In Re MWT

12 S.W.3d 598, 2000 WL 72124
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 26, 2000
Docket04-98-00754-CV
StatusPublished

This text of 12 S.W.3d 598 (In Re MWT) 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 MWT, 12 S.W.3d 598, 2000 WL 72124 (Tex. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

12 S.W.3d 598 (2000)

In the Interest of M.W.T., a Child.

No. 04-98-00754-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, San Antonio.

January 26, 2000.

*600 Karl E. Hays, Law Offices of Edwin J. (Ted) Terry, Jr., Austin, Victor Hugo Negron, Jr., San Antonio, for Appellant.

Peter Y. Henry, San Antonio, for Appellee.

Sitting: PHIL HARDBERGER, Chief Justice, CATHERINE STONE, Justice, SARAH B. DUNCAN, Justice.

OPINION

Opinion by: PHIL HARDBERGER, Chief Justice.

Michael Wayne Terry, Sr. ("Terry") appeals the trial court's decree of paternity that assessed current and retroactive child support against him. Terry asserts that:

1) the trial court erred by rendering an order establishing a parent-child relationship between Terry and M.W.T. because a parent-child relationship already existed as a matter of law and the trial court lacked jurisdiction to render a paternity decree;
2) the trial court erred in ordering Terry to pay retroactive child support; and
3) the trial court erred by ordering Terry to pay current child support for M.W.T.

BACKGROUND

Deborah Marie Spence ("Spence") gave birth to M.W.T. in 1979. In 1997, before M.W.T. reached eighteen years of age, Spence filed a Petition to Establish Paternity. In the petition, she sought an order naming Terry as the father of M.W.T. and ordering him to pay retroactive child support. Spence requested the court to order child support and medical support for M.W.T. to be continued beyond minority because of his alleged disability (Oppositional Defiant Disorder).

*601 Terry concedes that he is the father of M.W.T. He had provided regular support to Spence in the past for M.W.T. totaling $46,332.

The trial court decreed that Terry is the father and ordered additional retroactive support in the amount of $42,608. The court found that M.W.T. is over the age of eighteen, the disability currently exists, and the disability existed before M.W.T. turned eighteen. As a result, the court ordered Terry to pay current child support in the amount of $470 per month. Terry appeals.

DISCUSSION

1. Entry of the Paternity Decree

In his first issue, Terry alleges that because he was already the presumed father, the trial court did not have jurisdiction to enter a paternity decree. According to Terry, "no provision of the Texas Family Code authorizes a paternity action that essentially does nothing more than ratify a pre-existing presumption of paternity." We disagree.

a. Standard of Review

Whether a trial court has subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law subject to de novo review. See Estate of Arlitt v. Paterson, 995 S.W.2d 713, 717 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1999, pet. denied). In the present case, the issue appears to be whether a father's presumed paternity divests the trial court of jurisdiction to enter a decree of paternity.

b. Role of Presumptions and the Legal Finding of Parenthood

Presumptions regarding paternity guide the burden-shifting process. A man is presumed to be the father of a child under certain circumstances. See TEX. FAM.CODE ANN. § 151.002 (Vernon Supp. 2000). Having been named as father on M.W.T.'s birth certificate, Terry is M.W.T.'s presumptive father. See id. § 151.002(b). This presumption may be rebutted under Section 160.110; a man who is a child's presumed father has the burden of proof (by clear and convincing evidence) to prove that he is not the father. See TEX. FAM.CODE ANN. § 160.110(a) (Vernon Supp.2000).

A court does not lose jurisdiction to enter a decree of paternity if the father who is before the court is the "presumed" father, even if the presumption is not contested (or in this case, judicially admitted). The Fourteenth Court of Appeals has stated:

[W]hen the identity of a child's father has not been legally established, a paternity action must be filed before a mother can obtain, much less enforce, a child support obligation. A paternity action enforces a father's legal duty to support his child by adjudicating the very existence of parenthood. Thus, a paternity action is by its very nature an enforcement proceeding; a proceeding that recognizes a man as a child's father and enforces his legal obligation to support his child.

Ex parte Wagner, 905 S.W.2d 799, 803 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1995, no pet.) (emphasis added). At issue in Wagner was whether the father could be incarcerated for failing to pay attorney fees in a paternity suit. See id. The Wagner court stated, "A paternity action is the vehicle through which the child, or a party on behalf of the child, is able to establish responsibility for child support and thereby ultimately obtain it." Id. The court stated that because a party may be incarcerated for failing to pay attorney fees in a child support enforcement proceeding, a party may also be incarcerated for failing to pay attorney fees in the paternity suit. See id. The court reached this result because the paternity suit forms the basis for ordering child support. Cf. id.

The record does not reflect that Terry executed a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity under Sections 160.201-16 of the Texas Family Code. Such a voluntary *602 acknowledgment, properly executed and filed would have become "a legal finding of paternity equivalent to a judicial determination." JOHN J. SAMPSON ET AL., TEXAS FAMILY CODE ANNOTATED 644 (1999).

c. Texas Family Code

Section 160.006(b) states that "[t]he effect of an order declaring that an alleged parent is the biological parent of the child is to confirm or create the parent-child relationship between the parent and the child for all purposes." Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 160.006(b) (Vernon 1996) (emphasis added). The plain language of the statute contemplates the possibility that an acknowledged parent-child relationship may be the subject of a judicial decree.

d. Summary

We conclude the trial court had jurisdiction over this paternity suit. Terry's status as M.W.T.'s father was presumed, and not enforceable, until the court entered the decree of paternity.

2. Order to Pay Retroactive Child Support

In his second issue, Terry complains that the trial court erred by ordering him to pay retroactive child support. He claims that the trial court abused its discretion by disregarding the intent of the guidelines. In particular, he complains that the trial court did not make a determination regarding 1) whether Spence notified Terry regarding paternity, or 2) whether Terry made any attempt to support M.W.T. Terry also maintains that the trial court erred by failing to find that Spence's claim for retroactive child support was barred by estoppel and laches.

A trial court's order on child support is subject to an abuse of discretion standard of review. See Worford v. Stamper, 801 S.W.2d 108, 109 (Tex.1990) (per curiam).

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Related

Ex Parte Wagner
905 S.W.2d 799 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1995)
Anderson v. City of Seven Points
806 S.W.2d 791 (Texas Supreme Court, 1991)
Worford v. Stamper
801 S.W.2d 108 (Texas Supreme Court, 1991)
Kawazoe v. Davila
849 S.W.2d 906 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1993)
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O'Farrill Avila v. Gonzalez
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Walker v. Packer
827 S.W.2d 833 (Texas Supreme Court, 1992)
Ex Parte Payne
598 S.W.2d 312 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1980)
In the Interest of Moragas
972 S.W.2d 86 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1998)
Cain v. Bain
709 S.W.2d 175 (Texas Supreme Court, 1986)
Estate of Arlitt v. Paterson
995 S.W.2d 713 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1999)
In the Interest of M.W.T.
12 S.W.3d 598 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2000)

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Bluebook (online)
12 S.W.3d 598, 2000 WL 72124, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-mwt-texapp-2000.