In the Matter of John G. Lyon and Kimberly Anne White Lyon

166 N.H. 315
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedMay 30, 2014
Docket2013-0401
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 166 N.H. 315 (In the Matter of John G. Lyon and Kimberly Anne White Lyon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In the Matter of John G. Lyon and Kimberly Anne White Lyon, 166 N.H. 315 (N.H. 2014).

Opinion

CONBOY, J.

The respondent, Kimberly Lyon (now McConnell) (Wife), appeals an order of the 2nd Circuit Court — Lebanon Family Division (MacLeod, J.) granting summary judgment to the petitioner, John G. Lyon (Husband), and denying her petition to bring forward and modify alimony. On appeal, she argues that the trial court applied the wrong standard to her petition by requiring her to show a substantial change of circumstances. She contends that to prevail on her petition, she must show that she has a continuing need for alimony and that the Husband has a continuing ability to pay. Although we agree with the Wife that the “substantial change of circumstances” test is not the correct one to apply to the Wife’s petition, we disagree with the standard that she articulates on appeal. Because the trial court did not apply the correct standard when it ruled on the Wife’s petition, we vacate and remand.

The record establishes the following facts. The parties divorced in May 2007. Their divorce decree incorporated their permanent stipulation, which required the Husband to pay the Wife $3,000 in monthly alimony from January 1, 2007, through June 30, 2007, and $5,000 in monthly alimony from July 1,2007, through June 30,2012, “or until the death of either party, whichever first occurs.”

On May 31, 2012, the Wife filed a petition to extend the soon-to-expire alimony award for another three years. She alleged in her petition that she *317 needed another three years of alimony because she was newly diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and, without alimony, could not afford the medication that would enable her to timely finish her education. The Husband moved for summary judgment, arguing that the Wife’s petition failed to establish that there was an unanticipated or unforeseeable substantial change of circumstances that warranted extending the existing alimony order for another three years. See Laflamme v. Laflamme, 144 N.H. 524, 527-29 (1999). Although the Wife timely objected to the Husband’s motion, she failed to support her pleading with the requisite affidavits or other competent evidence “showing specifically and clearly reasonable grounds for believing that contradictory evidence can be presented at trial.” RSA 491:8-a, II (2010). Accordingly, when ruling on the Husband’s motion, the trial court accepted the facts set forth therein as true. See RSA 491:8-a, IV (2010). The trial court agreed with the Husband that the “substantial change of circumstances” test applied to the Wife’s petition and ruled in the Husband’s favor. This appeal followed.

“In reviewing the trial court’s grant of summary judgment, we consider the affidavits and other evidence, and all inferences properly drawn from them, in the light most favorable to the non-moving party.” Dichiara v. Sanborn Reg’l. Sch. Dist., 165 N.H. 694, 695 (2013). “If our review of that evidence discloses no genuine issue of material fact, and if the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, we will affirm the grant of summary judgment.” Id. at 695-696. ‘We review the trial court’s application of the law to the facts de novo.” Id. at 696.

The Wife argues that the trial court erred by subjecting her petition to the same standards that govern a motion to modify an alimony award. Although she concedes that a party seeking to modify an alimony award must show “that a substantial change in circumstances has arisen since the initial award, making the current [alimony] amount either improper or unfair,” she contends that a party seeking to renew an alimony award need not meet that test. Laflamme, 144 N.H. at 527 (quotation omitted). She argues that the 2001 amendments to RSA 458:14 (2004) and RSA 458:19 (Supp. 2013) “show[ ] that the legislature intended for renewals to be subject to the same standard as initial awards of alimony under RSA 458:19,1, i.e., that the moving party show a need for alimony and an ability to pay on the part of the party from whom it is sought.” She also argues that “[s]ueh a standard makes sense from a public policy standpoint.”

The Husband does not dispute that the Wife’s petition was to renew a soon-to-expire alimony award. However, he argues that the “substantial change in circumstances” test applies to both motions to modify alimony and motions to renew an expired alimony award.

*318 Resolving the issues in this appeal requires us to engage in statutory interpretation. We review the trial court’s statutory interpretation de novo. In re Guardianship of Eaton, 163 N.H. 386, 389 (2012). In matters of statutory interpretation, we are the final arbiter of the legislature’s intent as expressed in the words of the statute considered as a whole. Id. When examining the language of a statute, we ascribe the plain and ordinary meaning to the words used. Id. We interpret legislative intent from the statute as written and will not consider what the legislature might have said or add language that the legislature did not see fit to include. Id. Further, we interpret a statute in the context of the overall scheme and not in isolation. Id. When the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous, we do not look beyond it for further indications of legislative intent. Smith v. City of Franklin, 159 N.H. 585, 588 (2010). However, we review legislative history to aid our analysis when the statutory language is ambiguous or subject to more than one reasonable interpretation. Id.

RSA 458:19 provides, in part:

I. Upon motion of either party for alimony payments, the court shall make orders for the payment of alimony to the party in need of alimony, either temporary or permanent, for a definite or indefinite period of time, if the motion for alimony payments is made within 5 years of the decree of nullity or divorce and the court finds that:
(a) The party in need lacks sufficient income, property, or both, including property apportioned in accordance with RSA 458:16-a, to provide for such party’s reasonable needs, taking into account the style of living to which the parties have become accustomed during the marriage; and
(b) The party from whom alimony is sought is able to meet reasonable needs while meeting those of the party seeking alimony, taking into account the style of living to which the parties have become accustomed during the marriage; and
(c) The party in need is unable to be self-supporting through appropriate employment at a standard of living that meets reasonable needs or is allocated parental rights and responsibilities under RSA 461-A for a child of the parties whose condition or circumstances make it appropriate that the parent not seek employment outside the home.
*319 II. Upon motion of either party, the court may make orders for the payment of an alimony allowance when such orders would be just and equitable.
III.

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Bluebook (online)
166 N.H. 315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-matter-of-john-g-lyon-and-kimberly-anne-white-lyon-nh-2014.