In re: Marriage of Sharp

860 N.E.2d 539, 369 Ill. App. 3d 271, 307 Ill. Dec. 885, 2006 Ill. App. LEXIS 1181
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 14, 2006
Docket2-05-1233 Rel
StatusPublished
Cited by51 cases

This text of 860 N.E.2d 539 (In re: Marriage of Sharp) 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 Sharp, 860 N.E.2d 539, 369 Ill. App. 3d 271, 307 Ill. Dec. 885, 2006 Ill. App. LEXIS 1181 (Ill. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

JUSTICE O’MALLEY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 304(b)(5) (155 Ill. 2d R. 304(b)(5)), respondent, Steven Sharp, appeals from the trial court’s order finding him in indirect civil contempt for refusing to comply with a court order directing him to pay temporary child support and maintenance to petitioner, Laurie Sharp. In challenging the trial court’s contempt order, respondent also requests this court to review the underlying support order. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

On May 30, 1993, the parties were married. They have one child together, Alexandra, who was born in 1998. On April 14, 2004, petitioner filed a petition for dissolution of marriage. On August 31, 2005, the trial court entered an order requiring respondent to pay $5,000 per month in temporary child support and maintenance. In September 2005, pursuant to a citation to discover assets, petitioner received partial payment on the support order through garnishment of respondent’s checking account, in the amount of $2,021.02. On December 5, 2005, petitioner filed a petition for a rule to show cause, alleging that respondent had disobeyed the support order by failing to make any payments to petitioner for the months of September, October, November, and December, causing an arrearage of $17,978.98 (which is $20,000 less the garnished amount of $2,021.02). On December 12, 2005, the trial court found that respondent’s failure to comply with the support order was willful and found respondent in indirect civil contempt. Respondent was sentenced to 180 days in county jail, which was stayed to give respondent time to satisfy the arrearage. On December 15, 2005, respondent filed a notice of appeal from the contempt finding. On January 11, 2006, respondent was remanded to Lake County jail for failure to pay the support arrearage. On January 13, 2006, the trial court sua sponte ordered respondent’s release, stayed the contempt order, and continued the matter for status. It appears that respondent is still subject to the contempt order.

The evidence at the contempt hearing established that respondent is the sole income beneficiary of a trust established by his grandfather. The trust has been respondent’s primary source of income since the parties have been married. In addition to the trust income, respondent earned approximately $8,500 in 2004 and $6,500 in 2005 from consulting work. The drafter and co-trustee of the trust, Francis Beninati, testified that the trust qualifies as a spendthrift trust. Based on respondent’s requests for distribution, the trustees would determine every month the minimum amount that could be distributed to respondent for his living expenses and obligations. Trust distributions were made to respondent by wire transfer into respondent’s checking account until September 2005, at which time respondent instructed the trustees to send payments directly to him to avoid garnishment of the funds. Beninati testified that the fact that the court ordered temporary support does not bind the trustees to pay those amounts. Indeed, although respondent had requested that the trust pay the support, the trustees refused to make the distributions, deciding that they were not required to make distributions for the benefit of petitioner or Alexandra.

In February 2004, the trust had an approximate value of $600,000. Respondent turned 35 years old in March 2004 and exercised his right to withdraw $200,000 from the trust at that time. The trustees continued to make monthly discretionary distributions, and between the filing of the petition for dissolution of marriage in April 2004 and these contempt proceedings in December 2005, the trustees distributed to respondent directly or for his benefit trust income in excess of $180,000, which respondent used to pay for rent, Porsche leasing payments and repairs, a Carribean vacation, attorney fees, and other living expenses. More specifically, from August 16, 2005, through November 21, 2005, the approximate period where respondent was under the order of support, the trust distributed $31,000 for his benefit. Furthermore, Beninati testified that it would be within the trustees’ discretion to pay $30,000 to secure respondent’s release if he were jailed for contempt.

The only support payment that petitioner had received at the time of the contempt hearing was the approximately $2,000 that was garnished from respondent’s bank account.

In his defense, respondent testified that he is unable to make support payments because the money he receives from the trust is insufficient to pay his expenses, including a large amount of debt. As such, respondent recently borrowed $8,000 from friends and family to help pay his expenses. Furthermore, respondent testified that he had spent approximately $2,400 on Alexandra while she was in his care and paid petitioner $700 for other expenses; however, petitioner denied receiving any money from respondent other than the proceeds from the citation.

ANALYSIS

Before considering the merits of this appeal, we must determine whether to grant respondent’s motion to supplement the record on appeal with a trust document that was entered into evidence in the divorce proceedings but is not part of the record on appeal. Petitioner has filed both an objection to the motion to supplement the record and a motion to strike respondent’s reply brief. We deny respondent’s motion to supplement the record on appeal and grant petitioner’s motion to strike respondent’s reply brief.

The appellant bears the responsibility of providing a complete appellate record for review. In re Marriage of Drewitch, 263 Ill. App. 3d 1088, 1096 (1994); People v. Pertz, 242 Ill. App. 3d 864, 905 (1993). Supreme Court Rule 329 (210 Ill. 2d R. 329) permits the amendment of a record if there are material omissions or inaccuracies or if the record otherwise is insufficient to present fully and fairly the questions involved. People v. Thomas, 201 Ill. App. 3d 255, 258-59 (1990). However, where an amendment would be unfair to a party, the courts have refused to permit the amendment. Thomas, 201 Ill. App. 3d at 259; People v. Span, 156 Ill. App. 3d 1046, 1053 (1987). Such is the case where the appellant’s motion to supplement the record on appeal is filed after all briefing is complete and the opposing party has not argued the merits of the issue in its brief; in such instances, the opposing party would be unfairly prejudiced by allowing the motion. Compare Span, 156 Ill. App. 3d at 1053 (court allowed the defendant’s motion to supplement the record even though it was presented after the briefs were filed because the State would not be unduly prejudiced, its brief having contained an alternative argument based on the merits of the issue), with Denniston v. Skelly Oil Co., 47 Ill. App. 3d 1054, 1070 (1977) (motion by the defendant to amend the record was denied, where it was filed after the plaintiffs brief had already been filed and the plaintiff did not argue the merits of the issue but rather urged the defendant’s procedural default on appeal).

Here, given the tardiness of respondent’s motion to supplement, petitioner would be unduly prejudiced. Respondent’s motion was filed after all briefing was complete. Petitioner specifically noted that she was precluded from citing to the trust provisions in her brief because the trust agreement had not been made part of the record on appeal.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
860 N.E.2d 539, 369 Ill. App. 3d 271, 307 Ill. Dec. 885, 2006 Ill. App. LEXIS 1181, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-marriage-of-sharp-illappct-2006.