuit court took a balanced and systematic approach in applying the relevant child custody factors; (2) the circuit court did not clearly err in finding that Father had the ability to provide Child with guidance and good modeling behavior; and (3) the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in choosing one of two conflicting child custody evaluator opinions. View "Simunek v. Auwerter" on Justia Law

In an abuse and neglect proceeding, petitioner father's parental rights were terminated in the trial court. The court of appeals dismissed the petitioner's appeal because the original notice of appeal did not contain petitioner's signature required by S.D. Codified Laws 15-26A-4. The petitioner petitioned the Supreme Court to reinstate his appeal but prior to mailing the petition the time for filing a notice of appeal had expired. The Supreme Court denied the petition for reinstatement. The Court concluded that (1) the signing requirement of the statute is jurisdictional and jurisdictional requirements cannot be waived; (2) filing a notice of appeal without petitioner's signature deprived the Court of jurisdiction to consider the appeal of a judgment terminating parental rights; and (3) because the time for filing an appeal expired before petitioner cured the defect, any notice of appeal filed after the prescribed period failed to confer jurisdiction upon the Court. View "In re B.H., J.R. & M.H." on Justia Law