in the circuit court fifth judicial circuit in · pdf file ·...

Matter of Termination of Parental Rights/Adoption v. Overcash/Foultz October 30, 2013

www.cabreporting.com352-401-0080

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FIFTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA

CASE NO: 2013-4392-DR-FK

IN RE: The Matter of the )Termination of Parental Rights )for the Proposed Adoption of )a Minor Child. )

PROCEEDINGS: Petition for Stepparent Adoption (Excerpt Part #2)

BEFORE: Honorable Barbara Gurrola Senior Judge

DATE: October 30, 2013

TIME: 1:40 p.m.

PLACE: Marion County Judicial Center 110 Northwest First Avenue Ocala, FL

REPORTED BY: Catherine J. Phillips, Registered Merit Reporter Certified Manager of Reporting Services Florida Professional Reporter Notary Public, State of Florida at Large.

CAB REPORTING, INC. Post Office Box 1684 Ocala, Florida 34478 352.401.0080



APPEARANCES:

ANN MELINDA CRAGGS, ESQUIRE

OF: Bond, Arnett, Phelan,

Smith & Craggs, P.A.

Post Office Box 2405

Ocala, FL 34478

352.622.1188

Attorney for Petitioners

Kenneth Paton and Lori Ann Foultz

REBECCA GUTHRIE, ESQUIRE

OF: Mark D. Shelnutt, P.A.

1404 East Silver Springs Blvd.

Ocala, FL 34470

352.629.6203

Attorney for Lori Ann Foultz

ALSO PRESENT:

Kenneth Paton, Petitioner

Lori Ann Foultz, Petitioner



1 P R O C E E D I N G S

2 THEREUPON,

3 * * * * * * *

4 (The following is the requested excerpt.)

5 THE COURT: Ms. Craggs, could you -- even

6 though he's not here, I would appreciate it if you

7 would...

8 MS. CRAGGS: Oh, yes, ma'am, I think it's

9 important to create a record.

10 But before I question my clients, and some of

11 these things are things that the Court touched on

12 already today, but for the record, Dr. Overcash

13 signed his consent on July 15th and he -- that

14 consent, an original of which is in the court file,

15 and I have duplicate originals, because three were

16 signed, includes the statutory required language

17 that he had a three-day -- a three business day

18 right of revocation because the child was over six

19 months of age.

20 And because that consent, that I did not

21 prepare, included that statutorily required

22 language, he was properly put on notice about that

23 right of revocation.

24 July 15th was a Monday. He did not, within

25 three business days or since, ever follow the



1 statutes, which are 63.0824C, 63.0824E, and

2 63.077A, which tells him how to revoke that

3 properly.

4 Moving on. Dr. Overcash was served with my

5 clients' Petition for Stepparent Adoption on

6 September 18th. Twenty days from that would have

7 been October 8th. He did not at that time, nor

8 since, ever file an answer to that petition.

9 Section 63.076 talks about that that fact,

10 the fact that he did not file an answer, in and of

11 itself, may constitute grounds to terminate his

12 parental rights.

13 Something else that at least caused me a

14 little bit of pause, but I proceeded with very

15 conservative caution, the consent that Dr. Overcash

16 signed on July 15th included a waiver of any

17 further notice of the stepparent adoption

18 proceedings. But because it did not waive his

19 right to service of process, I believed and

20 recommended to my client that he be served.

21 If he had -- if it had said he waived service

22 of process, under Chapter 63 we would have never

23 even have had to have served him with this action.

24 But in any event...

25 Dr. Overcash is correct when he states that



1 the only grounds to set aside a consent are fraud

2 or duress. And the law in our state and the case

3 is K.C. versus Adoption Services, Incorporated,

4 721 So.2d 811, Florida Fourth District Court of

5 Appeals, it is a December 1998 decision, provides

6 that it was -- it would be -- it is Dr. Overcash's

7 burden to proof, by clear and convincing evidence,

8 that he was under duress.

9 The case actually goes on to say that simply

10 having a change of heart is not duress.

11 The definition provided by this case of

12 duress would be a condition of mind produced by an

13 improper external pressure or influence that

14 practically destroys the free agency of a party and

15 causes him to do an act or make a contract not of

16 his own volition.

17 And he, to prove that, Dr. Overcash would

18 have had to show that his act of signing the

19 consent was effected and voluntarily, and not as an

20 exercise of his free choice or will, and that his

21 condition of mind was caused by some improper and

22 coercive conduct of the opposite side.

