Charles Tumey v. Jill Tumey

2024 Ark. App. 166, 686 S.W.3d 844
Court of Appeals of Arkansas·Decided March 6, 2024·Published

Opinion

Cite as 2024 Ark. App. 166 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION II

No. CV-23-31

Opinion Delivered March 6, 2024 CHARLES TUMEY APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE SHARP COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

[NOS. 68DR-21-39 & 68DR-21-59]

V.

HONORABLE ADAM G. WEEKS,

JILL TUMEY JUDGE APPELLEE

REVERSED AND REMANDED

RITA W. GRUBER, Judge

Charles (“Chris”) Tumey brings this one-brief appeal from the Sharp County Circuit Court’s May 24, 2022 order awarding appellee Jill Tumey alimony and child support. He raises three points: (1) it was erroneous to award Jill permanent alimony after she disclaimed it; (2) the child-support calculation is flawed and should be reversed; and (3) the retroactive child support should be reversed. In support of his second point, Chris argues that Jill’s income was understated because the circuit court did not take into account her Social Security disability (SSD) payments and the entirety of a monthly payment she was awarded as part of the parties’ property distribution. Chris also argues in support of his second point that the circuit court should have considered extraordinary medical expenses that Chris was ordered to pay for the children. We reverse and remand.

I. Factual and Procedural Background Chris filed for divorce on February 26, 2021. His complaint set out that the parties were married on October 21, 2010, and two children were born during the marriage: MC1 (female, born 2011) and MC2 (male, born 2014). In his complaint, Chris requested full physical and legal custody of the children, with Jill being awarded supervised or conditional visitation. That same day, Chris filed a verified motion for ex parte emergency custody, supported by his own affidavit as well as the affidavits of two people who worked at his company—TG&H Industrial Energy Services. That motion was granted on March 2, 2021. The circuit court awarded Chris temporary custody of the children and set a hearing for April 19.

On March 22, Jill answered and counterclaimed. Within her counterclaim, she requested primary physical custody of the children subject to Chris’s reasonable visitation, child support, and alimony. That same day, she moved to strike the ex parte custody order and for an immediate hearing. On March 23, Chris answered the counterclaim, generally denying its allegations.

On April 14, an “agreed order of protection, consolidation, and for mediation” was entered. The order reflected that this case was being consolidated with another Sharp County case,1 that the parties had agreed to mediation, and that an attorney ad litem (AAL)

1 Chris had also filed a petition for an order of protection in a separate case on March 19 in which an ex parte order of protection was entered. The substance of that motion, affidavit in support, and order is the same as that filed in this case. The April 14 order of consolidation appears to be in reference to that proceeding.

had been appointed. The court modified the order of protection, lifting it as to the children to facilitate whatever reasonable visitation on which the parties could agree, leaving intact the other provisions regarding Chris.

On May 10, the court entered an order reflecting that Chris had temporary legal and physical custody of the children, pending final adjudication.

On July 21, Jill filed a motion to continue the final hearing set for August 9. She asserted that the continuance was necessary because she had encountered difficulties completing her mental evaluation as well as her own valuation of TG&H due to a lack of funds. She alleged that the lack of funds was caused by TG&H’s reporting an incorrect amount of income for her to the IRS—resulting in the termination of her SSD—and Chris’s failure to pay her the monthly temporary spousal support upon which they had agreed.

A. November 8, 2021 Hearing A hearing was held on November 8, 2021. Relevant to the issues on appeal, Chris’s attorney informed the court that Jill had supervised visitation until August 2021, when they began unsupervised visitation, with Jill getting the children every Wednesday beginning at school pick up until school drop off on Thursday and every other weekend. Jill’s daughter- in-law, Amber Tipton, testified that the children were with Jill for extended periods of time from August to October 2021 due to Chris’s traveling out of state for work. Jill withdrew her counterclaim.

A “partial temporary order”—signed November 18, 20212—reflects that the issues of custody, visitation, and support were only partially heard “on this day” and that the final hearing would be held on December 13, 2021. It further specified that Chris would have temporary custody of the children, and the parties by agreement would follow the AAL’s recommendation regarding visitation. It ordered Chris to continue paying Jill $1300 a month in temporary alimony.

B. December 13, 2021 Hearing Another hearing was held on December 13, 2021. Chris resumed his testimony, going into greater detail regarding his income as well as the various ways in which money flowed through TG&H. Jill testified that her entire income consisted of a monthly SSD payment of $1394, which had stopped when TG&H incorrectly reported that it had paid her $100,00 the previous year. She testified further that she needed continued alimony. Chris’s attorney responded that they had already “stipulated that.”

Sometime between December 13 and January 31, the parties engaged in mediation but were unable to resolve any issues. The parties were divorced by decree on January 13, 2022. The decree reserved ruling on “[a]ll other issues” until the final hearing on February 24.

C. February 24, 2022 Hearing

2 This order was not filed until May 16, 2022.

What was to have been the final hearing occurred on February 24, 2022, via Zoom.

Because everyone was having technical difficulties, the hearing was continued until April 4. Prior to concluding the hearing, a great deal of discussion was had regarding alimony, including whether it had been properly pled. During the discussion, Chris’s counsel argued that Jill’s counsel had represented at a prior hearing that she was not pursuing alimony beyond the final hearing because she would be getting money from the business buyout, and her request for it had been withdrawn. The circuit court ultimately stated, “Let’s just clean it up, Mr. Graham. If you’re going to pursue it, plead it, and let’s just clean up the record. And your client, she’s gonna do it. Whatever it is.”

D. April 4, 2022 Hearing

A final hearing was held on April 4, 2022. At the outset of the hearing, the court inquired regarding the “need for an amended counterclaim” and if that had occurred. The following colloquy occurred between Chris’s counsel, Robin Vail, and Jill’s counsel, Luke Graham:

GRAHAM: Did not, Your Honor. Ms. Tumey’s social security has since been—They fixed it. I guess. It was an issue about social security—

and her social security had gotten cut off. Now it’s back on.

THE COURT: So the issue is moot?

GRAHAM: Yes.

THE COURT: Okay. Everybody’s in agreement in regard to that?

VAIL: Yes, Your Honor.

Testimony then began. Jeremy Watson, a certified public accountant as well as a certified valuation analyst, testified that the value of the parties’ 50 percent ownership interest in TG&H was $300,000 as of October 31, 2021. He also explained the method by which he arrived at that conclusion. His report was introduced into evidence.

Brad Hopkins, the CFO of TG&H, testified regarding TG&H’s assets, debts, operating expenses, liabilities, and clientele. He further testified that TG&H did not have the funds to write Jill a check for $150,000.

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Charles Tumey v. Jill Tumey, 2024 Ark. App. 166, 686 S.W.3d 844 (Ark. Ct. App. 2024).

2024 Ark. App. 166 (Charles Tumey v. Jill Tumey) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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