Case Name: D.F., Petitioner, v. DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE ex rel. L.F., et al., Respondents
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2002-06-06
Citations: 823 So. 2d 97
Docket Number: No. SC96288
Parties: D.F., Petitioner, v. DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE ex rel. L.F., et al., Respondents.
Judges: HARDING, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE, and QUINCE, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 823
Pages: 97–103

Head Matter:
D.F., Petitioner, v. DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE ex rel. L.F., et al., Respondents.
No. SC96288.
Supreme Court of Florida.
June 6, 2002.
Peter N. Meros, St. Petersburg, FL, for Petitioner.
Jon J. Johnson, Assistant Attorney General, Child Support Enforcement, Tampa, FL, for Respondents.
Thomas E. Warner, Solicitor General, and T. Kent Wetherell, II, Deputy Solicitor General, Tallahassee, FL, for Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and the State of Florida, Amicus Curiae.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
We have for review the decision in D.F. v. Department of Revenue ex rel. L.F., 736 So.2d 782 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999), which certified conflict with the opinion in DeRico v. Wilson, 714 So.2d 623 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998). We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(4) of the Florida Constitution. For the reasons expressed below, we approve the decision in D.F. and disapprove DeRico.
The facts of the case below, as stated by the district court, are as follows:
I. THE PASCO COUNTY DIVORCE PROCEEDING
D.F. and L.F. were married in Virginia in 1986. About three months later, L.F. .gave birth to a child in Virginia. The couple then moved to Florida. Shortly after the child's second birthday, D.F. filed a petition for dissolution of marriage in Pasco County. D.F. alleged that the child was a marital child, that the parties should have shared parental responsibility for the child, and that the maternal grandparents should have "primary residential custody."
The couple signed a marital settlement agreement that provided the couple would have shared parental responsibility of the child, but that L.F. would have primary residential custody. The agreement provided that D.F. would pay child support in the amount of $40 per week to the maternal grandparents, "as the minor child is currently residing in their household."
The circuit court entered a final judgment on September 28, 1988, incorporating the settlement agreement, but also providing that the maternal grandparents would provide "primary physical residence" for the child. Apparently, the trial court intended to give the mother "primary residential custody" of the child, from the standpoint of parental decision-making, with the understanding that the child would actually live in the grandparents' home. The grandparents were not parties to this divorce proceeding. In the final judgment, child support was payable directly to the grandparents.
In March 1991, L.F., through the Department. of Health and Rehabilitative Services, filed a motion for contempt and for an income deduction order. As a result of a stipulation signed by D.F., the court entered an income deduction order. This order redirected the payment of D.F.'s child support obligation to the clerk of circuit court. The order did not specify whether L.F. or the maternal grandparents were to receive these payments from the circuit court. The maternal grandparents were not parties to this proceeding, and D.F. did not object to their absence.
On July 21, 1997, the Department of Revenue (the "Department"), on behalf of L.F., filed a petition in the Pasco County dissolution proceeding to increase D.F.'s child support obligation. In conjunction with this filing, L.F. signed an affidavit stating that she was the custodian of the child. From the Department's petition, it is unclear whether L.F. has received welfare benefits for the child or whether she is otherwise entitled to receive «assistance from the Department in this case. D.F. filed a response to this petition alleging that he was not the biological father of the child and claiming that venue was proper in Pinellas County, where he now resides. His response further claimed that both a putative father and the grandparents were indispensable parties to the action to modify child support. Thus, D.F. first raised the issue of biological fatherhood in this dissolution proceeding nine years after the entry of the final judgment, at a time when the child was eleven years old.
The Pasco County dissolution action was stayed while an action challenging paternity, which is described later in this opinion, was pending in Pinellas County. After that action was dismissed, the Pasco County Circuit Court entered an order increasing D.F.'s child support obligation to $421 per month....
II. THE PINELLAS COUNTY ACTION TO TERMINATE D.F.'S STATUS AS LEGAL FATHER
On July 25, 1997, fours days after the Department of Revenue filed its petition in the Pasco County dissolution proceeding, D.F. filed a "Supplemental Petition to Terminate Support or to Set Aside Judgment" in Pinellas County. The petition attached and incorporated the final judgment of dissolution. The action is not styled as a paternity action, and actually seeks to reverse a prior determination of paternity. The petition affirmatively alleges that D.F. never had sexual relations with L.F. prior to January 1986, and could not possibly be the child's biological father. Accordingly, his own pleading establishes that D.F. knew about the issue of biology prior to the marriage in March 1986 and prior to the divorce in 1988.
