EVA RHODES, APPELLANT,
v.
JOSEPH WALL, APPELLEE
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The court held that a trial court erred in ordering shared parental responsibility when such relief was not sought in the appellee's pleadings.
Appellee filed a petition to establish paternity and child support. The parties stipulated to paternity, and the court entered a final judgment granti…
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PER CURIAM.
This is an appeal of a final judgment of a paternity action. We affirm in part and reverse in part.
Appellee filed a petition to establish paternity of a child bom to appellant. In his petition, appellee alleged that he was the father of the child and was willing to pay child support. Prior to the hearing, the parties by agreed order stipulated that appellee was the father of the child. The trial court thereafter entered a final judgment adjudging appellee to be the father of the child and granting shared parental responsibility to the parties, with the primary residence to be with the appellant. In addition, the court granted appellee reasonable visitation rights and ordered him to pay both child support and the outstanding medical bills attendant to the birth of the child.
One of the five issues raised by appellant constitutes reversible error. The issue being whether the trial court erred in ordering shared parental responsibility. We find that it was error and reverse.
In the instant case, appellee did not ask for custody in his petition to establish paternity. When an award of relief is not sought by the pleadings, it is error to grant such relief. Freeman v. Freeman, 447 So. 2d 963 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). Therefore, the trial court erred in ordering shared parental responsibility, when this relief was not sought in appellee’s pleadings.
We affirm the other issues raised on appeal by appellant. Accordingly, we reverse in part and affirm in part.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART.
HERSEY, C.J., and DOWNEY and WALDEN, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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Smith v. Smith, 971 So. 2d 191 (Fla. 1st DCA 2007)…ain a short, plain statement of ultimate facts showing the pleader is entitled to relief and a demand for judgment for the relief to which the pleader allegedly is entitled); Moore v. Trevino, 612 So. 2d 604, 606 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992); Rhodes v. Wall, 514 So. 2d 437, 438 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987) (reversing award of shared parental responsibility, where former husband never sought it in his pleadings); Freeman v. Freeman, 447 So. 2d 963 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). However, in the original final judgment, the court had expr…
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McDONALD v. McDONALD, 732 So. 2d 505 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)…tody in his counter petition); Wallace v. Wallace, 605 So. 2d 504, 505 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992) (because the wife’s motion did not request the relief awarded, and she submitted no evidence on the issue, it was error to award such relief); Rhodes v. Wall, 514 So. 2d 437, 438 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987) (reversible error occurred where petition for paternity did not ask for custody, but court awarded shared parental responsibility); Gleason v. Gleason, 453 So. 2d 941, 941 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984) (“[i]n this dissolution of marri…
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Moore v. Cezar Trevino, 612 So. 2d 604 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992)…k. See Kent v. Burdick, 591 So. 2d 994 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991). However, the trial court’s award of shared parental responsibility at bar constituted reversible error, because appellee did not pray for custody in his counterpetition. See Rhodes v. Wall, 514 So. 2d 437 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987) (reversible error occurred where petition for paternity did not ask for custody, but court awarded shared parental responsibility). When an award of relief is not sought by the pleadings, it is error to grant such relief. Freeman…
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- Freeman v. Freeman, 447 So. 2d 963 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)