In re K.K. CA4/3

Filed 6/2/22 In re K.K. CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

In re K.K., JR., a Minor.

L.S.,

Petitioner and Respondent, G060733

v. (Super. Ct. No. 20AD000045)

K.K., SR., OPINION

Objector and Appellant.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Scott B. Cooper, Judge. Affirmed. Marsha F. Levine, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Objector and Appellant.

Nelson Kirkman and Graham D. Kirkman for Petitioner and Respondent. * * * K.K., Sr. (Father) appeals from a judgment terminating his parental rights 1 to his 11-year-old son, K.K., Jr. (K.K.), under Family Code section 7822, which authorizes the termination of rights of a parent who “has left the child in the care and custody of the other parent for a period of one year . . . without communication from the parent . . . with the intent . . . to abandon the child.” (§ 7822, subd. (a)(3).) Father concedes he did not communicate with K.K. for over a year, so the sole issue on appeal is whether substantial evidence supports the trial court’s finding of intent to abandon. According to Father, he never intended to abandon K.K.; he stopped trying to communicate with K.K. only because K.K.’s mother had consistently thwarted his communication efforts, and he believed further attempts at communication would be futile. After reviewing the entire record, we find substantial evidence supports the finding of intent to abandon and affirm the judgment.

FACTS L.S. (Mother) and Father began dating in 2009 in Arizona. Their son, K.K., Jr., was born in September 2010. When K.K. was about one year old, Mother and Father broke up, and they alternated caring for K.K. on a weekly basis until April 2013, when Father moved to Utah for a seasonal job. After Father returned to Arizona in October 2013, K.K. continued to live exclusively with Mother. In November 2013, Mother and K.K. moved to Texas; Father did not object. The next (and final) time Father saw K.K. in person was in March 2014, when Mother and K.K. visited Arizona. During that visit, Mother got into a physical