Cowan v. Moreno

• Decision Date: 12 July 1995
• Docket Number: No. 03-94-00237-CV,03-94-00237-CV
• Citation: 903 S.W.2d 119
• Parties: Robert COWAN, Appellant, v. Nancy MORENO, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 119

903 S.W.2d 119

Robert COWAN, Appellant, v. Nancy MORENO, Appellee.

No. 03-94-00237-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas Austin.

July 12, 1995.

Drew B. Phipps, Drew Phipps, P.C., Austin, for appellant.

Dan Morales, Atty. Gen., Belinda Herrera, Asst. Atty. Gen., Child Support Litigation Div., Austin, Rhonda Amkraut Pressley, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, for State Support Enforcement Agency.

Before POWERS, KIDD and B.A. SMITH, JJ.

BEA ANN SMITH, Justice.

This case involves an interstate child support enforcement proceeding. Nancy Moreno sought Texas registration of a 1982 Colorado support order naming Robert Cowan as the obligor. Cowan filed a petition to vacate the registration on the ground that the Colorado decree is not a support "order" because it conditioned visitation rights on the payment of child support rather than ordering him unconditionally to make child support payments. After a hearing on the petition, the district court signed an order confirming registration of the Colorado support order but expressly declining to rule on the decree's enforceability. ¹ Cowan appeals this order by one point of error, arguing that the trial court erred in denying his petition to vacate registration of a foreign support order because no support order had been presented to the court. We will dismiss for want of jurisdiction because the order is not a final judgment.

DISCUSSION

With certain exceptions, an appeal may be taken only from a final judgment of a district or county court. Tex.Civ.Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. § 51.012 (West 1986); North E. Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Aldridge, 400 S.W.2d 893, 895 (Tex.1966). A judgment is final when it determines the rights of all parties and disposes of all issues in a case so that no future action by the court is necessary to settle the entire controversy. Aldridge, 400 S.W.2d at 895; Wagner v. Warnasch, 156 Tex. 334, 295 S.W.2d 890, 892 (Tex.1956).

Cowan argues that the order is final because Moreno did not file a petition asking for enforcement of the Colorado decree. He contends that the only issue before the court was the registration of the support decree and that therefore the order confirming registration is final. We disagree because both Moreno's and Cowan's pleadings raised the issue of the enforceability of the order.

We initially decide whether the Revised Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (RURESA) ² or the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) applies to the registration of the Colorado judgment. Texas repealed RURESA effective September 1, 1993, and concurrently enacted UIFSA. See Tex.Fam.Code Ann. §§ 21.01-.52 (West Supp.1995); ³ see also Act of May 8, 1993, 73d Leg., R.S., ch. 970, § 1, 1993 Tex.Gen.Laws 4212-35. Cowan points out that the legislation enacting UIFSA provides: "This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and applies only to an order, decree, or judgment entered on or after that date." Id. at 4235. Cowan argues that the UIFSA does not apply to this cause because the Colorado decree was rendered on March 18, 1982. We disagree.

UIFSA is designed to streamline and expedite interstate and intrastate enforcement of support decrees. It addresses both the duties of the state that originally issues a decree, the "issuing state," and the state in which the obligee seeks to enforce a decree, the "responding state." Subchapter F of UIFSA addresses the Texas registration of foreign support orders when Texas is the responding state; it does not address the rendition of another state's support order. Also, if the legislature had intended to apply UIFSA only to foreign support orders rendered after September 1, 1993, it could have left RURESA in place or continued RURESA in effect ⁴ because there would be a considerable time lag before foreign support orders rendered any time before September 1, 1993 would be registered for enforcement. Finally, we note that the language in section 16 is identical to the language used when RURESA was promulgated, which the legislature later clarified by providing that, when Texas was the responding state, the effective date is the date that the Texas court enters a judgment. ⁵ Since RURESA and UIFSA both serve the same purpose--expedited and uniform enforcement proceedings--the same reasoning applies to section 16 of UIFSA. We conclude that with regard to Subchapter F, the date an order, decree, or judgment was "entered" refers to the date that the Texas court enters its judgment. Since the Colorado order was filed after UIFSA's effective date, the judgment entered in a UIFSA judgment and the procedure for obtaining that judgment is UIFSA procedure. See Tex.Fam.Code Ann. § 21.36 (West Supp.1995). In this case, since the documents were filed on December 15, 1993, UIFSA applies.

