Ramsey v. Ramsey

• Decision Date: 25 May 2000
• Citation: Ramsey v. Ramsey, 19 S.W.3d 548 (Tex. App. 2000)
• Parties: (Tex.App.-Austin 2000) Connie Doreen Ramsey, Appellant v. Andrew Bascome Ramsey, Appellee NO. 03-99-00476-CV
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 548

19 S.W.3d 548 (Tex.App.-Austin 2000)

Connie Doreen Ramsey, Appellant v. Andrew Bascome Ramsey, Appellee

NO. 03-99-00476-CV

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT AT AUSTIN

May 25, 2000

From the County Court at Law No. 1 of Williamson County No. 91-348-FC1, Honorable Kevin Henderson, Judge Presiding

Before Justices Jones, Kidd and Patterson

Mack Kidd, Justice

In June 1994, appellant Connie Ramsey and appellee Andrew Ramsey were divorced in the 13th District Court of Navarro County (the "Navarro Court"). The final decree of divorce divided the couple's community property and named Andrew sole managing conservator of Matthew, the Ramseys' only child. The court designated Connie possessory conservator and ordered her to pay Andrew monthly child support. Although the record is incomplete, it appears that the couple then lived apart for approximately two years, during which time Andrew had sole custody of Matthew. At some point during 1996, Andrew and Connie reconciled and resumed living together in the central Texas area. Then in June 1999, Andrew left Connie unexpectedly and moved to Plano, taking Matthew with him.

Connie proceeded to file an application for writ of habeas corpus in Williamson County Court at Law No. 1 (the "Williamson Court") to compel Andrew to relinquish custody of Matthew. Citing the terms of a 1991 order that the Williamson Court had rendered in a suit brought by the attorney general eight years earlier (the "SAPCR order"), Connie maintained that she was entitled to custody of Matthew as his managing conservator. Connie contended that because of the 1991 SAPCR order, the Williamson Court was the court of continuing, exclusive jurisdiction of all matters affecting Matthew and that the Navarro Court lacked jurisdiction of all issues involving Matthew's custody and support. The Williamson Court disagreed and dismissed appellant's application for lack of jurisdiction, finding that the Navarro Court had jurisdiction of all matters affecting Matthew. On appeal, appellant argues that the Williamson Court erred in dismissing her application, and she requests a writ of mandamus directing the court to issue a writ of habeas corpus compelling Andrew to relinquish custody of Matthew. We will affirm the order of dismissal.

BACKGROUND

Connie Ramsey and Andrew Ramsey married in 1989. The following year, Connie gave birth to the Ramsey's only child, Matthew. Within one year of Matthew's birth, Andrew and Connie separated; it is unclear from the record, though, whether their separation was due to personal differences or economic necessity.¹ At some point Connie applied for and began receiving state aid for Matthew's support. However, no suit for divorce was filed, and no other legal action relating to Matthew's welfare was initiated. On April 2, 1991, the attorney general filed a suit affecting the parent-child relationship² in the Williamson Court, seeking to recover from Andrew $528 of aid that the State had paid Connie for Matthew's support. Both Connie and Andrew waived service of citation in that suit, and neither filed pleadings requesting affirmative relief. To facilitate our discussion, we present a chronology of the procedural events that followed:

June 28, 1991:

The Williamson Court issued an agreed judgment in the attorney general's suit, ordering Andrew to reimburse the State for the $528 of aid Connie had received for Matthew's support. The court included in its judgment a standard possession order naming Andrew possessory conservator and ordering him to pay Connie, whom the court named Matthew's managing conservator, future child support in the amount of $250 per month. No reporter's record of this proceeding was preserved.

June 29, 1992:

Connie filed for divorce in the Navarro Court. In her petition, Connie represented to the court that there were "no court-ordered conservatorships, court-ordered guardianships, or other court-ordered relationships affecting the child."

July 8, 1993:

The Navarro Court dismissed Connie's divorce suit for want of prosecution.

April 19, 1994:

Andrew filed an original petition for divorce in the Navarro Court. Connie was served with process. In his petition, Andrew also represented to the court that there were "no court-ordered conservatorships, court-ordered guardianships, or other court-ordered relationships affecting the child."

June 21, 1994

The Navarro Court rendered a default judgment after Connie failed to answer or appear at trial. The final decree of divorce named Andrew sole managing conservator and designated Connie possessory conservator. Connie was ordered to pay Andrew monthly child support in the amount of $50 per month.

1994-1996:

Andrew and Connie lived apart while Andrew had sole custody of Matthew.

