In re Moiles

840 N.W.2d 790, 303 Mich. App. 59
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 29, 2013
DocketDocket No. 314970
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 840 N.W.2d 790 (In re Moiles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Moiles, 840 N.W.2d 790, 303 Mich. App. 59 (Mich. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinions

OWENS, J.

Respondent, Kenneth L. Moiles, appeals as of right the circuit court’s order granting the motion of petitioner, Tasha Weeks, to revoke Moiles’s acknowledgment of parentage of the minor child, EM (the child). Because we conclude that the trial court complied with the statute in question, the Revocation of Paternity Act (the Act),1 we affirm.

I. FACTS

Moiles and Weeks were romantically involved for seven years, but ended their romantic involvement in December 2009. Weeks testified that the parties had temporarily separated in 2006 and the child was born in 2007. Even though both parties were aware that there was a possibility that Moiles was not the biological father of the child, Moiles signed an acknowledgment of parentage, affirming under penalty of perjury that he was the child’s natural father. Under the Acknowledgment of Parentage Act,2 an acknowledgment establishes a child’s paternity without requiring further adjudica[64]*64tion.3 The parties had a child in 2009, KNM, and they do not dispute that Moiles is the natural father of KNM.

In May 2011, Moiles was involved in a Child Protective Services (CPS) investigation concerning bruises to his child, KAM, from a previous marriage. Moiles pleaded to jurisdiction in that case. Moiles was also involved in another CPS investigation in October 2011. In the trial that followed, Weeks testified that in October 2011, Moiles had returned KNM to her home with a bruise on his face. A jury eventually found that the trial court had jurisdiction over the child and KNM. Services in that case remained ongoing through December 2012.

In June 2012, the Michigan Legislature passed the Revocation of Paternity Act (the act),4 which provides in part a means by which a trial court can revoke an acknowledgment of parentage.5 The act allows a mother, acknowledged father, alleged father, or prosecuting attorney to move to revoke an acknowledgment of parentage within three years after the child’s birth, within one year after the acknowledgment of parentage was signed, or within one year after the effective date of the act, whichever is later.6

In August 2012, Weeks filed a petition, seeking to revoke Moiles’s acknowledgment of the child’s parentage. Weeks asserted that the child was conceived during the time that she and Moiles were separated and that the child was not his biological child. A DNA analysis indicated a zero percent chance that Moiles was the child’s biological father.

[65]*65In December 2012, Weeks petitioned the trial court to suspend Moiles’s parenting time on the basis that his oldest son had sexually abused the child. Modes testified that he did not believe that the allegation was true, and that he instead believed that Weeks had manufactured it “so that she can keep her parenting time.”

On January 12, 2013, Weeks provided the trial court with a brief in support of her petition requesting the revocation of Moiles’s acknowledgment of parentage. On January 22, 2013, the trial court heard Weeks’s petition to revoke Moiles’s acknowledgment of parentage. The trial court heard testimony solely from the technician who had analyzed the DNA samples. Modes contended that the act was not applicable to this case because the parties had not made any misrepresentations to each other. Modes also contended that the trial court must consider the child’s best interests before revoking his paternity.

The trial court found that the act was unambiguous and applied to Moiles’s case because one or both parties knew or should have known that he was not the child’s biological father when they signed the acknowledgment. Thus, the trial found that the acknowledgment “was a misrepresentation of the material fact and was executed fraud[ul]ently by the two parties.” The trial court further found by clear and convincing evidence that Modes was not the child’s “biological father,” and revoked the acknowledgment of parentage.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The Revocation of Paternity Act does not provide a standard by which this Court should review the trial court’s decision. Generally, this Court reviews for clear error the trial court’s factual findings in proceedings involving the rights of children, and reviews de novo [66]*66issues of statutory interpretation and application.7 The trial court has committed clear error when this Court is definitely and firmly convinced that it made a mistake.8

Consistently with the general standards of review in actions involving the care and custody of children, we conclude that this Court should review for clear error the trial court’s findings concerning the sufficiency of an affidavit and whether there is clear and convincing evidence that a man is not a child’s father under MCL 722.1437(3). We also conclude that we should review de novo the trial court’s conclusions of law.

III. INTERPRETATION OF THE REVOCATION OF PATERNITY ACT A. STATUTORY LANGUAGE

The act allows the trial court to (1) revoke an acknowledgment of parentage, (2) set aside an order of filiation, (3) determine that a child was born out of wedlock, or (4) make a determination of paternity and enter an order of filiation.9 Pertinent to this case, the act provides that MCL 722.1437 “governs an action to set aside an acknowledgment of parentage.”10

Under MCL 722.1437, a child’s mother, acknowledged father, alleged father, or a prosecuting attorney may file an action to revoke an acknowledgment of parentage within (1) three years after the child’s birth, (2) one year after the acknowledgment of parentage was signed, or (3) one year after the act went into effect, whichever is later.11 The affidavit supporting the peti[67]*67tion must contain a statement of facts that establishes one of five grounds to revoke an acknowledgment:

(a) Mistake of fact.

(b) Newly discovered evidence that by due diligence could not have been found before the acknowledgment was signed.

(c) Fraud.

(d) Misrepresentation or misconduct.

(e) Duress in signing the acknowledgment.[12]

If the trial court finds that the affidavit is sufficient, it must “order blood or tissue typing or DNA identification profiling” in accordance with the Paternity Act.13 Under the section of the Paternity Act to which the Revocation of Paternity Act refers, the results of a blood, tissue, or DNA test presumptively establish the child’s paternity if there is a 99 percent or higher probability of paternity.14 If the testing establishes a presumption of paternity, “either party may move for summary disposition under the court rules.”15 Under the Revocation of Paternity Act, the purpose of the blood typing, tissue typing, or DNA identification profiling is “to assist the court in making a determination,” but the results “are not binding on a court in making a determination under [the Act].”16

B. PRINCIPLES OF STATUTORY INTERPRETATION

This case requires this Court to interpret the Revocation of Paternity Act.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
840 N.W.2d 790, 303 Mich. App. 59, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-moiles-michctapp-2013.