Carroll v. Carroll

976 So. 2d 880, 2007 WL 1248053
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedMay 1, 2007
Docket2005-CA-01770-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 976 So. 2d 880 (Carroll v. Carroll) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carroll v. Carroll, 976 So. 2d 880, 2007 WL 1248053 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

976 So.2d 880 (2007)

Roger A. CARROLL, Appellant
v.
Anna F. CARROLL, Appellee.

No. 2005-CA-01770-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

May 1, 2007.
Rehearing Denied November 20, 2007.

*882 Joy B. Wolfe, John F. Perry, Starkville, attorneys for appellant.

*883 Carter Dobbs, attorneys for appellant.

Before KING, C.J., CHANDLER and ISHEE, JJ.

ISHEE, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Following a trial on the merits in the Monroe County Chancery Court, Anna Carroll was granted a divorce upon the ground of adultery. Aggrieved, Roger perfected the present appeal, asserting seven assignments of error which we quote verbatim:

I. The chancellor abused his discretion by entering the interim order on February 1, 2005 and ordering Roger Carroll to comply with a contempt order that was entered when the trial court did not have jurisdiction.
II. Roger was prejudiced when forced to proceed at trial pro se after the court erred in allowing Roger's attorney to withdraw.
III. The chancellor abused his discretion by not equitably distributing the marital assets and liabilities.
IV. The trial court's award of alimony is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence and so excessive as to constitute an abuse of discretion.
V. The chancellor erred in setting the amount of child support.
VI. The chancellor erred when he found Anna was unable to pay her attorney's fees and abused his discretion when he awarded her attorney's fees.
VII. The chancellor erred when he failed to allow Roger's inability to pay on two contempt matters.

Anna, additionally, contends that this Court should award her attorney's fees on appeal.

¶ 2. While we affirm on all issues other than III and IV, we find that the award of $4,000 per month in alimony is ambiguous as to whether it was awarded as a division of marital assets payable in monthly installments or whether it was awarded as periodic alimony. We reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FACTS

¶ 3. This action was initiated when Anna Carroll filed a complaint for divorce against Roger Carroll on September 19, 2003. Roger retained his first of three attorneys who represented him in this action, and he drafted and filed an answer to the complaint. On January 26, 2004, an agreed temporary order was entered providing for, inter alia, temporary alimony and child support. On February 23, 2004, Anna filed a motion for contempt. The record is replete with more motions and orders setting, and then continuing, the contempt matter. On September 28, 2004, the chancery court entered an order permitting Roger's initial counsel to withdraw. Sometime prior to November 29, 2004, Roger retained a second attorney to represent him.

¶ 4. On December 1, 2004, the contempt matter was set for hearing, but on that day, Roger's second attorney announced in open court that he felt he had an ethical conflict in representing Roger, and sought to withdraw. While Roger did not attend the December 1, 2004 hearing, he later testified he had actual knowledge that the hearing was set for that date. The chancery court continued the contempt matter to December 14, 2004. A motion to withdraw was filed on December 2, 2004, and notice was mailed to Roger that same day. After repeated attempts at personal service, including telephone calls between the attorney and Roger, personal service of the motion to withdraw was completed upon Roger on December 13, 2004. Further, *884 while personal service of the motion to withdraw was completed, Roger successfully avoided personal service by the Monroe County Sheriff's Department of notice of the resetting of the contempt motion for December 14, 2004. The sheriff's department did, however, inform him of that date by telephone.

¶ 5. On December 14, 2004, Roger's counsel appeared in chancery court, and the court granted leave to withdraw. Roger did not make an appearance. Following Anna's December 14 presentation of evidence, the chancery court entered orders finding Roger in contempt for failing to comply with discovery by not answering a second set of interrogatories and for failure to pay, inter alia, temporary support and house payments.[1] As discussed later in this opinion, one of Roger's central contentions is that this order was improper, because a M.R.C.P. 81 summons had not issued concerning this hearing. However, as we also will discuss later, there is no contention that service of process was improper when the action commenced, nor any contention that Roger's attorney was improperly noticed of the December 14 hearing, or that Roger lacked actual knowledge of the hearing. At the December 14 hearing the chancellor also set February 1, 2005 as the date for a trial on the merits. Additionally, Roger contends there was error in failing to issue a M.R.C.P. 81 summons for that date as well.

¶ 6. Roger appeared pro se for the February 1, 2005 trial. Interestingly, on some date prior to the trial, the chancellor directed the Monroe County Sheriff to take Roger into custody and hold him (1) until he purged himself of contempt by paying approximately $25,000 in past due support and mortgage payments, and (2) until the trial itself commenced. During the noon recess, he was again taken into custody and held until the trial recommenced. While this action by the chancellor may be seen as extreme, it is indicative of the difficulty the chancery court was having in securing either Roger, or an attorney able to represent him without ethical conflict, to reach a resolution of the divorce complaint. The record is replete with references to Roger evading process servers and deputy sheriffs attempting to deliver service upon him. Perhaps Roger's most flagrant action was at a hearing in Aberdeen, Mississippi, held on one of Anna's motions for contempt. The chancery court recessed for lunch, and with no notice to the chancery court or Anna's attorney, Roger went to the federal courthouse and filed a petition for bankruptcy of his sand and gravel business and then failed to return to the chancery court. Roger later admitted that he filed the bankruptcy petition for the purpose of stopping the contempt hearing. Moreover, Roger himself had valued his gravel business at $827,500 prior to trial, but after dismissing the bankruptcy petition, Roger sold the gravel business for $500,000 and then paid more than $190,000 of the proceeds to his mother, even though there was no note due payable from the business to her. At any rate, a review of the record does show good cause for the chancellor to have determined that, having once gotten Roger into the courthouse, securing his continued presence was an ongoing concern.

¶ 7. Following the February 1, 2005 trial, the chancellor did the following: awarded Anna the use and possession of the marital home, ordered Roger to pay off two mortgages on the home, awarded *885 Anna one-half of the proceeds of Roger's sand and gravel business, awarded Anna a 2001 Nissan Xterra after determining it had been a gift from Roger to her, ordered Roger to pay alimony of $4,000 per month, ordered Roger to pay child support of $500 per month,[2] and ordered Roger to pay Anna's attorney's fees of $42,890. Subsequently, Roger retained his third attorney, and perfected the present appeal.

DISCUSSION

¶ 8.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
976 So. 2d 880, 2007 WL 1248053, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carroll-v-carroll-missctapp-2007.