Green began dating Quintana in October 2002. Unbeknownst to Green, Quintana was married to Vanderbilt. Quintana returned
Question:
Green began dating Quintana in October 2002. Unbeknownst to Green, Quintana was married to Vanderbilt. Quintana returned to Vanderbilt after the Thanksgiving holiday and lived with him and their four children until March 2003. During that period, Quintana and Vanderbilt had sexual relations. Quintana resumed her relationship with Green during the time she was with Vanderbilt.
Quintana informed Green he was the baby's father. Green attended several prenatal care events and was present when B.I.G. was born on September 15, 2003. Following B.I.G.'s birth, Green and Quintana lived together for three years. During this period, Green provided financial support for B.I.G. While living together, Green and Quintana had hoped to get married, but their relationship soured, and they went their separate ways.
In March 2007, the Office of the Attorney General filed a petition seeking to establish Green's parentage. Quintana and Green were served with copies of the petition, but Vanderbilt was not. Green requested genetic testing, and the trial court ordered it. In conjunction with his request for genetic testing, Green applied for services with the Attorney General "to make sure" he was B.I.G.'s father and to "be put on to pay child support . . . for my son." The test results showed that Green's probability of paternitywas 99.99 percent and that the combinedpaternityindex was 14,533,045 to 1.
Quintana subsequently filed a petition to establish the parent-child relationship identifying Green as B.I.G.'s father and seeking child support from him and her appointment as sole managing conservator. Green sought temporary orders, and the trial court granted him supervised visitation with B.I.G. Although the trial court did not formally adjudicate Green as B.I.G.'s father, the trial court "determined that temporary orders should be granted for father's access to the minor child." Green then filed an amended answer seeking, among other things, his appointment as a "joint non primary managing conservator . . . ." Quintana responded by filing a petition to terminate Green's parental rights. The trial court eventually dismissed the petitions filed by the Attorney General and Quintana, but reinstated Quintana's petitions upon her motion. The record, however, does not reveal if the trial court dismissed Green's request for his appointment as managing conservator. There is no indication that the trial court did or that it ever acted upon the request.
In November 2010, Green responded to Quintana's petition to terminate his parental rights by seeking to establish his parentage. In January 2011, Quintana moved to dismiss Green's petition, alleging for the first time that Green was not B.I.G.'s father and that Vanderbilt was B.I.G.'s presumed father since they were married at the time that B.I.G. was conceived and born. Quintana then filed a brief in support of her motion to dismiss to which she attached an affidavit executed by Vanderbilt. In his affidavit, Vanderbilt affirmed that he was married to Quintana when B.I.G. was born and that he and Quintana engaged in sexual intercourse frequently during the period when B.I.G. could have been conceived.
This is a Texas case.
Based on the Texas Law, specifically the Family Code 160.204, and the case we discussed regarding paternity posted in Discussion Board 6, who do you think the Court is most likely to determine to be the father?
Draft in the following form:
1. State the Issue.
2. State the Rule
3. Apply the facts to your Analysis
4. State your Conclusion
Business Law The Ethical Global and E-Commerce Environment
ISBN: 978-0071317658
15th edition
Authors: Jane Mallor, James Barnes, Thomas Bowers, Arlen Langvardt