23 It isn't the pressure of life. It isn't the

24 pressure of hard financial sometimes. It isn't the

25 pressure of being incarcerated or whatever other



1 pressure you may find in your life. It would had

2 to have come from the other side, or in this case

3 my client, Lori Foultz and her husband.

4 The Court has already read into the

5 transcript -- today's transcript, and I won't

6 repeat it, all of the various recitations that

7 Dr. Overcash made. He was asked in different ways

8 by Mr. Shelnutt. He did have the advice of

9 counsel.

10 As an aside, I have never been contacted by

11 any of his lawyers to advise me that, you know,

12 upon further reflection they believed he wasn't of

13 his own mind or acting on his own free will.

14 The neuropsychological evaluation that

15 Dr. Overcash referenced a few times today, the

16 brief synopsis of overall findings, and that is the

17 heading, finds Dr. Overcash to be a well-adjusted,

18 responsible individual with superior intellectual

19 functioning who possesses the motivation to be a

20 good parent.

21 And so I don't know and never have spoken to

22 Dr. Crum, but that is her one sentence synopsis

23 that would indicate that Dr. Overcash was not, on

24 July 15th, beyond his ability to exercise his own

25 free will.



1 I also would like to point out that

2 Dr. Overcash's decision to leave the hearing today,

3 before I was able to really provide anything of

4 substance, was of his own volition.

5 For the record, he indicated that he had

6 witnesses to testify and he was not prevented from

7 doing so today. He was not prevented from leaving.

8 And the other thing I would say, and

9 Mrs. Guthrie could refer to this better because I

10 was not there, but, you know, my understanding is

11 there was a hearing just last week on the post

12 dissolution matters, and that representations made

13 at those hearings about what Dr. Overcash was or

14 was not doing with regard to post dissolution

15 matters, you know, were contrary to perhaps what he

16 said today about his inability to effectuate all

17 agreements or all facets.

18 The reason for the time frames in Chapter 63

19 for revocations of consent, for answers, for timely

20 notice of objections to allow the Court to make

21 even a preliminary decision that there should be

22 evidence concerning fraud or duress, is to promote

23 the finality of a child's situation.

24 And I know that is what my clients' chief

25 concerns are, to promote finality for Natasha.



1 I don't think there was anything said by

2 Dr. Overcash today that indicated he was prevented

3 from revoking his consent timely or filing an

4 answer timely. So I don't think that he was able

5 to put any sort of evidence before the Court to --

6 he didn't argue that he did timely try to answer or

7 revoke his consent. He argued that he didn't have

8 time.

9 But I don't believe he's met any sort of a

10 burden of proof that would be required for him to

11 prove that his decision wasn't of his own free

12 making, based upon his sworn testimony in open

13 court on July 15th.

14 And a last thing I would say, Your Honor, is

15 that although he signed his consent on the 15th, it

16 was the next day, on the 16th, that he signed a

17 separate document where he petitioned to terminate

18 his own parental rights.

19 THE COURT: That was the 16th, okay. I'm

20 sorry.

21 MS. CRAGGS: That he filed in the post

22 dissolution case and I filed a separate proceeding

23 so that we could do some of the other things that

24 we needed to do in compliance with Chapter 63.

25 And with that in mind, I believe my clients



1 have been placed under oath and I would like to

2 elicit some testimony from them for Your Honor's

3 consideration.

4 THE COURT: I don't think -- I can't even

5 remember it's been a long hour so far.

6 Let me just say that, I don't remember, but I

7 don't think I swore them in.

8 MS. CRAGGS: Okay.

9 THE COURT: But anyway, let me just say this.

10 He did, Dr. Overcash, and he obviously didn't give

11 me an opportunity, he did make a phone call or left

12 something with the security guard today that he

13 wanted Dr. Crum -- I didn't know who Dr. Crum

14 was -- to call in. Which I would not --

15 MS. CRAGGS: We would have objected to that,

16 Your Honor. When he filed his first documents on

17 Friday, October 25th, he listed Dr. Crum as a

18 witness and said that she could appear

19 telephonically. He did not file a motion for her

20 to appear by phone.

21 I don't think her testimony would have been

22 such that it would have been appropriate, under the

23 Rules of Judicial Administration, for her to appear

24 by phone. My clients would have objected to that.

