County of San Francisco v. David Stewart

1 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA 2 COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO 3 UNIFIED FAMILY COURT 4

5) 6 COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO,) Case Number: FCS-11-346715) 7 Petitioner) Hearing Date: August 13, 2026) 8 VS.) Hearing Time: 9:00 AM) 9 DAVID STEWART,) Department: 404) 10 Respondent) Presiding: AI MORI) 11) 12 OTHER REVIEW HEARING 13 TENTATIVE RULING 14 Having read and considered the pleadings, declarations, and other evidence submitted in this matter, the 15 Court makes the following findings and orders: 16 A. Procedural History 17 1) David Stewart (Father) and Lilia Scott (Mother) have one minor child together, Cybelle (DOB 18 12/8/2010, age 15).

Mother has sole legal and sole physical custody of Cybelle. 19 2) In a Findings and Order After Hearing (FOAH) filed 3/26/2025, the Court noted it had “just 20 recently granted Father unsupervised visitation after essentially a lifetime of estrangement.” The 21 Court ordered unsupervised parenting time for Father twice a month for 2 hours per visit in a 22 public place and ordered Father to bring his son Bruce to the visits until and unless the parties 23 agree otherwise. The Court ordered the parties to meet and confer to schedule the future visits and 24 issued various conduct and communication orders, including an order for Father not to transport 25 Cybelle in a car and for the parties not to use Cybelle as a messenger. 26 3) On 1/27/2026, Father filed a request for joint legal custody and 70/30 physical custody “or some 27 form of equal shared parenting,” “for any weekend or weekday with a ‘Step up’ . . . strategy in 28 place.”

Mother opposed the request and requested a Tier II interview of Cybelle, stating the 29

1 current orders are final, Montenegro orders, Father has not exercised all visits, and there has been 2 no change in circumstances. 3 4) On 4/9/2026, both parties appeared at the hearing on Father’s request. Father requested a 4 continuance on the ground that he had just retained counsel, and the matter was continued to 5 5/19/2026. 6 5) At the 5/19/2026 hearing, the Court maintained the current custody and parenting time orders 7 with some modification and ordered a Tier II interview of Cybelle.

The Court set the matter for 8 further hearing on 8/13/2026. 9 6) The Court has received and reviewed the Tier II report of Cybelle’s interview and has also 10 reviewed and considered the parties’ update declarations. 11 B. Findings and Orders 12 1) This Court has jurisdiction to make child custody orders in this case under the Uniform Child 13 Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. A violation of this order may subject the party in 14 violation to civil or criminal penalties, or both. The country of habitual residence of the minor 15 child is the United States. 16 2) The Court finds it is in Cybelle’s best interest to maintain the current legal and physical custody 17 order without modification.

As ordered on 5/19/2026, Father is encouraged, but not required to, 18 bring Bruce to his visits with Cybelle. Although the visits shall not be canceled if Bruce is 19 unavailable to attend the visits, the parties should be mindful that Cybelle has clearly stated that 20 she wishes for Bruce to be present at the visits; thus, the parties shall in good faith ensure that 21 Bruce is able to join Father and Cybelle for the visits. Although the Court understands that Father 22 wishes to have more time with Cybelle, the Court finds that an increase in visits (whether 23 immediately or through a step-up schedule) is not in Cybelle’s best interest at this time, given her 24 age and stated wishes and the totality of the circumstances including the history of the case. 25 3) If Cybelle wishes to communicate with either Father or Bruce outside of her visits with Father, 26 she may reach out to either of them via text message, email, or phone or video calls, at her 27 discretion.

Mother shall not express disapproval about--or discourage Cybelle from--reaching out 28 to Father or Bruce, and Father shall not place any pressure on Cybelle to communicate with him 29 or Bruce.

1 4) All prior orders, including conduct and communication orders, shall remain in full force and 2 effect. 3 5) The Court will prepare the Findings and Order After Hearing. 4

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