Bordelon v. Dehnert

770 So. 2d 433, 2000 WL 1391572
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 22, 2000
Docket99 CW 2625-R
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 770 So. 2d 433 (Bordelon v. Dehnert) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bordelon v. Dehnert, 770 So. 2d 433, 2000 WL 1391572 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

770 So.2d 433 (2000)

Leon Nicholas BORDELON
v.
Theresa Ann DEHNERT.

No. 99 CW 2625-R.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

September 22, 2000.

*434 Stephen P. Sheets, Gonzales, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee Leon Nicholas Bordelon.

Nancy Sue Gregorie, Edmund M. Brown, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant Theresa Ann Dehnert.

Before: CARTER, C.J., WEIMER, J., and FONTENOT,[1] J. Pro Tem.

WEIMER, J.

This domestic matter is before us following remand by the Louisiana Supreme Court. The matter was previously before us on a supervisory writ after the trial court's denial of the non-resident defendant's declinatory exception of lack of personal jurisdiction in a proceeding for child support. Finding applicable the Uniform *435 Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), LSA-Ch.C. art. 1301.1, et seq., we conclude the courts of Louisiana lack subject matter jurisdiction. Thus, we vacate the judgment of the trial court and dismiss plaintiffs demand for child support.

BACKGROUND

Leon N. Bordelon and Theresa Ann Dehnert were divorced in 1993 in the state of Virginia. The final decree of divorce awarded the physical custody of the minor child of the marriage to Mr. Bordelon who had relocated in Louisiana.

On May 3, 1999, Mr. Bordelon filed a petition in the Twenty-Third Judicial District Court for the Parish of Ascension seeking: to make the Virginia judgment executory; to modify the visitation schedule for the best interests of the minor child; and to obtain child support from Ms. Dehnert.

The trial court made the Virginia divorce judgment executory, and Mr. Bordelon's petition was served on Ms. Dehnert via the Louisiana long arm statute, LSA-R.S. 13:3201. Ms. Dehnert filed a declinatory exception of lack of personal jurisdiction and insufficiency of service of process. The trial court granted the exception with regard to the demand for child support, ruling personal jurisdiction could not be obtained pursuant to the long arm statute on that issue. The trial court ruled there was personal jurisdiction for the purpose of determining the custody and visitation issues.[2]

On August 26, 1999, Mr. Bordelon filed another rule for child support. The next day, August 27, 1999, Ms. Dehnert was personally served with this rule while she was physically present in the Parish of Ascension to attend a previously set hearing on the visitation issue. Ms. Dehnert then filed a declinatory exception of lack of personal jurisdiction and a peremptory exception of no cause of action.

The trial court denied Ms. Dehnert's exceptions, ruling that personal jurisdiction attached when Ms. Dehnert was personally served within the state and that Mr. Bordelon's rule to show cause stated a valid cause of action. Ms. Dehnert applied for supervisory writs to this court, which were denied. Thereafter, Ms. Dehnert applied to the Louisiana Supreme Court for supervisory and/or remedial writs on the exception of lack of personal jurisdiction only. The Louisiana Supreme Court remanded the matter to this court for briefing, argument and opinion. In compliance with the remand, briefing was ordered, and subsequently the parties were also ordered to brief the issue of subject matter jurisdiction.

DISCUSSION

Subject matter jurisdiction is a threshold issue because a judgment rendered by a court which has no jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action or proceeding is void. See LSA-C.C.P. art. 3. Jurisdiction over the subject matter is the legal power and authority of a court to hear and determine a particular class of actions or proceedings, based upon the object of the demand, the amount in dispute, or the value of the right asserted. LSA-C.C.P. art. 2. Subject matter jurisdiction cannot be waived by the parties and the lack thereof can be recognized by the court at any time, with or without formal exception. LSA-C.C.P. arts. 3 and 925; Boeing Company v. Louisiana Department of Economic Development, 94-0971, p. 12 (La. App. 1 Cir. 6/23/95), 657 So.2d 652, 659. In the instant case, irrespective of the parties' initial identification of the issue on appeal as one involving personal jurisdiction, the subject matter of this suit is the attempted modification of a child support order embodied in a judgment rendered in the state of Virginia. If the UIFSA applies to this litigation, the provisions contained therein must be complied with for *436 subject matter jurisdiction to be asserted by a Louisiana court.

Does the UIFSA Apply?

On appeal, Mr. Bordelon makes a twofold argument that the UIFSA does not apply in the instant case because: 1) he brought his demand that Ms. Dehnert be ordered to pay child support pursuant to LSA-R.S. 9:315.8, not pursuant to the UIFSA; and 2) LSA-Ch.C. art. 1301.5 provides the remedies of the act are cumulative and do not affect the availability of remedies under other law, such as LSA-R.S. 9:315 .8. Neither point is persuasive.

This court has recently held that subject matter jurisdiction with regard to the issue of child support is governed by Louisiana's version of the UIFSA, LSA-Ch.C. art. 1301.1, et seq. See Jurado v. Brashear, 98-2729, 764 So.2d 1066 (La. App. 1 Cir. 4/17/00).[3] The UIFSA shall be applied and construed to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the law with respect to family support among states that have enacted the uniform act. LSA-Ch.C. art. 1301.2. Allowing a litigant to pick and choose between UIFSA and other state laws in instances when UIFSA applies to bar subject matter jurisdiction clearly would undermine the general purpose of the UIFSA and would not further uniformity in interstate enforcement of child support orders.

The provisions of LSA-Ch.C. art. 1301.5 must be read in conjunction with the other provisions of the UIFSA, which embody the concept of continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to establish and modify the levels of child support due a particular child. The UIFSA was enacted to replace the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (URESA), which had previously governed support orders involving different states. Under URESA, a state had jurisdiction to establish, vacate, or modify an obligor's support obligation even when that obligation had been created in another jurisdiction. Thus, multiple and inconsistent obligations often resulted. Gentzel v. Williams, 25 Kan.App.2d 552, 556, 965 P.2d 855, 858 (1998). The UIFSA was developed by the American Bar Association (ABA) in an attempt to solve some of the problems encountered under URESA, including the exercise of modification jurisdiction over a child support award by more than one state. Jurado, 764 So.2d 1066. Thus, UIFSA attempts to limit modification jurisdiction to just one state at a time, once there is an existing child support award issued. Because UIFSA embodies a "one order, one time, one place" policy, there can be only one controlling order. Id.

To further national uniformity regarding the enforcement of child support orders, Congress required that all states adopt UIFSA by January 1, 1998. 42 U.S.C. § 666(f) (1996 Supp.). The Louisiana legislature enacted the UIFSA through 1995 La. Acts No. 251, effective January 1, 1996. Thus, UIFSA is designed to be an improvement over URSA.

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Bluebook (online)
770 So. 2d 433, 2000 WL 1391572, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bordelon-v-dehnert-lactapp-2000.