25 There was another witness that he listed that



1 he also indicated he wanted to testify by phone,

2 and I don't know that he mentioned that today,

3 Linda Montalbono [phonetic], and I don't know who

4 that is.

5 THE COURT: I don't know. Evidently it

6 wasn't this lady here, because he didn't say.

7 MS. CRAGGS: No, that lady he referred to by

8 the name of Ann. I do not know her, but that's

9 what he called her.

10 THE COURT: Okay. If Ms. Foultz and Mr. --

11 is it Patton?

12 MS. CRAGGS: Paton.

13 THE COURT: Paton, I'm sorry.

14 MR. PATON: That's okay.

15 THE COURT: Would you raise your right hands,

16 please.

17 Do you solemn swear or affirm the testimony

18 you're about to give will be the truth, the whole

19 truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?

20 MS. FOULTZ: Yes, ma'am.

21 MR. PATON: Yes, ma'am.

22 THE COURT: Thank you.

23 MS. CRAGGS: Lori, I'll begin with you. Are

24 married to Kenneth Paton?

25 MS. FOULTZ: Yes.



1 MS. CRAGGS: And how long have you been

2 married to him?

3 MS. FOULTZ: Year and a half.

4 MS. CRAGGS: Has he served as a father figure

5 to Natasha since the two of you have been married?

6 MS. FOULTZ: Yes.

7 MS. CRAGGS: Has he provided for her material

8 needs?

9 MS. FOULTZ: Yes.

10 MS. CRAGGS: Her moral needs?

11 MS. FOULTZ: Yes.

12 MS. CRAGGS: Do you believe he has the

13 ability to provide for her in every way in the

14 future?

15 MS. FOULTZ: Yes.

16 MS. CRAGGS: You executed a consent stating

17 that you believed it was in Natasha's best interest

18 that Mr. Paton adopt her.

19 Is that still your belief and feeling today?

20 MS. FOULTZ: Yes.

21 MS. CRAGGS: Mr. Paton, you signed a petition

22 for a stepparent adoption asking this Court to,

23 based upon your wife's consent and Natasha's

24 biological and legal father's consent, to adopt

25 Natasha; correct?



1 MR. PATON: Yes.

2 MS. CRAGGS: Do you understand that if Judge

3 Gurrola grants your petition, that you will step

4 into the shoes as Natasha's legal father?

5 MR. PATON: Yes.

6 MS. CRAGGS: And sometimes the way that I put

7 this is, if the Court grants your petition, that

8 you will be saddled with all of the burden and you

9 will be gifted all of the benefit of being

10 Natasha's father. Do you understand that?

11 MR. PATON: Yes, I do.

12 MS. CRAGGS: And are you willing to assume

13 that role with that understanding?

14 MR. PATON: Yes.

15 MS. CRAGGS: Do you have any questions or

16 concerns about this process that have not been

17 answered?

18 MR. PATON: My concerns are with

19 Mr. Overcash, that his repercussions are based upon

20 what he believes and doesn't believe, will then

21 keep haunting us down the road. I just want this

22 to go through correctly and legally.

23 MS. CRAGGS: All right. And with that

24 concern, do you have any other questions or

25 concerns?



1 MR. PATON: No.

2 MS. CRAGGS: Okay. I know that she's not

3 present today.

4 Lori, perhaps you can tell the judge, why is

5 Natasha not here today?

6 MS. FOULTZ: Well, one, we didn't want her

7 witnessing that. She is here in Ocala. I did tell

8 her there would probably be some problems so...

9 MS. CRAGGS: And when you say witnessing

10 that, are you referring to Dr. Overcash coming to

11 today's hearing and attempting to derail it?

12 MS. FOULTZ: Yes.

13 MS. CRAGGS: Okay. Your Honor, just as a

14 reminder, we had filed a motion to excuse her --

15 THE COURT: Yes. I wasn't here to sign it,

16 but Judge Eddy -- I approved it --

17 MS. CRAGGS: He did.

18 THE COURT: -- and he signed it on my behalf.

19 I realize that that would be appropriate.

20 I would be very happy to have -- adoptions

21 are supposed to be, and I've loved to do them all

22 the years that I've done them, it's supposed to be

23 a very happy time. So it was not hard for me to

24 make the decision not to have Natasha here.

