Case Name: Johnny SWAIN, Appellant, v. Deborah SWAIN, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1990-10-11
Citations: 567 So. 2d 1058
Docket Number: No. 90-640
Parties: Johnny SWAIN, Appellant, v. Deborah SWAIN, Appellee.
Judges: GOSHORN, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 567
Pages: 1058–1059

Head Matter:
Johnny SWAIN, Appellant, v. Deborah SWAIN, Appellee.
No. 90-640.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
Oct. 11, 1990.
Evelyn Davis Golden of Perry, Lamb, Cato & Golden, Orlando, for appellant.
Ronald R. Findell, Orlando, for appellee.

Opinion:
DAUKSCH, Judge.
This is an appeal from a marriage dissolution judgment.
Both parties agree and the trial court found that appellant is not the father of the child the court ordered appellant to support. It is conceded by all that the child was born five years before the marriage of these parties and was fathered by another man. Yet the court ordered appellant to support the child because "he has become the 'psychological father of the child.' " There is no such thing recognized in law. Only natural and adoptive parents have a legal duty to support minor children. See, e.g., Erwin v. Everard, 561 So.2d 445 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990); Albert v. Albert, 415 So.2d 818 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982), rev. den., 424 So.2d 760 (Fla.1983); Kern v. Kern, 360 So.2d 482 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978); Bostwick v. Bostwick, 346 So.2d 150 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977). The only small exception to this basic rule is the duty of a person to provide for children with whom he or she stands in loco parentis.
Those portions of the judgment requiring appellant to pay support and expenses for the child and giving appellant visitation and other rights regarding the child are reversed. Because appellant has not provided a transcript for our review we cannot find any other alleged error in the record.
AFFIRMED in part; REVERSED in part and REMANDED for entry of an amended judgment to conform hereto.
GOSHORN, J., concurs.
W. SHARP, J., dissents with opinion.