In the Interest of T.M.Z.

665 S.W.2d 184, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 4866
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 11, 1984
Docket04-82-00553-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 665 S.W.2d 184 (In the Interest of T.M.Z.) 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 T.M.Z., 665 S.W.2d 184, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 4866 (Tex. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

BUTTS, Justice.

This is a suit for termination of the parent-child relationship between the subject child, T.M.Z., and her father, appellant herein, J.A.Z., and for adoption of her by G.P., stepfather and appellee herein. Ap-pellee L.P., mother of T.M.Z., and G.P., her husband, petitioned the trial court for termination pursuant to TEX.FAM.CODE ANN. § 15.02(1)(F), (H) and (2) (Vernon Supp.1982-1983). 1 Appellant was served with process in the Texas Department of Corrections and obtained a bench warrant enabling him to attend the nonjury trial. The trial court granted judgment for both termination and adoption. We affirm the judgment.

In his first point of error, appellant asserts there is no evidence or, in the alternative, insufficient evidence to support the finding of the trial court of each of the elements of section 15.02(1)(H). The specific elements upon which a court must base its termination order, if proved, are:

[T]he parent has voluntarily, and with knowledge of the pregnancy, abandoned *186 the mother of the child beginning at a time during her pregnancy with the child and continuing through the birth, failed to provide adequate support or medical care for the mother during the period of abandonment before the birth of the child, and remained apart from the child or failed to support the child since the birth.

In addition to finding that the acts or omissions of subdivision (H) occurred, the trial court must also find, as provided in division (2), of the Act, that termination is in the best interest of the child. The finding of the trial court, that termination is in the best interest of the child, is not challenged in this appeal. However, proof of elements in subdivision (H) is not excused because a court may be of the opinion that division (2) has been proved. Wiley v. Spratlan, 543 S.W.2d 349, 351 (Tex.1976); Diaz v. Beyer, 611 S.W.2d 726, 731 (Tex.Civ.App. — Waco 1981, writ ref’d n.r.e.), cert, denied, 456 U.S. 904, 102 S.Ct. 1749, 72 L.Ed.2d 160, reh. denied, 456 U.S. 985, 102 S.Ct. 2261, 72 L.Ed.2d 864 (1982). Moreover, the elements must be proved by clear and convincing evidence. In the Interest of G.M., 596 S.W.2d 846, 847 (Tex.1980). The standard is defined in Texas v. Addington, 588 S.W.2d 569, 570 (Tex.1979), vacated & remanded, 441 U.S. 418, 99 S.Ct. 1804, 60 L.Ed.2d 323:

Clear and convincing evidence is defined as that measure or degree of proof which will produce in the mind of the trier of fact a firm belief or conviction as to the truth of the allegations sought to be established. This is an intermediate standard, falling between the preponderance standard of ordinary civil procedure and the reasonable doubt standard of criminal proceedings ... there is no requirement that the evidence be unequivocal or undisputed.

See Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 1391, 71 L.Ed.2d 599 (1982). This court’s review of the evidence, when the challenge is “no evidence,” is limited to that evidence favorable to the finding and the judgment rendered thereon; we must disregard all evidence to the contrary. Bay v. Farmer’s State Bank of Hart, 576 S.W.2d 607, 609 (Tex.1979). When considering the “insufficient evidence” contention, we must examine all of the evidence. Garza v. Alviar, 395 S.W.2d 821, 823 (Tex. 1965).

The mother’s testimony indicated that the father had a violent temper and that he “had been in prison or jail ... many times ... before and during [the marriage], off and on.” She recounted how, when she was seven months pregnant with T.M.Z. in 1972, the father, in the midst of an argument, threw a radio “at my stomach.” The radio went through the wall. This precipitated an immediate separation, the mother returning to live with her parents. The couple lived together at her parents’ house after the child was born for a period of two months. They were divorced in 1973.

The mother testified the father never paid for any of the medical care, doctors, or hospital in connection with the pregnancy and birth. The father did not visit her or the child at the hospital. He saw the month-old child for the first time when the mother took her to visit him. There was an unequivocal statement that “he never has” provided any support or anything for T.M.Z. The mother lived with her parents until she married G.P. in 1975.

By the terms of the divorce decree the father could visit the child and he was ordered to pay $50.00 per month support for T.M.Z. He has never paid any child support. It was established the mother had not hidden the child or made her unavailable to the father during the years since her birth in October, 1972. The child apparently believed that G.P. was her father.

Upon cross-examination the mother denied the father was rebuffed when he came to her parents’ house to talk with her; rather, she said, he visited the house and stole a typewriter from her parents. “[J.A.Z.] had a habit of going into my parents’ house and taking things from them. There’s a record at the Police Department. Many times we called the police.” She *187 indicated the person who saw the father with the typewriter was present in the courtroom, “Diana.” The mother stated she left when the radio was thrown at her. She stated she had previously been physically abused by him. “I was pregnant and I was not going to risk remaining there and having to face further physical abuse.”

She emphatically denied that she told the father to stay away and that she did not want his help at all. Lawton testified he drove the father to the maternal grandparents’ house in 1972 or 1973 on two occasions, but that the father was not permitted to enter the house. He said the father told him he wanted to leave some money. Although he said he had received four or five friendly letters from the father in prison, the letters made no mention of T.M.Z. The stepfather testified the father had contributed no child support since 1975 when he and the mother married. The mother stated there had been no support before that time.

Evidence established G.P. worked as a supervisor with the Texas Department of Human Resources, that another child, a boy, age 12 at the time of trial, had been born to the mother and appellant. G.P. supported him also. Further, the family, which included another daughter born to G.P. and the mother, seemed to be close and loving.

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665 S.W.2d 184, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 4866, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-tmz-texapp-1984.