Case Name: Nancy Louise TAYLOR, Appellant, v. Larry Harold TAYLOR, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1973-06-22
Citations: 279 So. 2d 364
Docket Number: No. 72-103
Parties: Nancy Louise TAYLOR, Appellant, v. Larry Harold TAYLOR, Appellee.
Judges: REED, C. J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 279
Pages: 364–370

Head Matter:
Nancy Louise TAYLOR, Appellant, v. Larry Harold TAYLOR, Appellee.
No. 72-103.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
June 22, 1973.
Louie W. Barnard, Satellite Beach, for appellant.
William C. Irvin, Cocoa Beach, for ap-pellee.

Opinion:
OWEN, Judge.
On appeal from a final judgment of dissolution of marriage, the defendant-wife asserts that the trial court erred in relieving the plaintiff-husband of any obligation for either alimony or child support.
The parties were married in August, 1969. At that time the wife was a 24-year old divorcee with a S-year old son by her former marriage, and approximately four and one-half months pregnant by another man. She was unemployed and had no special training or skills, received no support or alimony from her former husband, and was being supported mainly by welfare benefits. The husband was a 28-year old enlisted man in the United States Navy who had never been married, but who, being fully aware of appellant's enceinte condition, expressed a willingness to marry her and be a father to her son and to her expected child.
After the marriage, the appellee-husband made the necessary arrangements through the Navy for appellant and her son to be listed as dependents by virtue of which status they were eligible for and received those benefits normally available to the dependents of military service personnel. On December 30, 1969, appellant's daughter, Heather, was born. The child was given the name Taylor, and the appellee-husband on this occasion conducted himself in the traditional manner of all proud new fathers by mailing birth announcements, giving away cigars, etc. However, three months later the parties permanently separated and in due course this suit was filed. Appellant conceded that she never felt any love for appellee but had married him primarily for financial security. Both appellant and appellee confirmed the fact that there had never been any sexual relationship between them.
In the final judgment the court made a finding that the marriage was irretrievably broken, the child, Heather, was conceived prior to the marriage, that the parties had never had sexual intercourse either before or during the marriage, that the natural father of the child was a person other than the appellee-husband, that the husband knew the wife was pregnant by another man at the time he married her, that the child, Heather, was born during the marriage, and that the husband had on occasion held himself out to be the father of the child. Upon these findings the court decreed the marriage dissolved, ordered the husband to pay certain arrearage in tempo rary alimony and child support which had accrued, together with attorney's fees, but relieved the appellee-husband of any obligation to pay permanent alimony or child support.
Appellant first contends that the court erred in failing to adjudicate the ap-pellee to be the acknowledged father of the child born during the marriage, and in failing to adjudicate the child to be a legitimate child and heir of appellee. The principal thrust of appellant's argument here is that by virtue of F.S. Section 731.29(1), F.S.A., the marriage of the parties rendered the child legitimate for all purposes. The fallacy of such argument lies in the fact that the statute refers to subsequent intermarriage of the [child's] parents, which means the child's natural parents. Appellee simply was not the natural father of the child born during the marriage. Appellant also contends that under this statute the appellee's conduct in causing his official Navy records to be changed reflecting appellant and her children as dependents was a sufficient acknowledgement in writing to comply with the statute. While it seems doubtful from the evidence that appellee signed any document in writing in the presence of a witness, such an act would at most only entitle the child to inherit from appellee, an issue which was not before the trial court.
Appellant next contends that the court erred in not requiring the appellee-husband to provide support for the child born during the marriage. Appellee was not the natural father of the child, a fact so irrefutably established that it is idle to speak of any presumption to the contrary. Appellee had not legally adopted the child as his own. Appellee had not contracted, either expressly or impliedly, to care for and support said child as his own beyond that period of time that he stood in loco parentis to the child by virtue of the marriage relationship to the child's mother. A man has no legal duty to provide support for a minor child which is neither his natural nor adopted child and for whose care and support he has not contracted. An exception to this is made in the case of one who stands in loco parentis to the child. 59 Am.Jur.2d, Parent & Child, Sections 88-90. Of course, the dissolution of the marriage between appellee and the child's mother terminated any relationship of loco parentis between appellee and the child. No one would suggest that after the marriage was dissolved, appellee had any obligation to support appellant's son by a previous marriage. The child born during the marriage stood in no different legal relationship to appellee than appellant's son.
Appellant also contends that it is inequitable for appellee to be relieved of the obligation of supporting the child because appellant relied upon his representations of support in entering into the marriage. Furthermore, appellant points out that by having entered into the marriage, she has lost the right to institute bastardy proceedings against the child's putative father, and hence the appellee should be es-topped to deny his paternity. This argument is not without some appeal. However, with the exception of having lost this right of action, appellant clearly suffered no other detriment and, in fact, both she and her daughter received certain tangible and intangible benefits from the marriage. Except for the argument advanced on appeal, there is otherwise no basis in the record to conclude that appellant had any intention to pursue the bastardy action and that she forbear doing so in reliance upon any representation made by appellee. It appears to be nothing more than an afterthought.
Appellant's final point is that the court erred in failing to order the appellee to pay permanent alimony. We find no abuse of the trial court's discretion in this respect. The marriage lasted approximately two and one-half years. During this period, the wife and her two children received food, shelter, clothing, medical care and other necessities from appellee. In exchange, appellee enjoyed the benefits of a platonic but not always serene family relationship during the eight months of the marriage in which he and appellant shared a common domicile. When the marriage was dissolved, appellant was none the worse for the experience and for practical purposes still had everything that she had brought to and contributed toward the brief marriage.
The judgment is affirmed.
REED, C. J., concurs.
WALDEN, J., concurs in part, dissents in part with opinion.
. "731.29 Illegitimate child as heir.— (1) Every illegitimate child is an heir of his mother, and also of the person who, in writing, signed in the presence of a competent witness, acknowledges himself to be the father. Such illegitimate child shall inherit from his mother and also, when so recognized, from his father, in the same manner as if the child had been born in lawful wedlock. However, sucli illegitimate child does not represent his father or mother by inheriting any part of the estate of the parents' kindred, either lineal or collateral, unless his parents have intermarried, in which event such illegitimate child shall be deemed legitimate for all purposes."