## Facts

- Jorge A. Zepeda (father) and Leslie Renee Zepeda (mother) married in 1987 and had one child, born in 1996.
- After a 1998 move to South Dakota for Jorge’s higher-paying job, Renee remained a stay-at-home parent and served as the child’s primary daytime caretaker.
- Marital conflict developed; Jorge suspected Renee of inappropriate activity and installed keystroke-monitoring software on the home computer.
- The monitoring showed Renee engaged in explicit Internet chat-room communications with two adult men about once a week for several months.
- Renee admitted to a physical affair and to having sex with another man in the marital apartment while the parties’ young child slept in another room.
- Trial evidence showed both parents loved the child and were capable of providing adequate care.

## Issues

1. Whether the circuit court abused its discretion in awarding the mother primary physical custody despite her cybersex and extramarital conduct, under South Dakota’s best-interests custody framework.
2. Whether the circuit court abused its discretion in denying the mother general alimony, rehabilitative alimony, and attorney’s fees.

## Decision

- Affirmed the award of joint legal custody with primary physical custody to the mother.
- Held the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in weighing the best-interests factors and treating the mother’s misconduct as one factor rather than dispositive.
- Affirmed the denial of general alimony, rehabilitative alimony, and attorney’s fees to the mother.
- Disposition: affirmed on all issues.

## Legal Principles

- Child-custody determinations apply a multi-factor best-interests test, including primary caretaker history, stability, parent-child relationships, and each parent’s moral fitness as it affects the child.
- Parental sexual or online misconduct is relevant to custody only to the extent it affects the child’s welfare; it is not automatically disqualifying.
- Appellate review of custody, alimony, and attorney’s fee awards is for abuse of discretion; factual findings are reviewed for clear error, and appellate courts do not reweigh evidence or credibility determinations.

## Conclusion

The court upheld primary physical custody for the mother because the trial court reasonably applied the best-interests factors and found both parents fit, concluding the mother’s misconduct did not warrant changing the child’s stable caregiving arrangement; it also upheld the denial of alimony and attorney’s fees as within the trial court’s discretion.


Zepeda v. Zepeda, 632 N.W.2d 48 (S.D. 2001)