Mason-Murphy v. Grabowski

Katherine Mason-Murphy appeals the trial court’s June 4, 2009 Order in Suit to Modify Parent-Child Relationship concerning her daughter A.T. Mason-Murphy challenges the provision in the written order that permits A.T.’s father, Richard Dennis Grabowski, to retain possession of A.T. on his weekends during the school year until the beginning of the next school day. Mason-Murphy does not challenge the trial court’s original oral imposition of a modified standard possession order with Grabowski returning the child after weekend possession at 6 p.m. on Sunday, but asserts that the trial court erred by adopting in its subsequent written order Grabowski’s election to retain possession until the beginning of school on Monday without hearing additional evidence or making additional findings and conclusions supporting the change.*fn1 We affirm.

The agreed November 2001 custody decree was signed when A.T. was almost ten months old. The decree ordered gradually increasing possession for Grabowski until the child turned three years old, and set an essentially standard possession schedule thereafter except that Grabowski’s Wednesday possession extended overnight through Thursday morning. At first, Grabowski lived in Austin, while Mason-Murphy lived in Houston. Grabowski then moved to Houston. Mason-Murphy moved to Austin just before A.T. started kindergarten. Grabowski continued to exercise his visitation rights until he moved back to Austin some months thereafter. Mason-Murphy then married a man who has a child about two years younger than A.T. Mason-Murphy and her husband had a child together in 2008.