CHERYL MORTENSON, APPELLANT,
v.
B. EDWIN JOHNSON, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1990-09-05
No. 89-02119
PARKER and PATTERSON, JJ., concur.
566 So. 2d 579 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1990) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases
Opinion of the Court
SCHEB, Acting Chief Judge.

SCHEB, Acting Chief Judge.

The appellee unsuccessfully petitioned to modify the support awarded the appellant in a final judgment of paternity. The appellant then sought an award of attorney’s fees from the appellee. The trial judge denied her request. We agree with the Fourth District’s opinion in P.A.G. v. A.F., 564 So. 2d 266 (Fla. 4th DCA July 25, 1990). We hold that section 742.031, Florida Statutes (1989), does not provide for an award of attorney’s fees in a postjudgment proceeding for modification of child support in a paternity action. We point out that there was no challenge to the constitutionality of section 742.031 either in the trial court or in this court. Therefore, we do not address that aspect of the statute.

We certify to the Supreme Court of Florida as a matter of great public importance the same question certified by the Fourth District in P.A.G.:

WHETHER SECTION 742.031 OF THE FLORIDA STATUTES, PROVIDING FOR AN AWARD OF ATTORNEY’S FEES IN AN ORIGINAL PATERNITY ACTION, CAN BE CONSTRUED AS ALSO SUPPORTING AN AWARD OF FEES IN A POSTJUDGMENT PROCEEDING FOR MODIFICATION OF CHILD SUPPORT IN A PATERNITY ACTION?

PARKER and PATTERSON, JJ., concur.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

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Cited By

  • P.A.G. v. A.F., 602 So. 2d 1259 (Fla. 1992)
    …tump v. Foresi, 486 So. 2d 62 (Fla. 4th DCA1986). I am unable to read section 742.06 as incorporating the authority of section 742.031 to award attorney’s fees. The Second District Court of Appeal reached the same conclusion in Mortenson v. Johnson, 566 So. 2d 579 (Fla. 2d DCA1990), as did an Illinois court in construing similar statutes. Fink v. Roller, 113 Ill.App.3d 1084, 69 Ill.Dec. 744, 448 N.E. 2d 204 (1983). See also Gary Brookmyer, Attorney’s Fees in Paternity Modification Proceedings, Fla.B.J., Apr.…
  • Mortenson v. Johnson, 602 So. 2d 1263 (Fla. 1992)
    …PER CURIAM. We have for review Mortenson v. Johnson, 566 So. 2d 579 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990), in which the Second District Court of Appeal certified the following question to be of great public importance: WHETHER SECTION 742.031 OF THE FLORIDA STATUTES, PROVIDING FOR AN AWARD OF ATTORNEY’S FEES IN AN ORIGINAL PATERNITY…

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