David Dudley Crum v. Michelle Yessick Crum

── David Dudley Crum v. Michelle Yessick Crum ── Court: Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama Date: April 24, 2026 Author: Christy Edwards Category: General Rel: April 24, 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-2025-0941 _________________________ David Dudley Crum v. Michelle Yessick Crum Appeal from Lee Circuit Court (DR-19-900251.01) EDWARDS, Judge. David Dudley Crum ("the father") appeals from a judgment of the Lee Circuit Court ("the trial court") modifying his visitation with H.C. ("the child"). For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the trial court's judgment and remand the case for further proceedings. CL-2025-0941 The father and Michelle Yessick Crum ("the mother") were divorced by a judgment entered by the trial court in November 2019. Pursuant to a marital settlement agreement that was incorporated into the trial court's November 2019 divorce judgment, the mother was awarded sole physical custody of the child and the parties were awarded joint legal custody of the child.1 The child is the parties' only child as a result of the marriage; the father has three adult children from a previous marriage, who, he stated, were familiar with the child. The November 2019 divorce judgment provided a detailed schedule of the days and times that the father could visit the child and provided the father the right to "private telephone communication" with the child "at all reasonable times and places." It appears that the father visited the child pursuant to the terms of the November 2019 divorce judgment for approximately six months following its entry. According to the mother, she and the child each attempted to contact the father in the six months after he stopped visiting but did not receive a response. Sometime after that six-month period, 1The child was born in February 2014 and was five years old at the time of the parties' divorce. 2 CL-2025-0941 Edward Crum ("the paternal grandfather") and Robert Crum ("the paternal uncle") filed a petition in the Tallapoosa Probate Court ("the probate court") seeking to be appointed joint guardians of the father's person and joint conservators of the father's estate. The record suggests that the paternal grandfather and the paternal uncle believed that the father had serious mental-health issues that impaired his judgment and prevented him from managing his own affairs. In May 2021, the probate court granted the paternal grandfather and the paternal uncle's petition and named them as joint guardians and conservators. The father was permitted to seek to have the guardianship and conservatorship removed after submitting to a medical examination and a psychological examination and providing results of those examinations demonstrating that the father would be capable of managing his own affairs. Despite the probate court's judgment, in August 2021 the father relocated to Little Torch Key, Florida, and gained access to many of his bank accounts.2 He did not inform the mother of his relocation. The 2The father did not visit the child between approximately May 2020, which was six months after the parties' divorce, and August 2021, when the father moved to Florida. 3 CL-2025-0941 record reveals that the father completed a psyc