Cathleen Quinn v. David J. Quinn (074411)

137 A.3d 423, 225 N.J. 34, 2016 WL 1740662, 2016 N.J. LEXIS 371
CourtSupreme Court of New Jersey
DecidedMay 3, 2016
DocketA-5-14
StatusPublished
Cited by289 cases

This text of 137 A.3d 423 (Cathleen Quinn v. David J. Quinn (074411)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cathleen Quinn v. David J. Quinn (074411), 137 A.3d 423, 225 N.J. 34, 2016 WL 1740662, 2016 N.J. LEXIS 371 (N.J. 2016).

Opinions

Judge CUFF

(temporarily assigned) delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this appeal, the property settlement agreement (PSA) governing the terms of the parties’ divorce provided that alimony would terminate if the spouse receiving alimony cohabited with another. We address whether the trial court may suspend alimony for the period of time the alimony recipient cohabited rather than terminate alimony as required by the express terms of the PSA. Under the circumstances of the record developed at trial, we hold that the trial court was required to apply the remedy of termination, as fashioned by the parties.

The parties divorced in 2006. Pursuant to the terms of the PSA that governed the divorce, David J. Quinn agreed to pay alimony to Cathleen Quinn,1 and she agreed that David’s obligation to pay alimony would terminate on his death, her death, her remarriage, or her cohabitation with another.

By January 2008, Cathleen was in what she described as a committed relationship with a man she had met in August 2007. David moved to terminate his alimony obligation. Following a protracted sixteen-day trial over a period of eleven and one-half months, the trial court found that Cathleen had cohabited with John Warholak from January 2008 to April 2010. Because the cohabitation had ceased during the course of the trial, the trial judge suspended, rather than terminated, David’s alimony obligation for the period of cohabitation. The trial judge reinstated alimony as of the date cohabitation ceased and permitted David to [39]*39pay one-half of his alimony obligation until he recouped the alimony paid during cohabitation and the attorneys’ fees awarded to him by the trial court. The Appellate Division affirmed, determining that the trial court did not exceed its equitable authority to fashion an appropriate remedy. We now reverse.

Marital agreements, including PSAs that clearly and unequivocally provide for the termination of alimony upon cohabitation, are enforceable when the parties enter such agreements knowingly and voluntarily. Here, the trial court found that Cathleen knowingly and voluntarily agreed that David’s obligation to pay alimony would cease upon the occurrence of certain clearly defined events, including cohabitation. The trial court also found that Cathleen had cohabited with her boyfriend for twenty-eight months, thereby warranting the termination of alimony. Noting the income disparity between Cathleen and David, the trial court fashioned a remedy that transformed the post-marital obligations owed by the parties to each other. The record developed in this matter provides no basis to do anything other than to enforce the clear and unequivocal obligations undertaken by both parties to each other under the PSA.

We therefore reverse the judgment of the Appellate Division that affirmed suspension of alimony during the period of cohabitation and reinstatement of alimony following cessation of cohabitation.

I.

A.

Plaintiff Cathleen Quinn and defendant David J. Quinn (the Quinns) married on August 27, 1983. They have a daughter and son, both of whom are now emancipated. On January 3, 2006, after twenty-three years of marriage, the Quinns divorced and entered into a PSA. Each party was represented by independent counsel.

[40]*40At the time of the divorce, David’s annual income was $208,900 and Cathleen’s annual income was $21,476. The PSA provided that David would pay Cathleen a biweekly alimony payment of $2634, subject to annual increases for inflation based on the Consumer Price Index. The PSA stated that “alimony shall terminate upon the Wife’s death, the Husband’s death, the Wife’s remarriage, or the Wife’s cohabitation, per case or statutory law, whichever event shall first occur.”

The PSA also gave Cathleen primary physical custody of their son, who was fifteen years of age when the Quinns divorced. Their daughter, aged eighteen, was no longer a minor and was therefore not covered by the custody agreement. In addition to the alimony payments, David was required to pay Cathleen child support of $360 each week, subject to modification when their son graduated high school and when their daughter graduated from college.

In March 2010, David filed a motion to terminate alimony on the grounds that Cathleen was cohabiting with John Warholak, whom Cathleen met in August 2007. The trial court ordered a plenary hearing to determine whether Cathleen’s relationship with Warho-lak constituted cohabitation. Prior to the hearing, the parties agreed that the facts would be evaluated under the definition of cohabitation set forth in Konzelman v. Konzelman, 158 N.J. 185, 729 A.2d 7 (1999). The trial judge permitted limited discovery and advised the parties that he was inclined to award counsel fees to the prevailing party given the nature of the factual disputes and resulting likelihood of false certifications.

The plenary hearing began on August 30, 2010, and continued for sixteen trial days over a period of more than eleven months. At the hearing, Cathleen did not deny that she and Warholak had a romantic relationship. The parties, however, disputed whether Cathleen and Warholak cohabited. Cathleen testified that she did not cohabit with Warholak and that she understood cohabitation to mean “living with someone on a full time basis.” She stated, “I fully understand that if I lived with someone full time, all the time, [41]*41and shared a house with somebody that would be cohabitation and alimony would be terminated]!]” When asked if she understood that cohabitation would cause her to lose her alimony “[f]orever[,]” she replied “[y]es.”

The trial court found that Cathleen’s answers “were often evasive and inconsistent” and that “there were numerous times when [Cathleen] was confronted with documents that were inconsistent with her prior testimony and she had to modify or change her testimony.” Ultimately, the trial court concluded that Cathleen was not a credible witness.

On the issue of cohabitation, the trial court found that Cathleen and Warholak had an “intimate and committed relationship” that was “exclusive” and lasted for over two years. The trial court also found that Warholak had been living in Cathleen’s home for over two years, although he maintained a residence of his own. Documentary evidence showed that Warholak used Cathleen’s address as his own, made phone calls from Cathleen’s home, and was consistently at the home even when Cathleen was absent. In addition, the trial court found that Cathleen’s relationship with Warholak was openly recognized by their “family and social circle” as a partnership. Finally, the trial court found that Cathleen and Warholak “acted as a committed couple in terms of their living and financial relationships.”

Applying the governing definition of cohabitation expressed in Konzelman, supra, 158 N.J. at 202-03, 729 A.2d 7, the trial court concluded that Cathleen and Warholak had cohabited for over two years from January 2008 through April 2010, ending one month after David filed his motion to terminate alimony. The trial court also found that the PSA was “fair and equitablef,]” that Cathleen had entered into the PSA voluntarily, and that Cathleen had consented to all provisions of the PSA.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
137 A.3d 423, 225 N.J. 34, 2016 WL 1740662, 2016 N.J. LEXIS 371, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cathleen-quinn-v-david-j-quinn-074411-nj-2016.