Court Opinion

ID: 9669238
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:45:17.678273+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:54.301379
License: Public Domain

GREENHILL, Justice
(dissenting).
I concur in the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice McGee in so far as it would hold that there has been an abuse of discretion by the trial judge. I can conceive of facts where, in the management of a trust or related matters, it might become necessary for the confidential information involved to be revealed. Even in that event, the confidential information should be as closely kept as possible.
The facts here, however, do not in my opinion warrant the disclosure of the information. A rich child is entitled to the right of privacy prescribed by the Legislature the same as a poor one. The *900child’s mother obviously did not want her child placed within her family, and I cannot conceive of the legal success of the proposed adoption by the great aunt and uncle. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Galveston, Inc., v. Harper, 161 Tex. 21, 337 S.W.2d 111 (1960). While in some future litigation or proceeding the identity of the child and the disclosure of the fact of her illegitimacy might be required, I see no reason under the circumstances before the Court to jeopardize the right of the child to the chance to a normal life in a normal home.
In acknowledging jurisdiction of the district court and in determining its “abuse of discretion,” there is always a process of weighing; and in the overwhelming number of cases, the decision of a judge in exercising his discretion is respected and upheld. Here, however, the potential harm to the child (and her adopting parents) so far outweighs the good of disclosing confidential information in what seems to me a fruitless proceeding that it appears to me to be an abuse of discretion.
HAMILTON, POPE and McGEE, JJ., join.