In Re Marriage of Morris

546 N.E.2d 734, 190 Ill. App. 3d 293, 137 Ill. Dec. 789, 1989 Ill. App. LEXIS 1649
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 30, 1989
Docket1-87-2871
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 546 N.E.2d 734 (In Re Marriage of Morris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Marriage of Morris, 546 N.E.2d 734, 190 Ill. App. 3d 293, 137 Ill. Dec. 789, 1989 Ill. App. LEXIS 1649 (Ill. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinions

JUSTICE BUCKLEY

delivered the opinion of the court:

The marriage of Beverly and Robert Morris was dissolved pursuant to a judgment of dissolution of marriage entered April 17, 1984. An oral property settlement agreement was incorporated into that agreement by a supplemental judgment entered July 24, 1984, the terms of which were to apply retroactively to April 10, 1984. Beverly appealed from these judgments, and this court issued its opinion affirming the circuit court on July 7, 1986.1 On May 5, 1987, Beverly filed a “Petition for Turnover Order, Determination of Interest on Judgment and Other Necessary Relief.” The circuit court denied Beverly’s request for interest, and she now appeals from that denial. In issue is whether an award of interest on a supplemental judgment is mandatory or discretionary. For the reasons set forth below, we find that the circuit court erred in denying Beverly’s petition for interest and reverse and remand.

The July, 24, 1984, supplemental judgment, which incorporated the oral property settlement agreement into the April 17, 1984, divorce decree, provides-in pertinent part, as follows:

“1.01 *** During the first year only, Husband shall pay the Wife’s additional maintenance only in the sum of ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ($100,000).”

The judgment further requires Robert to pay the following:

“2.04 Further Property Settlement Husband shall pay ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($125,000) to Wife as and for a further property settlement herein, same to be considered nontaxable to Wife and nondeductible for tax purposes to Husband. The payments of said property settlement will be as follows, without interest:
(a) $50,000 on or before October 10,1984
(b) $50,000 on or before October 10, 1985
(c) $25,000 on or before October 10,1986.”

Based upon this supplemental judgment, Beverly’s 1987 “Petition for Turnover Order, Determination of Interest on Judgment and Other Necessary Relief” requested that the circuit court compel Robert to pay the accrued interest on the $100,000 additional maintenance due her under paragraph 1.01 of the supplemental judgment from July 24, 1985, to and including April 10, 1987, and the accrued interest on the aggregate sum property settlement of $125,000 due her under section 2.04, from the dates each of the amounts became due.2

In response to Beverly’s petition, Robert denied that he had failed to tender payment, maintaining that he had offered to pay the amounts set forth in the supplemental judgment during the pendency of the appeal of that judgment. Correspondence between the parties and their attorneys was submitted as evidence of these purported offers. Robert also argued that Beverly was equitably estopped from asserting her claim for interest by virtue of the provisions found within an agreed order, executed by the parties in October 1984, which set forth an arrangement for pendente lite relief and a supersedeas agreement.

After hearing argument from counsel, the circuit court denied Beverly’s request for interest on the basis that section 2 — 1303 of the Code of Civil Procedure (the Code) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 2 — 1303), which provides for the inclusion of interest “[w]hen judgment is entered upon any award, report or verdict,” is inapplicable because the payments in question were not “reduced to judgment.”

Beverly’s sole contention on appeal is that the circuit court erred in refusing to award interest on the payments due her under the supplemental judgment. We agree.

Initially, we must determine whether the supplemental judgment is a final judgment within the meaning of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (the Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 40, par. 413(a)). Section 413(a) provides:

“A judgment of dissolution of marriage or of legal separation or of declaration of invalidity of marriage is final when entered, subject to the right of appeal. *** An order directing payment of money for support or maintenance of the spouse or the minor child or children shall not be suspended or the enforcement thereof stayed pending the appeal.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 40, par. 413(a).)

We find that section 413(a) applies with equal force to both the judgment of dissolution and the supplemental judgment, containing the property settlement agreement between the parties. (See In re Marriage of Cannon (1986), 112 Ill. 2d 552, 556, 494 N.E.2d 490, 492; In re Marriage of Lawrence (1986), 146 Ill. App. 3d 307, 310, 496 N.E.2d 538, 541.) Therefore, the additional maintenance of $100,000 due under section 1.01 and the aggregate sum property settlement of $125,000 due under section 2.04 were “reduced to judgment” on the entry date of the supplemental judgment, July 24, 1984, and became immediately enforceable at that time. See Cannon, 112 Ill. 2d at 556, 494 N.E.2d at 492; Lawrence, 146 Ill. App. 3d at 310, 496 N.E.2d at 540-41.

Because the sums due under the supplemental judgment are final judgments as set forth above, we find that interest attaches to these amounts as if it were any other final judgment. Section 2 — 1303 of the Code provides, in pertinent part:

“Judgments recovered in any court shall draw interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of the judgment until satisfied or 6% per annum when the judgment debtor is a unit of local government, as defined in Section 1 of Article VII of the Constitution, school district, a community college district, or any other governmental entity. When judgment is entered upon any award, report or verdict, interest shall be computed at the above rate, from the time when made or rendered to the time of entering judgment upon the same, and included in the judgment.” (Emphasis added.) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 2 — 1303.)

The language of section 2 — 1303 has been held to be mandatory because it states that “[¿judgments *** shall draw interest” and refers to judgments recovered before any court and judgments entered upon any award, report or verdict. (Emphasis added.) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 2 — 1303.) Reviewing courts have held that this language is positive and self-executing (Lucas v. Illinois Insurance Guaranty Fund (1978), 67 Ill. App. 3d 398, 400, 384 N.E.2d 938, 939) and that the accrual of interest cannot be limited (In re Marriage of Passiales (1986), 144 Ill. App. 3d 629, 640, 494 N.E.2d 541, 550).

The supreme court in Finley v. Finley (1980), 81 Ill. 2d 317, 410 N.E.2d 12, however, while noting a split of authority on the general issue of whether allowance of interest on a judgment in a divorce proceeding is mandatory or discretionary (compare Sutton v. Leib (7th Cir. 1952), 199 F.2d 163; Matzen v. Matzen (1979), 69 Ill. App.

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In Re Marriage of Morris
546 N.E.2d 734 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
546 N.E.2d 734, 190 Ill. App. 3d 293, 137 Ill. Dec. 789, 1989 Ill. App. LEXIS 1649, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-marriage-of-morris-illappct-1989.