In Re: VAMC

FOR PUBLICATION
 

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT:    ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE:
 
FRED R. HAINS    ROBERT J. PALMER
JOEL GABRIELSE    May Oberfell & Lorber
South Bend, Indiana    South Bend, Indiana

     IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

IN THE MATTER OF THE PATERNITY OF: ) V.A.M.C., A Child Born Out of Wedlock, ) ) JAMES MODEN, III, ) ) Appellant-Petitioner, ) ) vs. ) No. 71A03-0112-JV-431 ) ROSA CORR, ) ) Appellee-Respondent. )

    APPEAL FROM THE ST. JOSEPH PROBATE COURT
    The Honorable Peter J. Nemeth, Judge
The Honorable Jane Woodward Miller, Magistrate
    Cause No. 71J01-9906-JP-592

    August 16, 2002
 
    OPINION ON REHEARING
 
SHARPNACK, Judge

    In V.A.M.C., we affirmed the portion of the trial court's judgment that granted sole custody of V.A.M.C. to Mother, and we reversed the portion of the trial court's judgment that restricted Father's visitation with V.A.M.C. by prohibiting Father from allowing his fiancée, Rebecca Rohrs, to have contact with V.A.M.C. In re V.A.M.C., 768 N.E.2d 990, 1001-1002 (Ind. Ct. App. 2002). We reversed the visitation restriction because "the trial court did not specifically find that V.A.M.C.'s emotional well-being or physical health would be endangered by Rohrs's presence" as is required before imposing a visitation restriction under Ind. Code § 31-14-14-1. Id. at 1001.
Mother filed a petition for rehearing in which she argued, in part, that we erred by reversing the trial court's visitation restriction without remanding to give the trial court the opportunity to enter appropriate findings to support such a restriction. We agree that the trial court should have the opportunity to enter appropriate findings, if in fact the Record could support such findings. See Payne v. State, 531 N.E.2d 216, 218-219 (Ind. Ct. App. 1998) (granting rehearing for the limited purpose of remanding to the trial court for specific findings rather than simply reversing the trial court's judgment). Consequently, we grant rehearing for the limited purpose of remanding this cause to the trial court with instructions that on remand the trial court may either: (1) enter an order containing findings sufficient to support a visitation restriction under Ind. Code § 31-14-14-1 based on the evidence already on the Record, or (2) enter an order that does not contain a visitation restriction. In all other respects, we affirm our original opinion.
Instructions on remand modified.
BROOK, C. J. concurs.
FRIEDLANDER, J. would deny rehearing without opinion.