Gordon v. Gordon

126 So. 3d 922, 2013 WL 2166111, 2013 Miss. App. LEXIS 273
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedMay 21, 2013
DocketNo. 2012-CA-00239-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 126 So. 3d 922 (Gordon v. Gordon) 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
Gordon v. Gordon, 126 So. 3d 922, 2013 WL 2166111, 2013 Miss. App. LEXIS 273 (Mich. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

ROBERTS, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Wanda and Charles Gordon were divorced based on their irreconcilable differences. They entered a consent agreement and indicated that the Harrison County Chancery Court needed to resolve one issue regarding whether Wanda had misappropriated or wasted $46,000 of marital income. The chancellor awarded the couple a divorce and reserved ruling on the unresolved issue. Approximately six years later, the chancellor set aside the divorce based on Wanda’s request. Wanda argued that the chancellor should have adjudicated issues related to child support of the couple’s child who had since reached the age of majority, child support of Wanda’s great-nephew, and distribution of Charles’s military retirement. The chancellor clarified that Wanda had expressly agreed that the chancellor only had to [924]*924determine whether Wanda had misappropriated $46,000 in marital income, and Charles had agreed to withdraw that issue. Consequently, the chancellor entered a judgment of divorce nunc pro tunc, and backdated the judgment to correspond with the date of the original judgment of divorce.

¶ 2. Wanda appeals and argues that the chancellor erred when he did not divide Charles’s military retirement. Wanda also claims the chancellor erred when he entered a judgment of divorce without addressing the custody or support of her son, who had reached the age of majority, or her great-nephew. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 3. Charles and Wanda were married in 1980. They separated on February 1, 2004. Charles and Wanda both filed complaints for divorce, but they later filed a joint motion to dismiss their fault-based grounds and agreed to a divorce based on irreconcilable differences. They also filed a document styled as a “consent to irreconcilable differences.” Within that document, Charles and Wanda indicated that the chancellor needed to adjudicate one issue: “Whether or not [Charles] is entitled to receive money from [Wanda].” Charles and Wanda both signed the document. Their attorneys also signed it.

¶4. On November 8, 2004, the parties went before the chancellor. Charles and Wanda both testified. Charles, who was an active-duty Navy corpsman, testified that Wanda had misappropriated $46,000 while he had been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Spain. At the time of the hearing, Wanda and Charles had one minor child who was slightly less than eighteen years old. However, he was living in Virginia with his sister, who had reached the age of majority. Wanda and Charles also testified that they had some degree of custody of Wanda’s great-nephew, Dakota Austin Straeener.1 Dakota was seven years old at the time of the November 2004 hearing. According to Wanda, Dakota’s father had been paying $110 per month in child support through a government program.

¶ 5. After Wanda’s testimony, the chancellor asked the attorneys to go through the couple’s financial records to reconcile Charles’s claim that Wanda had misappropriated approximately $46,000 of their money. The chancellor later went back on the record and said that “insufficient discovery was conducted.” The chancellor added that “there’s no way [he could] properly adjudicate this matter with the evidence before [him] and, therefore, it’s in the parties^] best interest that this case be continued to a later date.” However, the chancellor decided to “go ahead and grant the divorce ..., just so that [Charles and Wanda] can get that out of the way.” Additionally, the chancellor ordered Wanda to take a drug test immediately after leaving the hearing. Wanda complied. Her drug test indicated that she was “methamphetamine positive.”2

[925]*925¶ 6. On December 17, 2004, the chancellor entered a judgment nunc pro tunc and awarded Wanda and Charles a divorce based on their irreconcilable differences. The judgment also said that the chancellor retained “jurisdiction to adjudicate those matters pertaining to the division of property and support and maintenance of the one remaining minor child of the parties.”

¶ 7. On January 31, 2005, Wanda filed a motion to set aside the chancellor’s judgment. Approximately one year later, Wanda requested a final ruling. Within her request, she stated that the chancellor had reserved ruling on the division of Charles’s military retirement. Wanda’s request seems to imply that she had not requested a ruling earlier due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

¶ 8. On November 16, 2010, the chancellor conducted a hearing on Wanda’s motion to set aside the divorce judgment. The chancellor concluded that he had inappropriately awarded a divorce when there was an unresolved issue still pending. On December 1, 2010, the chancellor entered an order setting aside the divorce judgment. Charles then filed a motion to reinstate the divorce, but the chancellor denied Charles’s motion. However, the chancellor held that he could award a divorce if Charles chose to withdraw his claim that Wanda had misappropriated $46,000, which was the only unresolved issue before the chancellor. Charles complied. On August 31, 2011, the chancellor entered a judgment of divorce nunc pro tunc that backdated the divorce to December 17, 2004. Wanda appeals. She claims the chancellor should not have granted a divorce without resolving certain issues related to the division of marital property and debts and child support and child custody.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 9. “In domestic relations cases, the appellate court’s scope of review is limited by the substantial evidence/manifest error rule.” Stigler v. Stigler, 48 So.3d 547, 551 (¶ 7) (Miss.Ct.App.2009) (quoting Samples v. Davis, 904 So.2d 1061, 1063-64 (¶ 9) (Miss.2004)). “We will not disturb the chancellor’s opinion when it is supported by substantial evidence unless the chancellor abused his discretion, was manifestly wrong, clearly erroneous, or an erroneous legal standard was applied.” Id. (citation omitted). However, we review questions of law de novo. Id. (citing Amiker v. Drugs for Less, Inc., 796 So.2d 942, 945 (¶ 7) (Miss.2000)).

ANALYSIS

¶ 10. Despite having executed a consent agreement stating that the chancellor had one issue to resolve — whether Wanda owed Charles money that he claimed she had misappropriated — Wanda claims the chancellor erred when he did not resolve issues related to the distribution of marital property, custody and support of the couple’s son, and support of her great-nephew. Wanda’s argument is primarily based on the following language from Mississippi Code Annotated section 93-5-2(3) (Supp. 2012):

No divorce shall be granted pursuant to this subsection until all matters involving custody and maintenance of any child of that marriage and property rights between the parties raised by the pleadings have been either adjudicated by the court or agreed upon by the parties and found to be adequate and sufficient by the court and included in the judgment of divorce.

According to Wanda, it is irrelevant that she expressly stated that the chancellor was only required to resolve one issue. Wanda claims the chancellor should have [926]*926conducted an equitable distribution of marital property — specifically, Charles’s military retirement. Wanda also claims the chancellor should have established custody and support of the couple’s son and determined whether Charles should have to pay her child support for her great-nephew.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Gary Mosher v. Lori Mosher
192 So. 3d 1118 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2016)
John Kendall Myrick, Jr. v. Dee Bunnell Myrick
186 So. 3d 429 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2016)
Bolivar v. Bolivar
151 So. 3d 1035 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2014)
Michael Jackson v. Rosie Jackson
172 So. 3d 221 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
126 So. 3d 922, 2013 WL 2166111, 2013 Miss. App. LEXIS 273, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gordon-v-gordon-missctapp-2013.