K.W. v. J.S.

459 S.W.3d 399, 2015 Ky. App. LEXIS 21
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedFebruary 13, 2015
DocketNO. 2013-CA-002174-ME, NO. 2014-CA-000049-ME
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 459 S.W.3d 399 (K.W. v. J.S.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
K.W. v. J.S., 459 S.W.3d 399, 2015 Ky. App. LEXIS 21 (Ky. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

KRAMER, JUDGE:

This appeal and cross-appeal are brought by K.W. (“mother”) and J.S. (“father”) from a Henderson Family Court order denying a Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure (CR) 60.02 motion to set aside an agreed judgment of paternity. Having reviewed the record and applicable law, we affirm the order as to the judgment of paternity but reverse that portion of the [401]*401order discontinuing child support, and remand for further proceedings.

Mother gave birth to twins on October 5, 2007. At that time, mother and father, who were not married, were residing together. Also living with the couple was their eldest child, who was born in 2002.

When the twins were about eighteen months old, father decided that he wanted to claim them as his dependents for income tax purposes. Mother and father went to the Henderson County Attorney’s office on April 15, 2009, and mother signed a complaint requesting an adjudication of paternity and support order. Father signed an accompanying notarized affidavit stating that he was the biological father of the twins. Mother and father both signed an agreed judgment of paternity, which stated that father did not want a DNA test, was waiving all rights to have a DNA test performed in the future, and that- no DNA test would be ordered in the future. The judgment declared him to be the father of the twins, but made no ruling as to child support at that time because father and mother were residing together and father was providing “in kind services.”

In early October 2009, father and mother separated. In December of that year, the County Attorney filed a motion to set child support for father. Although there is no child support order in the record, a support order was apparently entered on January 25, 2010, following an appearance by the parties before the court.1 Father did pay child support for some time, and was jailed at one point for failure to pay child support.

On August 6, 2013, father filed a CR 60.02 motion to set aside the paternity judgment, claiming that it was based upon a fraudulent representation by mother that he was the biological father of the twins.

At the hearing on the motion, mother stated that the twins’ biological father was a co-worker who was not “in the picture.” Mother testified that father suspected the twins were not his children at the time of their birth, and that she had confirmed to him that he was not the biological father before the entry of the paternity judgment. Photographs were introduced into evidence that purported to show that the twins are partly of Mexican descent, whereas father and mother are both Cau- - casian. According to mother, father agreed to the paternity judgment for tax purposes, fully aware that the twins were not his biological children. Mother testified that the twins call father “daddy” and think of him as their father.

Father testified that he did not know the true paternity of the twins at the time the paternity judgment was entered in 2009, and only became suspicious over time as he observed their dark skin, hair and eyes. He did admit that he has known since January 2010 that the twins were not his biological children, and that he confirmed this by administering a paternity test he purchased at a drugstore. When he was asked by the court why he waited for three years to file the CR 60.02 motion after this discovery, he explained that he did not know how to proceed and could not afford an attorney. He testified that he has only seen the twins a “handful” of times since he and mother separated, usually on the monthly occasions when he visits the older child, but acknowledged that the twins call him “daddy.”

Having heard the parties’ testimony, the family court found that there was evidence that father knew or should have been aware that he was not the twins’ biological [402]*402father, that he benefited from being able to claim them on his taxes, that he had established a relationship with them and acted as their father and still saw them sporadically. The court concluded that there was no basis to set aside the paternity judgment because there was no fraud on mother’s part, and that father, by virtue of his own conduct, was equitably estopped from setting aside the judgment of paternity. The court also ruled, however, that it would be unjust to require father to continue to pay child support, and ordered that he was to have no future child support obligations from the date of entry of the order.

Mother filed an appeal, arguing that the trial court’s discontinuation of child support was an abuse of discretion and should be reversed. Father filed a cross-appeal, arguing that the paternity judgment must be set aside as it is inequitable. We will address the cross-appeal first, because reversal on that issue would render the child support issue moot.

The trial court’s denial of a motion made pursuant to CR 60.02 is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. The rule permits the court to relieve a party from a final judgment on the following grounds:

(a) mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect; (b) newly discovered evidence which by due diligence could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial under Rule 59.02; (c) perjury or falsified evidence; (d) fraud affecting the proceedings, other than perjury or falsified evidence; (e) the judgment is void, or has been satisfied, released, or discharged, or a prior judgment upon which it is based has been reversed or otherwise vacated, or it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application; or (f) any other reason of an extraordinary nature justifying relief. The motion shall be made within a reasonable time, and on grounds (a), (b), and (c) not more than one year after the judgment, order, or proceeding was entered or taken.

Because father made his CR 60.02 motion more than three years after entry of the paternity judgment, the trial court correctly held that he could not rely on grounds (a), (b), or (c) for relief. The court further held that father had not proved the essential elements of fraud to justify setting aside the order pursuant to subsection (d), as the court found no proof of the misrepresentation of a material fact or inducement, noting instead that father signed the agreed paternity judgment for his own tax advantage. Nor did the court find any reason of an extraordinary nature to justify relief under subsection (f).

In his cross-appeal, father argues that he is entitled to relief under subsection (d) because mother made the material misrepresentation to him that he was the biological father of the twins in order to induce him to agree to the paternity judgment. Substantial evidence, in the form of the parties’ testimony at trial, supports the trial court’s finding that father knew or should have known the twins were not his biological children, and that he only entered into the judgment in order to gain a tax benefit. Since it appears that both father and mother were complicit in the entry of the paternity order, this argument must fail.

Father further argues that the prospective application of the paternity judgment is not equitable, because it is now undisputed, based on mother’s testimony and the appearance of the children, that he is not the biological father of the children. Father relies on Crowder v. Commonwealth ex rel. Gregory, 745 S.W.2d 149

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459 S.W.3d 399, 2015 Ky. App. LEXIS 21, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kw-v-js-kyctapp-2015.