in the Interest of D.C., S.C., and S.C., Children

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 31, 2022
Docket02-21-00051-CV
StatusPublished

This text of in the Interest of D.C., S.C., and S.C., Children (in the Interest of D.C., S.C., and S.C., Children) 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 the Interest of D.C., S.C., and S.C., Children, (Tex. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________ No. 02-21-00051-CV ___________________________

IN THE INTEREST OF D.C., S.C., AND S.C., CHILDREN

On Appeal from the 360th District Court Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 360-634631-18

Before Bassel, Womack, and Wallach, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Bassel MEMORANDUM OPINION

I. Introduction

E.C. (Father) and S.H. (Mother) were divorced in Nevada on November 12,

2004. They have three children, Daniel, Samantha, and Sally.1 Father appeals the trial

court’s order clarifying his child support obligations. Father contends that (1) his

child support obligations were not ambiguous, so the trial court erred in clarifying the

Nevada divorce decree; (2) the trial court improperly made his clarified obligations

retroactive; and (3) the Texas Attorney General’s office (AG) misled the trial court

about his obligations under the Nevada divorce decree. We hold that the trial court

did not err, overrule Father’s issues, and affirm the trial court’s order.

II. Background

A. The Nevada divorce decree’s contested provision

The dispute centers on the child support provision of the Nevada divorce

decree:

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED[,] AND DECREED that child support for the three minor children is set at the maximum child support allowable pursuant to NRS 125B.070,[2] et seq. namely $610 per

We use aliases to refer to the children. See Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 109.002(d); 1

Tex. R. App. P. 9.8(b)(2).

Nevada Revised Statute 125B.070 was repealed effective February 1, 2020. 2

2017 Nev. Stat. ch. 371, §§ 13, 14(2). However, based on contemporaneous amendments impacted by its repeal, we can determine that Nevada Revised Statute 125B.070 set out the formula for determining child support. Id. § 12. Father’s complaint is not with how his child support was initially calculated; rather, his complaint focuses on when his child support obligations for Daniel ended.

2 month per child for a total child support obligation of $1,830 per month. This amount of child support is reduced by the [Father’s] cost of maintaining medical insurance on the minor children. This amount is further reduced to take into account the anticipated cost of transportation for visitations between [Father] and the minor children. Therefore [Father’s] child support obligation is set at $1,500 per month for the three minor children beginning August 1, 2002 forward and until the minor children turn 18 years of age unless they are in high school. If the minor children are in high school then child support continues until the first to occur of the following: the minor children graduate from high school, the minor children turn nineteen (19) years of age, marry[,] or become otherwise emancipated. As each minor child emancipates, child support will be adjusted accordingly pursuant to NRS 125B.070 et[] seq.

Daniel turned eighteen less than a month after the divorce decree was signed, and

Samantha and Sally turned eighteen in 2020.

B. The Texas AG’s 2018 suit

After receiving a request from Florida (the state Mother and the children were

living in) to register the Nevada divorce decree, the Texas AG filed on February 14,

2018, a notification of a foreign support order under the Uniform Interstate Family

Support Act (UIFSA) and, a day later, a “Motion for Clarification and Suit for

Modification of Support Order (UIFSA).” The AG alleged that Father lived in Texas

and that all three children lived in Florida. As counsel for the AG explained, Mother

had filed proceedings in Florida to modify Father’s child support, but the Florida

court determined that it could not proceed until Father’s obligations under the

3 Nevada divorce decree were clarified, so the Florida court sent the matter to Texas.3

The AG requested both a clarification and a modification of the Nevada divorce

decree.

C. Proceedings before the Tarrant County, Texas, associate judge in 2018

On May 17, 2018, a Tarrant County associate judge signed a “Temporary Order

Clarifying and Enforcing Child Support Obligation – UIFSA” in which the judge

concluded that Father had been entitled to a reduction of child support when Daniel

graduated from high school in May 2005 and that beginning June 1, 2005, Father’s

child support obligation was $1,000 per month. This order made no attempt to

modify Father’s child support.

Thereafter, on October 5, 2018, the associate judge signed an “Order

Clarifying, Enforcing[,] and Modifying Child Support Obligation” in which the judge

again concluded that Father had been entitled to a reduction of child support to

$1,000 per month beginning June 1, 2005. The order also prospectively modified

Father’s child support for Samantha and Sally beginning November 1, 2018. In this

3 Why the Florida court referred the matter to Texas is not entirely clear. We note that Father had apparently communicated with the Texas AG’s office in 2014 regarding his child support obligations and that the AG had concluded that Father owed only $1,000 per month. Because Florida requested that the Texas AG file a notice of registration of the Nevada support order in February 2018, the Florida proceedings ostensibly started sometime after 2014.

4 appeal, Father does not dispute the prospective child support modification. 4 The

distinction between a clarification and a modification, however, later becomes

pertinent to our analysis. Both existed in the associate judge’s October 5, 2018 order.

D. Later proceedings before the Tarrant County, Texas, district judge

On October 9, 2018, Mother requested a de novo hearing before a Tarrant

County district judge. The district judge initially set the hearing for November 28,

2018, but for reasons not reflected in the record, the hearing did not occur until

January 24, 2019. On that date, the trial court signed a “Temporary Order Clarifying

Child Support Obligation” in which it expressly reserved clarification for a later date.5

Thereafter, there were two hearings on the motion for clarification, one on

June 18, 2020, and the other on November 19, 2020. The June 18, 2020 hearing was

held via Zoom video conferencing and in person, but due to the difficulties that one

of the participants was having with the Zoom video conferencing, the trial court reset

the hearing for November 19, 2020, when all parties and attorneys could be personally

present.

4 The associate judge determined that Father’s obligation to pay child support for Daniel ended when Daniel graduated from high school in May 2005. Curiously, the modification portion of the October 5, 2018 order does not specify the names of any children, but contextually it excludes Daniel and includes Samantha and Sally, who were both sixteen years old at the time.

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in the Interest of D.C., S.C., and S.C., Children, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-dc-sc-and-sc-children-texapp-2022.