In Re C.E

391 S.W.3d 200 (2012)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

C.E., was born to Stephanie Garcia (M) in 1995. C.E was sixteen years old at the time of the hearing. M was dating P and shortly after C.E.'s birth, P signed a birth certificate acknowledging C.E. as his biological child. In 2001, P signed an agreed child support review order. The trial court adjudicated P the father of C.E. and entered an agreed CSRO setting current child support in the amount of $206.00 per month. In June 2011, the OAG filed a petition to modify the CSRO, seeking an order increasing Ehrhardt's monthly support obligation. P petitioned to terminate the parent-child relationship under section 161.005(c). The statute permits a man to terminate the parent-child relationship if paternity previously was established without the benefit of genetic testing and a misrepresentation caused the man to believe that he fathered the child. P alleges that he discovered that Garcia had a relationship with another man the month before Garcia revealed she was pregnant. He averred that he mistakenly believed that he was C.E.'s biological father 'based on misrepresentations that led him to that conclusion.' P testified that began to question his paternity several years ago when he heard C.E. mention to P's wife that P might not be her father. P testified that he did not believe C.E. was his daughter because M had 'engaged in other relations' with another man the month before she informed P that she was pregnant. P discovered some pictures of Garcia lying in bed with another man. That man was of a different ethnicity than him and that, as C.E. had grown, he noticed 'a lot of differences' in 'facial features and stuff like that.' P conceded that M had never expressly told him that he was C.E.'s father. The trial court denied genetic testing because P had failed to make a prima facie showing under section 161.005(c). P appealed.