Apparently, the Department is not required to represent litigants such as L.F. in such ancillary proceedings, even if that litigation is the result of the Department's filing. Thus, a clerk's default was entered in this action against L.F. With no one representing the child and a default in place against L.F., the trial court entered an order requiring the mother and child to undergo DNA testing. The trial court apparently concluded this was permissible in light of Daniel v. Daniel, 695 So.2d 1253 (Fla.1997). L.F. complied with this order, and the results supported D.F.'s position on the issue of biological fatherhood.
Prior to the conclusion of the Pinellas County case, during a hearing on March 10, 1998, at which no one was present to represent the mother or child, the trial judge, Marion L. Fleming, realized that the case presented some serious legal issues and determined that another action was pending in Pasco County. She obtained the Pasco County court file and reviewed the divorce pleadings. Thereafter, Judge Fleming concluded she had erroneously entered the order requiring DNA testing. She entered an order denying and dismissing D.F.'s petition, finding that D.F. had contracted to support the child in 1988 and was estopped in 1998 by the 1988 judgment to contest paternity. She ruled that D.F. had pleaded no issue of extrinsic fraud or any other basis that might allow him to seek relief from the 1988 judgment of dissolution in 1997. Accordingly, she held that the issue of paternity could not be challenged based on res judicata. Following a rehearing in which the trial court confirmed these conclusions, D.F. appealed.
D.F., 736 So.2d at 783-86 (footnotes omitted). On appeal, the district court affirmed, holding that D.F. was barred by res judicata due to the prior final judgment of dissolution of marriage.
In DeRico, three children were born during the couple's marriage. The couple separated shortly after the third child was born. A final judgment of dissolution of marriage was entered on May 9, 1994. The dissolution judgment ordered Mr. DeRico to pay $943 per month in child support. In January of 1996, a DNA test was performed as to the youngest child by agreement of the parties. The test revealed that the husband was not the biological father of the child. Another test revealed the same result for the middle child. Based on these results, Mr. DeRico moved the trial court to terminate his child support obligation for the two children. The trial court denied relief. However, shortly after the trial court's ruling, this Court released its opinion in Daniel v. Daniel, 695 So.2d 1253, 1254 (Fla.1997), wherein we held that a former husband has no duty to support a child he neither biologically fathered, adopted, nor contracted to care for. On appeal in DeRico, the Fifth District Court of Appeal applied Daniel and held that Mr. DeRieo was not required to support the children.
The issue presented in this case concerns the ability of a former husband to challenge paternity more than one year after a final judgment of dissolution of marriage for the sole purpose of terminating a child support obligation. The issue requires us to balance the need for finality of judgments with our previous holding in Daniel that a former husband who raises the issue of paternity during a dissolution of marriage proceeding has no legal duty to provide support for a child he neither biologically fathered, adopted, nor contracted to care for. We hold that a final judgment of dissolution of marriage which establishes a child support obligation for a former husband is a final determination of paternity. Any subsequent challenge of paternity must be brought under the provisions of Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540. Rule 1.540 states in relevant part:
(b) Mistakes; Inadvertence; Excusable Neglect; Newly Discovered Evidence; Fraud; etc. On motion and upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a party or a party's legal representative from a final judgment, decree, order, or proceeding for the following reasons: (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; (2) newly discovered evidence which by due diligence could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial or rehearing; (3) fraud (whether heretofore denominated intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation, or other misconduct of an adverse party; (4) that the judgment or decree is void; or (5) that the judgment or decree has been satisfied, released, or discharged, or a prior judgment or decree upon which it is based has been reversed or otherwise vacated, or it is no longer equitable that the judgment or decree should have prospective application. The motion shall be made within a reasonable time, and for reasons (1), (2), and (3) not more than 1 year after the judgment, decree, order, or proceeding was entered or taken. A motion under this subdivision does not affect the finality of a judgment or decree or suspend its operation. This rule does not limit the power of a court to entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment, decree, order, or proceeding or to set aside a judgment or decree for fraud upon the court.
(Emphasis supplied.) In the present case, the trial court denied D.F.'s petition to terminate support, finding that D.F. had pleaded no issue of extrinsic fraud or any other basis that might allow him to seek relief from the 1988 judgment of dissolution in 1997. This conclusion is consistent with rule 1.540 and therefore we find no error.
Accordingly, we approve the decision below and disapprove DeRieo.
It is so ordered.
HARDING, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE, and QUINCE, JJ., concur.
PARIENTE, J., concurs with an opinion, in which ANSTEAD, J., concurs.
WELLS, C.J., concurs in result only with an opinion.
LEWIS, J., concurs in result only with an opinion, in which SHAW, J., concurs.
. Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.540, entitled "Relief From Judgment, Decrees, or Orders," provides that "Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540 shall govern general provisions concerning relief from judgment, decrees, or orders, except that there shall be no time limit for motions based on fraudulent financial affidavits in marital or paternity cases."