People v. P.W.K. (In re E.K.), Court of Appeals No. 12CA1234

• Docket Nº: Court of Appeals No. 12CA1234
• Citation: 2013 COA 99
• Case Date: June 20, 2013
• Court: Court of Appeals of Colorado

2013 COA 99

In re the Support of E.K., J.K., and P.K., Children,
and Concerning the People of the State of Colorado, Petitioner-Appellee,
v.
P.W.K., Respondent-Appellant.

Court of Appeals No. 12CA1234

Colorado Court of Appeals

Announced June 20, 2013

Arapahoe County District Court No. 12JV366

Honorable Timothy L. Fasing, Judge

JUDGMENT VACATED AND CASE REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS Division III Opinion by JUDGE GABRIEL Dailey and Bernard, JJ., concur

Ron Carl, County Attorney, Meghan Loftus, Assistant County Attorney, Danielle Newman, Assistant County Attorney, Lisa Covington, Assistant County Attorney, Aurora, Colorado, for Petitioner-Appellee

Alison Ruttenberg, Boulder, Colorado for Respondent-Appellant

¶1. In this paternity action, P.W.K. (obligor) appeals the district court's judgment adopting the magistrate's order that established his paternity of three children, E.K., J.K., and P.K. As an apparent matter of first impression in Colorado, we conclude that a district court lacks jurisdiction to resolve matters in a paternity action unless each man presumed to be the children's father and each man alleged to be the children's natural father are made parties to or given notice of the action. Because the alleged biological fathers of E.K. and J.K. were not made parties to or given notice of this paternity action, we vacate the judgment for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and remand the matter to the district court for further proceedings in compliance with the Uniform Parentage Act (UPA).

I. Background

¶2. In 2003, the children's mother (mother) gave birth to E.K. while she was in the process of dissolving her marriage to obligor. Although mother and obligor were divorced in 2004, they later reconciled. Consequently, when mother gave birth to J.K. in November 2005, obligor agreed to be named as the father on J.K.'s birth certificate. Thereafter, mother and obligor lived together until shortly before mother gave birth to P.K. in December 2006.

¶3. In March 2012, the Arapahoe County Delegate Child Support Enforcement Unit (CSEU) filed a verified petition for paternity and support, naming obligor as the only alleged and presumed father of the three children. At the paternity hearing, the CSEU proffered genetic testing results that excluded obligor as the biological parent of E.K. and J.K. Mother then identified by name the separate biological fathers for E.K. and J.K., and she testified that each biological father had met his respective child. Obligor did not dispute that he was P.K.'s biological parent.

¶4. Following the hearing, the magistrate adjudicated obligor the parent...