In Re ALS

338 S.W.3d 59, 2011 WL 692224
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 12, 2011
Docket14-10-00245-CV
StatusPublished

This text of 338 S.W.3d 59 (In Re ALS) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re ALS, 338 S.W.3d 59, 2011 WL 692224 (Tex. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

338 S.W.3d 59 (2011)

In the Interest of A.L.S., M.B.S., B.P.S. and F.J.S.

No. 14-10-00245-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Houston (14th Dist.).

March 1, 2011.
Rehearing Overruled May 12, 2011.

*62 Robin Brown, San Antonio, for appellant.

James David Parish, Katy, Charles H. Portz, Houston, for appellee.

Panel consists of Justices ANDERSON, FROST, and BROWN.

OPINION

JEFFREY V. BROWN, Justice.

Appellant Robin Brown, appearing pro se, raises seven issues on appeal from a judgment for child-support arrearage. In two issues, Brown, the obligee, contends the trial court abused its discretion when it calculated the child-support arrearage owed by Michael Stackhouse, the obligor, because the evidence is insufficient to support the amount of arrearage ordered and the trial court failed to include additional child support in the form of medical support awarded in 1990. Brown also contends in three issues that the trial court abused its discretion by failing to award pre- and post-judgment interest and attorney's fees on the judgment, and by staying an administrative writ of withholding. In her sixth issue, Brown contends the Attorney General's Office ("OAG") acted outside its statutory authorization by actively pursuing forgiveness of child support owed by Stackhouse. Finally, in her seventh issue, Brown challenges a 1990 child-support modification requiring her to obtain medical insurance rather than granting her request for contempt. We find merit in Brown's complaints concerning the trial court's failure to include the previously ordered medical support as child support, and the trial court's failure to award pre-judgment interest on the child-support arrearage found, and therefore we reverse and remand in part and affirm the remainder.

I

In 1985, Brown and Stackhouse were divorced. They had four children.[1] In the divorce decree, Stackhouse was ordered to pay $400.00 per month in child support. He also was required to maintain medical insurance for the children.

*63 On March 14, 1990, on Brown's motion, the trial court modified Stackhouse's child-support obligation. Under the modification order, Stackhouse was required to pay $565.00 per month for four children with the following step-down as the children graduated from high school or otherwise became ineligible for child support: $323.00 per month for three children, $201.00 per month for two children, and $161.00 per month for one child. The order also required Brown to carry medical and health insurance and Stackhouse to pay 158.00 per month "as additional child support for such insurance":

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT

As additional child-support, IT IS ORDERED AND DECREED that [Brown] shall purchase, and as long as child support is payable under the terms of the order, maintain in full force and effect, at her sole cost and expense, medical and health insurance coverage for the children. As additional child support for such insurance, IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that [Stackhouse], as long as child support is payable under the terms of this order, and in addition to any child-support ordered under the section of this order entitled "support", shall pay to [Brown] the sum of $158.00 per month, payable in two monthly installments of $79.00 each, with the first payment being due [and] payable on March 1, 1990, the second payment being due and payable on March 15, 1990, and like payments being due and payable on the 1st and 15th of each month thereafter.

Brown filed a "Motion for Judgment Nunc Pro Tunc" to correct errors in the March 14, 1990 modification order. Apparently, a hearing was held on the motion on October 16, 1990, and the trial court granted the motion. The judgment nunc pro tunc ordered Stackhouse to pay $565.00 per month for four children with the following step-down provisions: he was ordered to pay $484.00 for three children, $404.00 per month for two children, and $323.00 per month for one child. The remainder of the March 14, 1990 order, including the medical support ordered, was unchanged.[2]

In 2006, Brown sought Title IV-D services from the OAG. In January 2007, the OAG issued an administrative writ of withholding to Stackhouse's employer, the Houston Independent School District ("HISD"), and began withholding money from Stackhouse's pay. In response, Stackhouse filed a petition to terminate the administrative writ of withholding and to recover child support made in excess of the child-support order. Brown counter-petitioned to confirm a child-support arrearage.

At a hearing on Stackhouse's petition to terminate the administrative writ of withholding, *64 Stackhouse testified that because Brown failed to purchase medical insurance for the children as the March 14, 1990 modification order required, he did not pay the $158.00 per month in medical support. He also testified that he had provided health insurance for the children since at least 1994. Brown testified that she never obtained medical insurance for the children because she lacked access to group health insurance. She also testified that Stackhouse did not allow his children to access any medical-insurance coverage and that she paid for all of their medical expenses. During the hearing, the trial court expressed the view that Stackhouse was not required to pay the medical support because Brown did not provide health insurance as ordered. Based on this conclusion, and noting that the evidence left the amount of arrearage uncertain, the trial court ordered the administrative writ vacated.

In May 2009, the OAG filed a motion for clarification and motion to confirm child-support arrearage, alleging that Stackhouse had accrued $2,319.98 in child-support arrearage and $27,630.26 in medical-support arrearage.[3] The OAG and Stackhouse appeared for a hearing on the OAG's motion in July, but Brown did not appear. At the start of the hearing, the trial court announced that, because Brown was not present, she was in default and all of her claims were dismissed. The OAG then questioned Stackhouse concerning his child-support payments, and Stackhouse testified that he owed no child-support and no medical-support arrearages. Stackhouse and the OAG stipulated that the 1990 order required Brown to carry the health insurance and for Stackhouse to reimburse her, and Stackhouse confirmed that Brown had not purchased health insurance for the children, but he had. Stackhouse also testified that he had overpaid child support and asked the trial court to reimburse him the money held by the OAG. At the conclusion of the hearing, the OAG argued that the trial court should issue a take-nothing judgment on arrearages on both child support and medical support on equity grounds. The trial court ruled that Stackhouse owed no arrearage, the OAG's office was to return any money held to him, and there should be no further withholding of any money.[4]

The trial court rendered a default judgment against Brown. Brown moved to set aside the default judgment and for new trial, and the trial court granted her motion.

Brown then moved to affirm the amount of child support Stackhouse owed, and in October and November 2009, the trial court held a hearing on her motion. The OAG also appeared at the hearing. All of the parties submitted exhibits, but for the most part the parties did not refer to them.

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Bluebook (online)
338 S.W.3d 59, 2011 WL 692224, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-als-texapp-2011.