25 She's 12 years old. She needs to have a



1 celebration with family members. And I recall

2 speaking with her prior to the summer vacation, how

3 excited she was for your family, Mr. Paton, her, I

4 guess she calls -- does she call your -- her

5 sister? She referred to as her sister --

6 MR. PATON: Yes.

7 THE COURT: -- and she was going to go see

8 the new baby for the summer. And I told her, don't

9 worry about anything, have a good time. So she

10 already had, at that time, you were your family or

11 your family was her family.

12 So I just want to let you know that. I don't

13 know if she ever mentioned that to you or not. And

14 maybe you shouldn't tell her that I told you.

15 MS. CRAGGS: Your Honor, I had --

16 THE COURT: But anyway, she was excited about

17 it.

18 MS. CRAGGS: -- I had the privilege of

19 meeting with Natasha twice. Once was I wanted to

20 talk to her to make sure that, because her consent

21 is required due to her age, that this is what she

22 wanted. And then I gave her a period of time to

23 think about that. And she came back at the time

24 that she executed the consent.

25 And the consent that she signed, which I



1 edited to reflect a 12-year-old's sentiments, was

2 that she believed it was in her best interest that

3 she be adopted by her stepdad; that her mom married

4 Kenny when she was 11; that he has helped raise her

5 and support her since she met him about three years

6 ago; that she wanted him to adopt her; that she

7 loved him; and that she was signing the consent

8 voluntarily, that no one had forced her to sign the

9 consent; and that she was doing that of her own

10 free will; and that she understood the document.

11 And I met with her outside the presence of

12 her mom and stepdad. And I have a son her age that

13 she knew socially and we were able to hit it off.

14 Doesn't take much to hit it off with her, she's a

15 super, great girl.

16 And, you know, I made sure that, despite all

17 of the ruckus and the litigation and the upset and

18 all of that, did she really want to do this? And

19 because if it was granted, it would be forever.

20 And she absolutely wanted to do that. And so her

21 consent is in the file.

22 Your Honor, even though this is a stepparent

23 adoption, we're not excused from the requirement to

24 search the putative father registry. We did that

25 before we filed the petition and we did it again



1 after we filed the petition to make sure that

2 nothing popped up. We didn't expect it, but I

3 wanted the Court to know that we did that.

4 Because it's a stepparent adoption, Lori and

5 Kenny did not have to have a preliminary home

6 study. We did not have to file an affidavit

7 outlining all of the expenditures and receipts as

8 we would in a nonrelative or nonstepparent

9 adoption. And that's where we are on all of those

10 requirements.

11 Although this is probably a little bit

12 unorthodox, Your Honor, because Dr. Overcash kept

13 talking about an agreement and all of those things,

14 and I will defer to Rebecca Guthrie as to the

15 details, but my understanding is that -- well, I

16 would say two things. One, it's not appropriate to

17 enter into an agreement if you have no intention to

18 comply with that agreement.

19 If Dr. Overcash had no intention of letting

20 the adoption go through, if he had no intention of

21 resolving his post dissolution matters with Lori

22 Foultz, you know, he shouldn't have entered into

23 that agreement.

24 So I don't think someone can argue that he

25 would not have clean hands to say I entered into



1 this agreement to get myself out of a bind, but I

2 didn't really ever intend to comply with it and so

3 now I should be able to get relief from those

4 things.

5 I have no working knowledge of anything to do

6 with the post dissolution matters. My

7 understanding is at the hearing last week Mr. --

8 excuse me, Dr. Overcash's attorney, Mr. Taylor,

9 made representations that Dr. Overcash was taking

10 steps and moving forward to also comply with

11 whatever the post dissolution of marriage agreement

12 was.

13 Is that accurate?

14 MS. GUTHRIE: Yes, Your Honor. Mr. Taylor

15 represented to Mr. Shelnutt and myself that he had

16 the funds available through Quicken Loans, I

17 believe he said, and more than enough funds of what

18 the contracted amount was.

19 But I would like to follow up with what

20 Ms. Craggs said, that Dr. Overcash had an implied

21 duty of good faith and fair dealings when he

22 entered into that contract. I have the case law

23 here to support that. I don't know if you're

24 interested in it.

25 THE COURT: Yes, I am.



1 MS. GUTHRIE: Okay.

2 THE COURT: So if you would discuss it,

3 unless you have --

4 MS. GUTHRIE: Cox v. CSX Intermodal, Inc.,

5 it's found at 732 So.2d 1092. It's a First

6 District case from 1999. And it gets --

7 obviously it's very contract oriented, because

8 we're dealing with contracts here now.

