B.B. v. M.N.
B.B. v. M.N.
Opinion of the Court
B.B. appeals from a February 28, 2011, judgment of the Jefferson Juvenile Court (“the juvenile court”) that set aside a prior judgment of that court adjudicating B.B.
The following facts are undisputed. The child was born on August 30, 2006, to M.W. (“the mother”), who was, at that time, married to M.N. On February 19, 2007, B.B. filed a paternity action in the juvenile court to have himself declared the father of the child. Although B.B. served the mother with the complaint in the paternity action, he did not serve M.N. and M.N. did not otherwise receive notice of, or appear in, the paternity action. In the paternity action, the juvenile court ordered “DNA” testing, which revealed the probability of B.B.’s paternity of the child to be 99.99%. On June 26, 2007, the juvenile court entered a judgment establishing B.B. as the child’s legal father, ordering B.B. to pay $538 per month in child support, placing legal and physical custody of the child with the mother, and awarding B.B. visitation with the child. Following the entry of the judgment in the paternity action, the mother remained married to M.N. and they resided together with the child until the mother’s death on July 6, 2008. On July 10, 2008, M.N. filed a motion to set aside the judgment in the paternity action. B.B. responded by, among other things, filing a dependency petition with the juvenile court on July 11, 2008.
The juvenile court consolidated for trial M.N.’s motion to set aside the judgment in the paternity action and B.B.’s dependency petition. The trial consisted of two ore tenus hearings conducted on February 26 and March 4, 2010. In its final judgment, the juvenile court concluded that the judgment in the paternity action was due to be set aside because B.B. lacked standing to contest the paternity of the child; the juvenile court further found that the child was not dependent and dismissed the dependency action filed by B.B.
On appeal, B.B. contends that the juvenile court erred in finding that he lacked standing to prosecute the paternity action and in failing to find the child dependent.
As to the first contention, B.B. acknowledges that, under Alabama’s former Uniform Parentage Act, Ala.Code 1975, former § 26-17-1 et seq., M.N. was the presumed natural father of the child because the child was born during his marriage to the mother.
In J.O.J. v. R.R., 895 So.2d 336, 340 (Ala.Civ.App. 2004), of this court held that a juvenile court must conduct an evidentia-ry hearing to resolve any question as to whether a presumed father persists in his presumption of paternity. See also W.D.R. v. H.M., 897 So.2d 327 (Ala.Civ.
As to his second contention, B.B. argues that the child was dependent because the mother of the child had died, leaving the child with “two legal fathers” who disputed the custody of the child. See Ala.Code 1975, former § 12-15-1(10)c. & n.
We conclude that B.B. has failed to show that the juvenile court committed any error. Thus, the judgment of the juvenile court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
. For various reasons, B.B. did not receive notice of the entry of the February 28, 2011, judgment until some time in May 2011. On May 24, 2011, B.B. filed a Rule 60(b)(6), Ala. R. Civ. P., motion to have the February 28, 2011, judgment set aside. The juvenile court essentially granted that motion, but it subsequently reentered the same judgment on June 2, 2011. B.B. appealed on June 16, 2011. Based on those circumstances, this court treats the appeal as being timely.
. The former Alabama Uniform Parentage Act was repealed effective January 1, 2009. Because the paternity action in the present case was filed before that date, we apply the former act.
. Effective January 1, 2009, former § 12 — 15— 1(10), Ala.Code 1975, was amended and renumbered. Because the dependency action in the present case was filed before January 1, 2009, we apply the former act.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.