Ck v. Jms

931 So. 2d 724, 2005 WL 3445620
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedDecember 16, 2005
Docket2040206
StatusPublished

This text of 931 So. 2d 724 (Ck v. Jms) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ck v. Jms, 931 So. 2d 724, 2005 WL 3445620 (Ala. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

931 So.2d 724 (2005)

C.K.
v.
J.M.S.
J.M.S.
v.
C.K.

2040206.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

December 16, 2005.

*725 Richard E. Shields of Shields, Ratliff, Green & Kern, P.C., Mobile, for appellant/cross-appellee C.K.

*726 David P. Broome, Mobile, for appellee/cross-appellant J.M.S.

MURDOCK, Judge.

C.K. appeals from a judgment of the Mobile Juvenile Court modifying his child-support obligation; J.M.S. cross-appeals from that order. Because we find that the juvenile court applied the incorrect law in resolving some of the issues that the parties presented to it, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

On January 5, 1986, P.T.S. was born to J.M.S. On May 6, 1987, the Chancery Court for the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi, entered a judgment establishing that C.K. is P.T.S.'s father ("the 1987 judgment"). The 1987 judgment incorporated an agreement between the parties requiring, among other things, that C.K.: (1) pay $250 per month for P.T.S.'s support; (2) maintain health insurance for P.T.S.; and (3) pay one-half of P.T.S.'s uncovered medical expenses. Consistent with Mississippi law, those obligations would continue until P.T.S. reached the age of 21 years, was married, or was otherwise emancipated.

Subsequent to the entry of the 1987 judgment, J.M.S. and P.T.S. moved to Louisiana, where they presently reside. At the time of the 1987 judgment, C.K. was a resident of Alabama, where he continues to reside.

In 1999, J.M.S. indicated to C.K. that the amount of child support he had been ordered to pay was insufficient to support P.T.S. After the parties exchanged tax returns and further correspondence, C.K. wrote to J.M.S. and indicated that he could pay her $750 per month as child support. C.K. began making payments in that amount in June 1999.

In January 2002, C.K. reduced his monthly child-support payments to $600 on the asserted basis that he was experiencing financial problems. He further reduced his child-support payments to $500 per month in June 2003.

P.T.S. applied to and was accepted by Tulane University to begin as a freshman in the fall of 2004. The annual cost of tuition, room, and board at Tulane was $40,735. After deducting from that amount the scholarships and other financial assistance that P.T.S. received, there remained an uncovered annual cost of attendance at Tulane of approximately $17,100.

On December 8, 2003, J.M.S. filed a "Motion to Modify and for Rule Nisi" against C.K. in the Mobile Juvenile Court in which she sought to have the 1987 judgment modified by increasing the amount of C.K.'s child-support obligation. She also sought to have the court order C.K. to pay $178.59 in medical costs that he allegedly owed pursuant to the terms of the 1987 judgment.

On April 6, 2004, J.M.S. filed an "Amended Motion for Modification and for Rule Nisi," in which she alleged that she and C.K. had entered into an agreement in 1999 to increase his child-support obligation to $750 per month. She claimed that C.K. was in arrears in his child-support payments in the amount of $7,550, and she sought an increase of C.K.'s child-support obligation on the basis that C.K.'s $750 monthly payment was insufficient to support P.T.S. She also alleged that C.K. had failed to pay certain medical bills and to forward insurer reimbursements to her as required under the 1987 judgment.

On April 25, 2004, the Mobile Juvenile Court entered an order registering the 1987 judgment in that court. Thereafter, in June 2004, C.K. filed an amended answer and a counterclaim in which he denied the pertinent allegations of J.M.S.'s motion to modify and sought a modification *727 of the 1987 judgment whereby his child-support obligation would end when P.T.S. reached 19 years of age, as provided by Alabama law, rather than when he reached 21 years of age as provided in the 1987 judgment and by Mississippi law.

The juvenile court held a hearing on the matter on August 12, 2004, at which J.M.S. and C.K. testified. On October 18, 2004, the court entered a judgment disposing of the parties' claims. In pertinent part, the court's judgment provided:

"The Court makes the following conclusions of law:
"1. The Court determines that Mississippi law controls the duration and determination of the amount of child support, and therefore the Court concludes that child support shall be payable by the father to the mother until the child reaches the age of twenty-one (21), with no further post-minority support.
"2. The Court concludes that no prior modification of the terms of the previous order was affected by law, contract, or other conduct of the parties such that the current existing order remains $250.00 per month payable by the Defendant to the Plaintiff.
"3. The Court rejects the contention of the Plaintiff that a contract was established by the communications and letters of the parties and the conduct of the Defendant, in paying monies over and above $250.00 per month. The Court further finds that the Defendant is due no credit for any of said overpayments previously made.
"The Court further concludes the following facts:
"1. The Court finds the child's anticipated college expense beginning with the 2004-2005 academic year to be $40,735.00 to attend Tulane University.
"2. The Court finds that the child has received financial assistance in the amount of $23,635.00, yearly.
"3. The Court finds that pursuant to the terms of the previous order, from the Chancery Court of Mississippi, the Defendant is obligated to provide medical insurance for the benefit of the minor child, and pay a portion of any uncovered charges. The Court further finds that the Defendant maintains medical insurance for the benefit of the child.
"....
"5. The Court finds an unmet financial need for the child's college expenses of approximately $17,100.00 per year, and finds that the parties are similarly situated, economically, and able to share said expense equally....
"It is therefore ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED by the court that the Petition to Modify Child Support filed by the Plaintiff is hereby GRANTED, and the Court does ORDER that child support payable to the Plaintiff by the Defendant is hereby set at $712.50 per month beginning August of 2004. The Court ORDERS the Defendant to begin making $712.50 per month payments in the month of November 2004, and the Court awards a judgment to the Plaintiff in the amount of $1,387.50, against the Defendant, said judgment to be paid within ninety (90) days of this date.
"The Court awards a judgment for unpaid medical expenses, due pursuant to the previous order, in the amount of $319.53 in favor of the Plaintiff against the Defendant. Said sum is ORDERED to be paid within one hundred and twenty (120) days.
"....
"The Court does ORDER that child support will terminate upon the attainment *728 of age twenty-one (21), by the child, as will the duty to provide medical insurance."

The court amended its judgment on October 28, 2004, to include a provision requiring that child-support payments be made through the court.

On October 29, 2004, C.K.

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931 So. 2d 724, 2005 WL 3445620, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ck-v-jms-alacivapp-2005.