9 But it basically is saying that, exactly what

10 Ms. Craggs represented, you can't enter a contract

11 without the good faith -- the implied good faith of

12 fair dealing duty that's put on you to enter into

13 an agreement to kind of subvert the outcome, and go

14 about it the other way.

15 I also have K.P. Meiring Construction versus

16 North Bay, which is found at 25 Florida Law

17 Weekly -- I'm sorry, I'll give you a different

18 cite. 761 So.2d 1221, it's a Second District case

19 from 2000. It's along the same lines exactly about

20 corporations that enter into contracts without the

21 ability to complete them.

22 The intent of the contract was withheld -- or

23 the intent of the contract was followed through and

24 enforced by the court.

25 I can give these to you. I didn't bring a



1 ton of multiple copies. May I approach?

2 THE COURT: Um-hmm. Thank you.

3 Do you mind if I put them in the court file?

4 MS. CRAGGS: No, ma'am.

5 MS. GUTHRIE: I'd also like to point out that

6 Dr. Overcash has not mentioned, he's not

7 represented or not contacted this Court or our

8 office trying to or indicating that he is unable or

9 unwilling to move forward with the agreement that

10 he entered into on July 15th.

11 Again, Mr. Taylor, Dr. Overcash's attorney,

12 indicated that funds were available and he could

13 move forward with that, if we were still in

14 agreement on moving forward with it.

15 You know, Ms. Foultz relied on that agreement

16 in preparing her family for the adoption and hiring

17 an adoption law attorney to fulfill this agreement.

18 Has spent a considerable amount of money, I'm sure,

19 in moving this forward, at his request.

20 We have to keep in mind that he contacted us

21 to move forward with the termination of parental

22 rights. He filed his own petition to terminate his

23 parental rights. He brought his own consent

24 documents to court that day that were drafted by

25 either him or an assistant or Ms. Gordon or whoever



1 was working for him at that time.

2 And she has -- if this agreement were not to

3 be enforced at this point, she has relied on the

4 agreement to her detriment.

5 So, you know, he certainly has that duty on

6 him. And the Court can uphold, I believe, the

7 agreement, because he's never indicated an

8 inclination to rescind the agreement.

9 THE COURT: Well, again, I did not see -- I

10 know he doesn't seem to believe that I did not see

11 this written agreement --

12 MS. GUTHRIE: And I'm not sure that the --

13 THE COURT: -- having to do with the money

14 and the equitable distribution of the house or the

15 $2,400 a month that he's supposed to pay. I just

16 did not feel --

17 MS. GUTHRIE: I don't believe that the

18 agreement was ever executed signature, signed by

19 him.

20 THE COURT: Oh, okay.

21 MS. GUTHRIE: We went -- tried to send some

22 copies back with his attorneys, but nothing ever

23 came back.

24 THE COURT: Okay.

25 MS. GUTHRIE: But I don't know --



1 THE COURT: But he was represented by

2 Ms. Gordon at the time.

3 MS. GUTHRIE: He was represented by

4 Ms. Gordon at the time. And a written contract

5 isn't necessarily required when it's entered into

6 the record orally, which he did.

7 THE COURT: Right. Okay.

8 MS. GUTHRIE: There was, obviously, some

9 consideration for paying Ms. Foultz off the

10 equitable distribution in lump sum, and that was

11 the terms of the agreement.

12 But, again, he never provided to our office

13 any applications that were denied or that lead

14 anybody to believe that this agreement was doing

15 anything but going toward. He never gave us any

16 inclination that he couldn't get the funding that

17 he said he could. He never told us, I've contacted

18 four banks and all of them said no.

19 So Ms. Foultz has relied on this agreement in

20 moving forward, and we've gotten to this point,

21 which is the culmination of the adoption. And so I

22 would suggest that it be enforced.

23 MS. CRAGGS: And, Your Honor, and the only

24 other thing that I want to bring to the Court's

25 attention, just in an abundance of caution, I



1 mentioned earlier that in and of itself

2 Dr. Overcash's failure to timely file an answer may

3 constitute grounds to terminate his parental

4 rights. Of course, we have his consent on top of

5 that.

6 You know, none -- Dr. Overcash's filing of

7 October 25th references so many things, some that

8 predate his consent, some that post date his

9 consent, some that, you know, have no relevance to

10 a stepparent adoption.