We next consider whether enforcement of the decree was an issue in the confirmation proceeding. Moreno filed a standardized Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act ("URESA") petition to register the support decree. Cowan claims that Moreno did not raise the issue of enforcement because she did not file a "motion to enforce" the decree as is necessary to initiate the enforcement of Texas support orders. ⁶ See Tex.Fam.Code Ann. § 14.31 (West Supp.1995). We disagree.

Texas Family Code section 21.23 provides that the petition to establish ⁷ a support order must conform substantially with the requirements imposed by the forms mandated by federal law for use in cases filed by a support enforcement agency. Since neither party disputes this, we assume Moreno's standardized petition met the requirements of section 21.23.

Texas Family Code section 21.36(a) requires the submission of particular documents to register an order for enforcement in this state, including a letter of transmittal requesting registration and enforcement. On pages one and two of the uniform support petition, Moreno indicated by checking a preprinted box that she requested the collection and payment of arrears. Section 21.36(c) further provides that a "petition or comparable pleading seeking a remedy that must be affirmatively sought under other law of this state may be filed at the same time as the request for registration or later." Tex.Fam.Code Ann. § 21.36(c) (West Supp.1995) (emphasis added). The commissioners' comment to the analogous uniform provision notes that "the authorization of a later request contemplates that interstate pleadings may be liberally amended to conform to local practice." ⁸ Uniform Interstate Family Support Act § 603, Comment, 9 U.L.A. 126, 157 (Supp.1994). Moreno has indicated that she seeks the payment of arrears; should Texas law require a particular petition or form to initiate a remedy, she could amend her petition to include such a document. As it is, her petition suffices to raise the issue of enforcement of arrearages. ⁹

Moreover, although Cowan characterizes his petition to vacate registration as a challenge to the existence of a support decree, the trial court order characterized it as an argument regarding enforcement of the decree. We agree with the trial court's conclusion. A support order is a "judgment, decree, or order, whether temporary, final, or subject to modification, for the benefit of a child, a spouse, or a former spouse, that provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, or reimbursement...." Tex.Fam.Code Ann. § 21.01(21) (West Supp.1995). The document the State seeks to register is a Colorado decree that provides:

And it is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court that ... [Cowan] shall [have] visitation rights conditioned upon his making child support payments of $100.00 per week to [Moreno] payable weekly beginning March 28, 1982.

The order, on its face, appears to be a valid order of a Colorado court. Under the Full Faith and Credit Clause, the introduction of a facially valid order of a foreign court creates a prima facie case for its proponent. Mitchim v. Mitchim, 518 S.W.2d 362, 364 (Tex.1975). A facially valid order may be challenged only on limited grounds such as a lack of personal jurisdiction by the issuing court, or some procedural defect that would render the decree void. Id.; Nunez v. Nunez, 771 S.W.2d 7, 9 (Tex.App.--San Antonio 1989, no writ); O'Halloran v. O'Halloran, 580 S.W.2d 870, 873 (Tex.Civ.App.--Texarkana 1979, no writ). The party challenging the decree bears the burden of proving that the judgment is void. ¹⁰ Mitchim, 518 S.W.2d at 364. Cowan did not raise any jurisdictional or procedural defects. "There is no defense ... to the registration of a valid foreign support order." UIFSA § 606, Comment, 9 U.L.A. 126, 160 (Supp.1994). Since the order is a "decree ... for the benefit of a child ... that provides for monetary support," the order is a "support order" contemplated by UIFSA.

Basically, Cowan's pleading asserts that some or all of the asserted arrearages did not accrue because he did not exercise his visitation rights. This issue relates to the enforceability rather than to the existence of the support order.

A judgment or order that expressly reserves an issue for later adjudication is interlocutory. Wilcox v. St. Mary's Univ. of San Antonio, Inc., 501 S.W.2d 875, 876 (Tex.1973); Angerstein v. Angerstein, 389 S.W.2d 519, 521 (Tex.Civ.App.--Corpus Christi 1965, no writ). Moreno's standardized URESA pleading indicates that she desires the collection of arrears and Cowan's own motion challenges the enforceability of the order. Accordingly, the issue must be resolved before the decree is final. See Zellers v. Barthel, 727 S.W.2d 364, 366 (Tex.App.--Fort Worth 1987, no writ) (order granting wife's motion to increase child support not final since it expressly did not dispose of issue of visitation raised in husband's response to motion).

Cowan argues that any enforcement issues need not be resolved now, relying on cases involving decrees which were held to be final and appealable even though the judgment contemplated that a separate action might be taken...