Griffith v. Hills

36 Pa. D. & C.3d 165, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 119
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County
DecidedDecember 31, 1984
Docketno. 83-5647-11-5
StatusPublished

This text of 36 Pa. D. & C.3d 165 (Griffith v. Hills) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Griffith v. Hills, 36 Pa. D. & C.3d 165, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 119 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1984).

Opinion

BORTNER, J.,

This is an action brought in equity by Valerie M. Griffith seeking the partition and division of real property located at 905 Elmhurst Avenue, Bristol, Pa.

From October 13, 1977 to February 18, 1981, plaintiff and defendant were married. On May 11, 1979, by deed dated December 15, 1978, defendant’s mother conveyed property located at 905 Elmhurst Avenue, Bristol, Pa. to plaintiff and defendant as tenants by the entireties. The property was conveyed as a gift for nominal consideration.

On or about November, 1979, prior to the time when 905 Elmhurst Avenue was ready for occupancy, the parties separated and plaintiff moved to Kansas. Subsequently, plaintiff commenced divorce proceedings in the district court of Geary County, Kansas. Defendant was properly served pursuant to Kansas statutes, but failed to appear or plead.

[166]*166On February 18, 1981, the Kansas court granted a divorce to plaintiff and awarded plaintiff as “her sole and separate property free and clear of all right, claim or demand of the defendant all items of personal property presently in her possession. . . .’’In its decree of divorce, the Kansas court also ordered “that the defendant shall have set over to him as his sole and separate property all items of real and/or personal property presently in his possession.” At no time after the divorce decree was entered did plaintiff file objections, exceptions and/or an appeal to the divorce decree and/or the terms thereof.

While title to the property remains in the names of John L. Hills, Jr. and Valerie M. Hills (now Valerie M. Griffith), from November, 1979 to the present time only defendant and his present wife have resided at 905 Elmhurst Avenue. Plaintiff never resided on the property as she had separated from defendant shortly before the property was ready for occupancy.

The threshold issue here is whether plaintiff, who instituted a divorce proceeding in Kansas resulting in a judgment and decree for divorce which orders the dissolution of marriage and a distribution of property, may now be permitted to oppose the very adjudication which she herself procured in an attempt to attain a more advantageous judgment? It is our opinion that she should not be permitted to do so.

Plaintiff attempts to challenge the Kansas decree’s distribution of property as it relates to defendant on the basis that, although the Kansas court had jurisdiction over plaintiff for purposes of divorce, it had no in rem jurisdiction over any real property located in Pennsylvania and could not directly affect the title to such property. By so arguing, plaintiff, therefore, contends that the provision in the court’s [167]*167decree ordering that “defendant shall-have set over to him as his sole and separate property all items of real and/or personal property presently in his possession” is a nullity and is without effect as to the 905 Elmhurst Avenue, Bristol, Pa. property.

It is true, that the jurisdiction of a court over the person does not give it jurisdiction in rem over the person’s property located outside the forum state. Rather^ the basis of jurisdiction over property is the presence of the subject property within the territorial jurisdiction of the forum state. Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. 235, 246, 78 S. Ct. 1228, 2 L. Ed. 1283 (1958); Whitmer v. Whitmer, 243 Pa. Super. 462, 365 A.2d 1316 (1976), cert. denied 434 U.S. 822 (1977). However, having personal jurisdiction over the person does give the forum court the power to order the person to convey his interest in his property located outside the forum state and, if necessary, enforce its order by contempt proceedings. Whitmer, supra at 469, 365 A.2d at 1319.

We do not, however, reach the issue of whether the Kansas court was attempting to exercise in rem jurisdiction over the Pennsylvania property or whether, as defendant argues, it was merely exercising in personam jurisdiction over plaintiff by ordering her to convey her interest in the property to defendant because we find plaintiff estopped from now challenging the Kansas decree and its ancillary terms.

A long line of Pennsylvania cases- recognizes the principle, now expressed in Restatement (Second) of Conflicts of Law §74 (1969), that “[a] person may be precluded from attacking the validity of a foreign divorce decree if, under the circumstances, it would be inequitable'for him to do so.” See, e.g., Diamond v. Diamond, 501 Pa. 418, 461 A.2d 1227 (1983); Romanski Estate, 354 Pa. 261, 47 A.2d 233 (1946); [168]*168Rosen v. Sitner, 274 Pa. Super. 445, 418 A.2d 490 (1980); Sargent v. Sargent, 225 Pa. Super. 1, 307 A.2d 353 (1973).

The application of this estoppel principle is basically equitable and is based on the assumption that even when the divorce court lacks jurisdiction there are situations where in all fairness a particular person should not be permitted to challenge the decree. Therefore, the rule may be applied when, under the circumstances, it would be inequitable to permit a particular person to challenge the validity of a divorce decree. Such inequity may exist when the attack on the divorce is inconsistent with the earlier conduct of the attacking party or “even where the divorce has been judicially held invalid,... or where there was no judicial divorce at all.” Clark, Estoppel Against Jurisdictional Attack on Decrees of Divorce, 70 Yale L.J. 44, 59-60 (1960).

In Diamond v. Diamond, supra, the issue was whether appellee was properly permitted to challenge the validity of his marriage to appellant on the basis.of the purported invalidity of a decree of an Alabama court granting appellee a divorce from his former wife. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held appellee was estopped from challenging his marriage based upon the application of the equitable principle of estoppel. The court supported its application of the estoppel principle by stating “[h]ere, appellee is the party who obtained the divorce. Appellee, appellant, appellee’s first wife and her second husband all have relied on the validity of the decree. Appellee waited over 10 years after he received the decree before mounting a challenge to its validity. As the master correctly concluded, it would be inequitable in these circumstances to permit appellee to contest the validity of his marriage to appel[169]*169lant on the basis of the claimed invalidity of the Alabama decree.” Id. at 422, 423, 461 A.2d at 1229.

In Romanski Estate, supra, the issue involved was whether in the distribution of an intestate’s estate a widow is barred from' attacking the validity of a foreign divorce which she herself procured where it was conceded that the foreign decree of divorce was invalid because of lack of jurisdiction. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held she was barred, again based upon estoppel principles. The court based its decision upon a doctrine adopted in Pennsylvania as early as 1929: “where a spouse invokes the jurisdiction of a foreign court he or she will not be heard to repudiate the judgment rendered in his or her favor where only the property rights arising out of a marriage are involved. . . .” Id.

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Related

Hanson v. Denckla
357 U.S. 235 (Supreme Court, 1958)
Whitmer v. Whitmer
365 A.2d 1316 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1976)
Sargent v. Sargent
307 A.2d 353 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1973)
Rosen v. Sitner
418 A.2d 490 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)
Diamond v. Diamond
461 A.2d 1227 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
Romanski Estate
47 A.2d 233 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1946)

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Bluebook (online)
36 Pa. D. & C.3d 165, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 119, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/griffith-v-hills-pactcomplbucks-1984.