11 I don't know -- and I don't know that the

12 reason why is relevant. I know he says he can't

13 afford lawyers, but, apparently, he was

14 represented -- or is represented in the post

15 dissolution matter by Mr. Taylor.

16 THE COURT: Yes. Now he is. Yes.

17 MS. CRAGGS: I've never heard from

18 Mr. Taylor, on behalf of Dr. Overcash or otherwise.

19 And I just -- and I think it was important

20 that Dr. Overcash chose to leave the hearing today

21 rather than stay, because he did not request any

22 additional time. He did not request any additional

23 time to try to hire a lawyer. He didn't request

24 any additional time to make arrangements for

25 witnesses, so that they could appear in person or



1 he could seek a proper telephonic appearance by

2 them.

3 And I think that is important for the record,

4 because, you know, had Dr. Overcash, perhaps,

5 handled things differently, he may have been

6 entitled to, you know, another extension to try to

7 get his ducks in a row, or something along those

8 lines.

9 But it's clear and uncontroverted that he did

10 not revoke his consent. He did not answer. And,

11 you know, I believe he has failed to meet a

12 burden -- his burden of proof that he was under

13 duress.

14 You know, not once today did he take any

15 responsibility for a request that he be jailed. I

16 mean, I've never, in my experience, in this entire

17 courthouse, seen a judge jail someone for no cause.

18 And he did not take responsibility for any of the

19 rulings that may have placed him in jeopardy of

20 being jailed or otherwise.

21 And there are plenty of biological parents

22 who execute consent to their child's adoption while

23 they're handcuffed to the hospital bed or

24 otherwise.

25 And so on those grounds my clients are asking



1 the Court to finalize the adoption. And I would

2 like to have the opportunity to present a final

3 judgment to the Court. I have a draft of one, but

4 I wanted to -- you know, I couldn't quite predict

5 what would happen today.

6 THE COURT: No, one never can.

7 MS. CRAGGS: So I would like to take this

8 draft and complete it and provide it to the Court

9 by Friday.

10 THE COURT: All right. I was extremely

11 serious, when I said here in the courtroom,

12 referring to the day that Dr. Overcash was

13 questioned regarding his child and the termination

14 of his rights to his child. Now, I have probably,

15 as a senior judge, I think the first hearing we had

16 in this case was in September 2012, if I'm not

17 mistaken.

18 MS. GUTHRIE: Yes, Your Honor.

19 THE COURT: I don't think I've ever had in

20 any one case ever as many hearings as I've had in

21 this case, under all sorts of different

22 circumstances. So I have seen -- and I have seen

23 Dr. Overcash bolt out of the table and, you know,

24 charge over towards his former wife. I have seen

25 him leave the courtroom time and time again, become



1 angry. And usually it's directed towards the

2 Court, appears to be, or Mr. Shelnutt or the former

3 wife.

4 And I'm just going to say these things,

5 because they're on my mind and I think they should

6 be in the record.

7 We had a dependency case. At no time do I

8 recall him ever asking about his daughter, her

9 welfare, how she was doing. He did not do

10 anything -- he wanted to do things the way he

11 wanted to do them, and that's the only way he

12 wanted do them.

13 The very first hearing that we had, I ruled

14 in his favor on one of his motions regarding

15 removing the guardian ad litem. As much as I

16 didn't want to, I felt, well, we're going to have a

17 new start, you know.

18 But I'll tell you, that day that he answered

19 those questions I have never seen a more calm

20 William Todd Overcash than I did that day. And I

21 think, as you can see when he -- when there was

22 silence, I'm not going to go forward if someone

23 isn't going -- I mean, I have done enough

24 dependency cases for many years to know that unless

25 I'm assured that this is what they, you know, that



1 this is what the person wants.

2 But I saw no -- I saw no duress. He was

3 extremely calm, the most I've ever -- the calmest

4 I've ever seen him.

5 And, again, he's -- obviously he's an

6 intelligent man, or at least this evaluation -- by

7 the way, he filed it in this adoption file. I

8 guess you know that, that evaluation.

9 But this child deserves, this child deserves

10 some -- she deserves a life free from this

11 animosity. And, I mean, Dr. Overcash showed

12 animosity in the courtroom consistently toward the

13 former wife, which there's no way that it

14 wouldn't -- it couldn't possibly affect a child.

15 And Judge Robbins, at the shelter hearing,

16 ruled that he was not to have any contact with the

17 child until, you know, he did the things that he

18 needed to do through the dependency case. Which he

19 did not. He didn't. He knew better than anyone

20 else, evidently, or thought he did, on what he

21 should do and he wasn't going to do that.

