Williams v. Knott

690 S.W.2d 605, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 6947
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 27, 1985
Docket14219
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 690 S.W.2d 605 (Williams v. Knott) 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
Williams v. Knott, 690 S.W.2d 605, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 6947 (Tex. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinions

BRADY, Justice.

This is an appeal by Kenneth Ray Williams from a decree of the trial court terminating his parental rights and granting the adoption of his daughter by the step-father, appellee, James M. Knott, III. This Court will reverse the judgment of the district court.

Kenneth and Karen were divorced by the district court of Custer County, Oklahoma, in March 1979. Karen was awarded custody of their only child, Jamie Dee Williams, who was then eighteen months of age. In October 1981, Karen married James Knott and moved to Brady, Texas, with the child. Suit for termination and adoption was filed in the district court of McCulloch County in February 1983, at which time appellant was residing and domiciled in Oklahoma. Appellant filed a special appearance under Tex.R.Civ.P. 120a asserting that the Texas courts did not acquire personal jurisdiction over him, and that the Oklahoma court had continuing jurisdiction involving these parties. The trial court overruled the special appearance and after a trial on the merits, terminated appellant’s parental rights and granted the Knotts’ petition for adoption.

Appellant asserts eight points of error, including the overruling of his jurisdictional challenge, and contending the trial court’s termination of his parental rights was an abuse of discretion and was not supported by clear and convincing evidence. The trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law state that appellant failed to support his child in accordance with his ability during a period of one year ending within six months of the date of the petition of termination, and that such termination was in the best interest of the child.

JURISDICTIONAL QUESTION

Appellant, as a resident and domiciliary of Oklahoma, argues that the courts of Texas did not acquire personal jurisdiction over him to terminate his parental rights. Due process considerations, appellant urges, require that a state court be limited in its authority to enter judgments affecting rights or interests of nonresident defendants, citing International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945); Shaffer v. Heitner, 433 U.S. 186, 97 S.Ct. 2569, 53 L.Ed.2d 683 (1977); and Kulko v. Superior Court of California, 436 U.S. 84, 90, 98 S.Ct. 1690, 1695, 56 L.Ed.2d 132 (1978). The Supreme Court of the United States has noted that the minimum contacts standard “cannot accommodate some necessary litigation,” and recognized the need for exceptions, such as status adjudication. Shaffer v. Heitner, supra. Special jurisdictional principles thereby apply to status adjudications like custody.

In Perry v. Ponder, 604 S.W.2d 306 (Tex.Civ.App.1980, no writ), the court held that the nonresident parent’s lack of personal contacts did not “outweigh the state’s vital interest in the welfare of children residing within its borders.” Perry at 314. The Court in Perry relied on section 11.051 of the Texas Family Code (Supp.1979) in holding that said section was intended to be an assertion of jurisdiction in the broadest sense consistent with due process. Thus, it was established that:

If the notice requirements of due process and applicable procedural rules are met, a Texas court has “personal jurisdiction” over the nonresident within subdivision (4) of Section 11.051 to adjudicate the custody issue, even though it may not have such jurisdiction to render a personal judgment enforcing or imposing affirmative duties on the nonresident.

Id. at 313-314. Indeed, the court went further and said:

... the standard of traditional notions of fairness and substantial justice laid down in International Shoe and elaborated in Shaffer as the ultimate test of due process may be met in a child custody case by delivery of personal notice outside the state without any requirement of “mini[607]*607mum contacts on the part of the absent parent.”

Id. at 316. The Shaffer opinion, on the other hand, primarily stressed the relationship among the defendant, the forum, and the litigation. The Perry case seems to have stretched that relationship in favor of the forum state’s interest in the litigation.

There exists little case authority involving termination of parental rights when the respondent is a nonresident of Texas. There is authority, however, to the effect that a termination proceeding is a status determination which does not require personal jurisdiction over a nonresident respondent. See Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws §§ 69-79 (1971). Additionally, footnote 30 in the Shaffer opinion could be read to support the above conclusion.

The Court in In re M.S.B., D.G.B. and K.R.B., 611 S.W.2d 704 (Tex.Civ.App.1980, no writ) endeavored to answer the question of whether personal jurisdiction is required over a nonresident respondent in termination proceedings. The facts of that case are similar to the case at bar in that the petitioner filed a suit to terminate the parent-child relationship and to effectuate the adoption of the children by the petitioner’s second husband. When the parties were divorced in West Virginia, the court appointed the mother managing conservator of the children, and ordered the father to make child support payments. Subsequently, the court entered an order modifying the father’s visitation rights. Approximately one month later the mother moved with her children to Texas. About two and one-half years later the mother instituted a proceeding in Bexar County, Texas, to terminate the father’s parent-child relationship and to effectuate the adoption of the children by the petitioner’s second husband. The Court held that section 11.045 of the Texas Family Code (1979 Tex.Gen. Laws, ch. 584, § 2, at 1202), provided for an affirmative grant of jurisdiction. The issue in the case was whether the Texas court was required to exercise personal jurisdiction over the nonresident respondent before termination of the parent-child relationship could be accomplished. The Court indicated that the rational in Perry, the clear implication in footnote 30 of the Shaffer opinion, and section 11.045 of the Texas Family Code allowed the ease to be viewed as a question of status adjudication. Thus, there was no reason not to apply the rational in Perry to a termination proceeding.

Section 11.045 of the Texas Family Code was in effect when the appellant in the instant case filed his special appearance. Several months later, but before the decree of termination and adoption was signed by the judge, § 11.045 was repealed. Simultaneously, the Texas Legislature adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA) under subchapter B of the Texas Family Code (Supp.1985). Section 11.53 of the Act was intended to fill the void left when § 11.045 was repealed. That section currently sets forth the manner and means whereby a court may acquire jurisdiction over a child where a custody issue is at stake.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

in the Interest of N.M.G., a Child
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013
J.M.W. v. T.I.Z.
2011 UT 38 (Utah Supreme Court, 2011)
Jerry L. Berwick v. Richard T. Wagner
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011
Berwick v. Wagner
336 S.W.3d 805 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
In Re Higera N.
2010 ME 77 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2010)
C.L.B. v. D.G.B.
812 So. 2d 980 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002)
Adoption of CLB v. DGB
812 So. 2d 980 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002)
In re Adoption of Asente
2000 Ohio 32 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2000)
In Re Lambert
993 S.W.2d 123 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1999)
In the Interest of L.S. v. Ewing
1997 OK 109 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1997)
Arteaga v. Texas Department of Protective & Regulatory Services
924 S.W.2d 756 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1996)
Clewis v. State
876 S.W.2d 428 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Clark v. Gordon
437 S.E.2d 144 (Court of Appeals of South Carolina, 1993)
White v. Blake
859 S.W.2d 551 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1993)
State Ex Rel. Torres v. Mason
848 P.2d 592 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1993)
Foster v. Stein
454 N.W.2d 244 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1990)
Gainey v. Olivo
373 S.E.2d 4 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
690 S.W.2d 605, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 6947, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-knott-texapp-1985.