Modisette v. Phillips

736 So. 2d 983, 1999 La. App. LEXIS 1333, 1999 WL 274992
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 5, 1999
DocketNo. 31,905-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 736 So. 2d 983 (Modisette v. Phillips) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Modisette v. Phillips, 736 So. 2d 983, 1999 La. App. LEXIS 1333, 1999 WL 274992 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

1,GASKINS. J.

One of the defendants in this case, Steven Mark Smith, appeals the trial court’s ruling that his action for disavowal of paternity has prescribed. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

In 1984, Vicky Lynn Modisette and Steven Mark Smith were married. In February 1987, they separated and never reconciled. In January 1988, Ms. Modisette filed a petition for divorce, and on March 8, 1988, a judgment of divorce was granted. At the time of the divorce, the couple had no children. On June 30, 1988, Ms. Modisette gave birth to James Troy Smith. During the time in which the child was conceived, Ms. Modisette lived with Kenneth Ray Phillips. He is the biological father of the child.

On April 16, 1997, Ms. Modisette filed a petition to declare Mr. Smith not to be the father of her child. In addition, Ms. Modi-sette sought to have Mr. Phillips declared the father of James Troy Smith. She also requested that the child’s last name be changed to Phillips and she sought child support from Mr. Phillips. In the alternative, she requested child support from Mr. Smith. A curator ad hoc was appointed to represent the interests of the child. On May 11,1997, Mr. Smith filed an answer to the petition and a reconventional demand in which he sought to disavow the child. In July 1997, the curator representing the child filed an exception of prescription and peremption regarding Mr. Smith’s disavowal action and an exception of no cause or right of action concerning Ms. Modi-sette’s attempt to have Mr. Smith declared not to be the father of the child.

Also, in July 1997, the parties were ordered to submit to blood tests. These tests found that Mr. Smith was not the father of James and that there was a 99.96% probability that Mr. Phillips was the child’s father. In September 1997, the parties [¡¡.consented to changing the child’s last name from Smith to Phillips, and the trial court ordered that a new birth certificate be prepared to reflect the change.

On May 12, 1998, a hearing was held on the exceptions and on the request for child support. The trial court received exhibits from the parties and heard testimony from witnesses. Submitted as exhibits were the petition for divorce, the judgment granting the divorce, the judgment changing the child’s name to Phillips, and the blood test results.

Mr. Smith testified that he did not have sexual relations with Ms. Modisette follow[985]*985ing their separation and that he did not learn of his former wife having a child until a year or two after the birth. He stated that no demand was ever asserted against him for child support, as the minor’s father, until he was served with the present petition in 1997. He also stated that Ms. Modisette always told him that he was not the father of the child.

Ms. Modisette acknowledged that she always told Mr. Smith and others that Mr. Phillips was the father of her child, not Mr. Smith. She stated Mr. Phillips was the only person she had sexual relations with during the period when the child was conceived. Prior to the present proceeding, she had never requested child support from Mr. Smith.

Ms. Modisette stated that when her child was six or seven months old, Rachel Reeves, her roommate at the time, told Mr. Smith about the child. Ms. Modisette also said that in 1993, when James was about to start kindergarten, she asked Mr. Smith to sign a waiver so that she could have James’ birth certificate changed to reflect that Mr. Phillips was his father. At this time, she informed Mr. Smith that the child was not his and of the child’s date of birth.

Rachel Reeves also testified at the hearing. She stated that she was living with Ms. Modisette when the child was about six months old. When Rachel | ¡¡moved out of the house, Mr. Smith helped her, and she thought she told him about the child at this time. However, she was not sure of whether she told him or not.

Following the testimony, the trial court sustained the exceptions filed by the curator. The court further ruled that Mr. Smith is the legal father of the child, while Mr. Phillips is the biological father of the child. The court found that Mr. Smith waived his right to disavow the child because he did not file the action within 180 days of learning of the child’s birth, as required by La. C.C. art. 189. As for child support, Ms. Modisette and Mr. Phillips reached an agreement as to the monthly amount he is to pay, and Mr. Smith was not ordered to pay support. Mr. Smith appealed the trial court judgment.

DISCUSSION

Mr. Smith argues that the trial court erred in dismissing his reconventional demand for disavowal of paternity by maintaining the exceptions of prescription and peremption filed on behalf of the child by the curator. This argument is without merit.

The husband of the mother is presumed to be the father of all children born or conceived during the marriage. La. C.C. art. 184. A child born less than 300 days after the dissolution of the marriage is presumed to have been conceived during the marriage. La. C.C. art. 185. A suit for disavowal of paternity must be filed within 180 days after the husband learned or should have learned of the birth of the child. However, if the husband for reasons beyond his control is not able to file suit timely, then the time for filing such suit shall be suspended during the period of such inability. La. C.C. art. 189.

Because James was born only three months after the divorce of Mr. Smith and Ms. Modisette, Mr. Smith is presumed to be James’ father, under La. C.C. art. 185. Mr. Smith admitted he learned of the child’s birth either one or two years after the event. Therefore, his 180-day period for disavowing the child started |4running at this point, and the period expired long before he filed his action to disavow in 1997. The defendant’s action to disavow was filed some nine years after the child’s birth and at least seven or eight years after the defendant learned of the birth of the child. Thus, unless Mr. Smith can show that the time limit should not have started running when he learned of the birth, his action was untimely.

Mr. Smith argues that the term “birth of the child” contained in La. C.C. art. 189 should be interpreted to mean the birth of the child, accompanied by circumstances [986]*986which place a presumptive father on notice that a claim of paternity and for child support will be directed at him. He cites the case of Naquin v. Naquin, 374 So.2d 148 (La.App. 1st Cir.1979), in support of this argument. In that case, the court found that the term “birth of the child” as used in La. C.C. art. 189 referred to learning of the birth under circumstances that would point to the possibility of an assertion of the husband’s paternity. In Na-quin, the presumed father’s disavowal action was filed more than three years after the child’s birth and more than a year after the father learned of the child’s existence. However, the court found that because of the former wife’s misrepresentation that the child was the product of a second marriage (she had not remarried), the disavowal action could not be filed prior to the presumed father being put on notice that her statements were not true. The disavowal action was filed shortly after the presumed father learned that his former wife had not remarried, and blood tests showed that he was not the father of her child. Naquin v. Naquin, supra.

Mr. Smith also cites Williams v. Williams, 587 So.2d 112 (La.App. 2d Cir.

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