22 So I would have to say that in all these

23 hearings, and I am -- they've been stressful,

24 frustrating hearings, Dr. Overcash can only -- and

25 I think I said it to him when he was here -- well,



1 maybe not today but hearings past, he's more

2 concerned with himself than with his child.

3 So I am happy to grant the stepparent

4 adoption for Mr. Paton to become Natasha's legal

5 father. I'd be very happy to have a do-it-again

6 ceremony, then you can bring the -- well, you want

7 to have the order signed as soon as possible, I'm

8 sure.

9 MS. CRAGGS: Yes, ma'am.

10 THE COURT: I don't know that I'm going to be

11 back here next week -- or this week. Friday I have

12 to be in Inverness.

13 MS. CRAGGS: Your Honor, I'm certainly happy

14 to contact Casey Garrito [phonetic] and find out,

15 you know, when it would be a good time --

16 MS. GUTHRIE: Your Honor, is it possible to

17 do it later today before Ms. Foultz's parents leave

18 town? I don't know if that fits in your schedule.

19 MS. CRAGGS: The only thing --

20 THE COURT: You mean the ceremony or the

21 order?

22 MS. GUTHRIE: Yes, the ceremony.

23 MS. CRAGGS: The ceremony?

24 Natasha is in town. I have a 3:00 hearing

25 with Judge Robbins, another adoption. But other



1 than that --

2 THE COURT: Well, you were brave.

3 MS. CRAGGS: I've been watching my watch and

4 then I was going to start going psst, psst. I was

5 going to start talking to your bailiff to say can

6 you please tell them where I am.

7 THE COURT: Okay. So you mean to have a

8 ceremony -- did you move? Did you all move to --

9 MS. FOULTZ: We did move, yes.

10 THE COURT: What?

11 MS. FOULTZ: We did move.

12 THE COURT: You did move.

13 MS. FOULTZ: Um-hmm.

14 THE COURT: Oh, okay.

15 MS. FOULTZ: My parents came down for this

16 from North Carolina, but they're leaving tomorrow

17 morning to go back so...

18 THE COURT: Okay.

19 MS. FOULTZ: It just put a kink in

20 everybody's visit.

21 THE COURT: Well, I'm here. How long is your

22 hearing?

23 MS. CRAGGS: My next hearing should be a

24 traditional joy-filled hearing. Unless Judge

25 Robbins is running behind, I could be back here at



1 3:20 -- or 3:15 or 3:20.

2 THE COURT: Well, I have some other things to

3 do here while I'm here, so I'm happy to --

4 MS. CRAGGS: To stay.

5 THE COURT: -- to stay and come back, or

6 y'all come back and bring Natasha and we'll, if you

7 would like --

8 MS. FOULTZ: This may sound silly, but is

9 there any way to find out if he's lurking around

10 still somewhere that we could --

11 THE COURT: Oh, yeah. Right.

12 MS. FOULTZ: Or is there a side door that

13 maybe we could come up?

14 THE COURT: We could -- I don't know.

15 Everybody knows him. Can you call around and see

16 if anybody -- well, I'm sorry. It's true.

17 Linda, is there any way you can radio

18 somebody and see if he's left?

19 MS. FOULTZ: Or if maybe when we get here, if

20 someone can walk up with us.

21 MS. CRAGGS: Your Honor, would it be

22 okay if -- I think if we're done with today's

23 hearing, and then our court reporter could wrap up

24 and we could go off the record?

25 THE COURT: Yes, fine. Thank you.



1 MS. CRAGGS: Thank you, Your Honor.

2 MS. GUTHRIE: Thank you, Your Honor.

3 (Whereupon, the proceedings concluded at

4 2:57 p.m.)

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C E R T I F I C A T E

STATE OF FLORIDA )

COUNTY OF MARION )

I, CATHERINE J. PHILLIPS, Registered Merit

Reporter, Certified Manager of Reporting Services,

Florida Professional Reporter, certify that I was

authorized to and did report stenographically the

foregoing proceedings and that pages 1 through 30,

inclusive are a true record of the requested excerpt.

Dated this 13th day of November, 2013, at Ocala,

Marion County, Florida.

Catherine J. Phillips,

RMR, CMRS, FPR

in the circuit court fifth judicial circuit in · pdf file ·...

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