## Facts

- Parents married in 1998, had one daughter (born 2002), and separated in 2002.
- Mother sued for temporary and permanent custody; father answered and counterclaimed for permanent custody.
- After a multi-day hearing, the trial court awarded joint legal custody and split physical custody, finding both parents fit.
- Findings about the mother included reliance on extended family for childcare, mental-health diagnoses and treatment history, temper and emotional-control problems, and prior physical abuse toward others and the child’s half-sibling.
- Findings about the father included questionable maturity and occasional poor judgment, but relative adjustment, full employment, and a family support system.
- In explaining its decision, the trial court stated it took “personal notice” of a “natural bond” between infants and mothers (especially with breastfeeding) and that the child’s “age and gender” (a 28-month-old female) made placement with the father a negative factor.

## Issues

1. Whether a custody order is legally erroneous when it relies on generalized beliefs about maternal bonding and the child’s age and gender, rather than an evidence-based, gender-neutral best-interests analysis.
2. Whether such reasoning amounts to an impermissible revival of the abolished “tender years” presumption under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-13.2(a).
3. Whether a trial court may rely on “personal notice” of generalized parent-child dynamics instead of record evidence in making custody findings.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals reversed the custody order and remanded for a new custody determination.
- The court held that the trial court’s reliance on assumptions tied to maternal bonding and the child’s age and gender was indistinguishable from the tender years presumption abolished by statute.
- The court required a best-interests determination based solely on the evidence presented, without gender-based presumptions or extra-record “personal notice.”

## Legal Principles

- Child custody must be determined under the best-interests-of-the-child standard based on the evidence in the record.
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-13.2(a) forbids presumptions favoring either parent based on gender; the tender years doctrine is abolished.
- A trial court commits reversible error if it treats the child’s young age and gender, or generalized beliefs about maternal bonding, as a substantive factor favoring one parent over the other.
- Custody findings must be case-specific; generalized judicial beliefs not grounded in trial evidence may not substitute for evidentiary findings.

## Conclusion

The appellate court reversed and remanded because the custody decision was materially influenced by gender- and age-based assumptions about mother-child bonding, contrary to the statutory requirement that custody be decided solely on record evidence and the child’s best interests without any presumption favoring either parent.


Greer v. Greer, 624 S.E.2d 423 (N.C. Ct. App. 2006)