D.N. v. M.N. CA2/1

Filed 1/29/16 D.N. v. M.N. CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

D.N., B257472

Plaintiff, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. VF004422) v.

M.N.,

Defendant and Appellant;

COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES CHILD SUPPORT SERVICES DEPARTMENT,

Intervener and Respondent.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, William A. Allen, Commissioner. Affirmed. Law Offices of Lynda Sheridan and Lynda Sheridan for Defendant and Appellant. Alexandra Bauer, Chief Attorney, and Tammy Nakada, Legal Counsel, for Intervener and Respondent. ——————————

This case concerns two different orders from two different Los Angeles Superior Courts for the same parent, M.N., to pay child support for the same child, S.N., for the same time period but in different amounts. The trial court issued an order as to which of the two court orders prevails. We affirm. BACKGROUND I. Independent Court Order The first case was filed by the mother D.N. on May 3, 2002, against M.N. We will refer to this case as the Independent action (also called the Norwalk case, Private case, or VF case in the record below; case number VF004422). D.N. filed the Independent action a few months after S.N. was born. In the Independent action, the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Norwalk issued a court order on March 4, 2003 (Independent Court Order), holding M.N. is the father of S.N. and requiring him to pay child support of $1,133 per month beginning March 1, 2003 until the child is 19 years old pending certain events. II. County Court Order The second case was filed by the County of Los Angeles Child Support Services Department (County)—unaware of the existence of the first case—in June 2003, against M.N. We will refer to this case as the County action (also called the BY case in the record below; case number BY670475). To be clear, this case was filed after a court order on child support had already issued in the first case. This case was initiated by the County and not D.N., because D.N. began receiving public assistance from the County when M.N. did not pay child support to her. In the County action, the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Los Angeles (as opposed to Norwalk) issued a court order on November 21, 2003 (County Court Order), holding M.N. is the father of S.N. and requiring him to pay child support of $191 per month beginning July 1, 2003 and child support arrears of $1,524 to account for the months already past in 2003. This amount is substantially less than the child support payment ordered in the first case.