July 1996:

Connie and Andrew reconciled. Andrew and Matthew moved to Travis County and resumed living with Connie.

June 10, 1999:

Andrew left Connie and moved to Plano, taking Matthew with him.

July 23, 1999:

Connie filed an application for writ of habeas corpus in the Williamson Court seeking to regain custody of Matthew. In support of her application, Connie cited the Williamson Court's 1991 SAPCR order, which she contends conferred upon the Williamson Court continuing, exclusive jurisdiction of all matters affecting Matthew. Connie sought to enforce the conservatorship provisions of the 1991 SAPCR order, reasoning that the conservatorship provisions of the Navarro Court's final divorce decree were void.

August 2, 1999:

The Williamson Court dismissed Connie's application for lack of jurisdiction, finding that the Navarro Court possessed continuing jurisdiction of all issues involving Matthew. This appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

At issue in this case is the validity of the conservatorship provisions of the 1994 divorce decree rendered by the Navarro Court. We must determine whether the 1991 SAPCR order rendered the child support and custody provisions of the 1994 Navarro Court's divorce decree void ab initio. In the event we conclude that the divorce decree's conservatorship provisions are a nullity, appellant requests a writ of mandamus directing the Williamson Court to issue a writ of habeas corpus compelling Andrew to relinquish custody of Matthew.

At the outset, it is important to note that the 1991 SAPCR order on which appellant relies was the product of an action initiated by a third party, the attorney general, for the primary purpose of recovering state funds paid to Connie for Matthew's support. To dispense with the need for any further grants of state aid throughout the duration of the Ramseys' separation, the Williamson Court named Andrew possessory conservator and ordered him to pay monthly child support of $250 to Connie, whom the court named Matthew's managing conservator. See Tex. Fam. Code. Ann. § 153.005(a) (West 1996) (providing that before or upon separation, "the court shall appoint at least one managing conservator"). No suit for divorce was pending at that time, and the conservatorship provisions were never a point of contention among the parties. Thus, the issue of conservatorship was merely ancillary to the primary purpose of the State's suit, which was to secure reimbursement of state money.

With this in mind, we consider appellant's contention that the conservatorship provisions of the 1994 divorce decree are void because of the Williamson Court's 1991 SAPCR order. While the Navarro Court certainly had potential jurisdiction of the subject matter, i.e., child custody and support issues incident to suits for divorce,³ appellant contends that by virtue of the 1991 SAPCR order, the Williamson Court acquired and continues to retain continuing, exclusive jurisdiction of all matters affecting Matthew. Therefore, she maintains that the conservatorship provisions of the 1994 divorce decree are a nullity and that the Williamson Court erred in dismissing for lack of jurisdiction her application for writ of habeas corpus. We disagree for the following reasons.

We begin by noting that despite being served with citation in the 1994 suit for divorce, appellant defaulted after failing to answer or appear at trial. Consequently, appellant never challenged the jurisdictional allegations set forth in Andrew's petition. Nor did she ever attempt to challenge the judgment's validity through a motion for new trial, direct appeal, or bill of review. Rather, appellant allowed the judgment to stand for approximately five years before seeking to have it declared void in a habeas corpus proceeding. Finally, we observe that appellant represented to the same court in her own petition for divorce in 1992 that there were "no court-ordered conservatorships, court-ordered guardianships, or other court-ordered relationships affecting the child."

In essence, appellant seeks to collaterally attack the child support and custody provisions of the 1994 divorce decree, an otherwise valid final judgment, almost five years after the divorce decree became final and approximately eight years after the 1991 SAPCR order was rendered. A collateral attack, unlike a direct attack, does not attempt to secure the rendition of a single, correct judgment in the place of the former judgment. See Austin Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Sierra Club, 495 S.W.2d 878, 881 (Tex. 1973); Holloway v. Starnes, 840 S.W.2d 14, 18 (Tex. App.--Dallas 1992, writ denied). Rather, it is an attempt to avoid the effect of a judgment in a proceeding brought for some other purpose. See Employers Cas. Co. v. Block, 744 S.W.2d 940, 943 (Tex. 1988); Austin Indep. Sch. Dist., 495 S.W.2d at 881. In a collateral attack, we are to presume that the judgment under attack is valid. See Stewart v. USA Custom Paint & Body Shop, Inc., 870 S.W.2d 18, 20 (Tex. 1994); White v. White, 179 S.W.2d 503, 506 (Tex. 1944). Here, appellant seeks to avoid the effects of the conservatorship provisions of the 1994 divorce decree by implementing the terms of the 1991 SAPCR order.

Void or...