D.S. and B.S. v. R.S. and Br.S.

── D.S. and B.S. v. R.S. and Br.S. ── Court: Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama Date: April 10, 2026 Author: Christy Edwards Category: General Rel: April 10, 2026 Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0650), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is published in Southern Reporter. ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS OCTOBER TERM, 2025-2026 _________________________ CL-2025-0654 _________________________ D.S. and B.S. v. R.S. and Br.S. _________________________ CL-2025-0659 _________________________ R.S. and Br.S. v. D.S. and B.S. Appeals from Blount Circuit Court (JU-22-276.03) CL-2025-0654 and CL-2025-0659 EDWARDS, Judge. In appeal number CL-2025-0654, D.S. and B.S. ("the paternal grandparents") appeal from a judgment entered by the Blount Circuit Court insofar as that judgment ordered R.S. ("the father") and Br.S. ("the mother"), the parents of K.S. ("the child"), to pay to the paternal grandparents child support in the amount of $300 per month. In appeal number CL-2025-0659, the parents cross-appeal from that same judgment insofar as it denied their petition to modify the custody of the child. The record indicates that the parties originally were neighbors and that the child regularly visited the paternal grandparents. Sometime before May 2023, the Blount County Department of Human Resources ("DHR") initiated in the Blount Juvenile Court a dependency action against the mother and the father. In May 2023, the juvenile court entered a judgment finding the child dependent,1 awarding custody of the child to the paternal grandparents, and permitting the paternal 1It is not clear from the record what circumstances caused the child's dependency. 2 CL-2025-0654 and CL-2025-0659 grandparents to relocate with the child to Conway, South Carolina.2 The May 2023 dependency judgment also directed that the parents would have "four hours of supervised visitation every other weekend in Conyers, GA[,] at the Chuck E. Cheese unless agreed upon otherwise by the parties. The parents shall provide at least 24-hours notice to the custodians of their intention to visit. Further the parents shall have reasonable phone and facetime visitation with the child at least three times per week on Monday, Wednesday[,] and Friday between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. The parties may set up an[y] other visitation that they so choose as long as it remains supervised at this time." The parents were also required to comply with DHR's reunification plan.3 The record indicates that, in July 2023, the parents filed a petition in the juvenile court requesting that the child be returned to their custody and that the paternal grandparents be held in contempt for failing to abide by the visitation provisions in the May 2023 dependency judgment. The paternal grandparents filed an answer and a counterclaim for child support. Following a trial, the juvenile court entered a judgment on 2It appears that the paternal grandparents were not parties to the dependency action. 3The May 2023 dependency judgment also provided that DHR was permitted to "close [its] cas