Johnston v. Griffith

675 P.2d 1038
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 27, 1984
Docket59241
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 675 P.2d 1038 (Johnston v. Griffith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnston v. Griffith, 675 P.2d 1038 (Okla. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinions

DeMIER, Judge.

This is a case in which the divorce decree calls a sum certain owed to a bank, to be extinguished in equal payments, support alimony. However, the decree states the support alimony cannot be discharged in bankruptcy or on death or remarriage of the plaintiff wife. The trial court found, after plaintiff had been remarried 27 months, that the payments were for support alimony and should have terminated on remarriage. The court further found, however, that the 27 payments should, nevertheless, be applied toward a child support arrearage.

We reverse and remand to the trial court.

FACTS

On September 7, 1979, a divorce was granted to the parties. Defendant/appel-lee executed a waiver and approved the divorce decree after a conference with the appellant wife and her lawyer. The husband chose not to seek legal advice.

The wife was awarded custody of the two children and the husband was ordered to pay $400 per month child support.

The problem arose in the drafting of the journal entry. It stated as follows:

“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED by the Court that the Defendant is to assume and pay certain jointly acquired debts and obligations of the parties hereto outstanding at the time of this decree, to-wit:
1. The previously described second mortgage on the above described real property in West Timberlake Addition, by FIDELITY BANK in the amount of $6,273.60;
2. The previously described automobile (Chevette) loan held by FIDELITY BANK in the amount of $3,286.17,
in the total sum of $9,559.77 with the total monthly payment of $242.41; that the Plaintiff is hereby awarded support alimony in the sum of $9,559.77; that the [1040]*1040Defendant is ordered to pay as support alimony the sum of $9,559.77; said alimony judgment to be extinguished by the monthly payment of the foregoing debts in the sum of $242.41, and that said alimony is not dischargeable in Bankruptcy or upon the death or remarriage of Plaintiff.” (emphasis added)

The husband was current on these payments at all times. The payments were made directly to the bank, not to the wife. However, the husband had failed to pay child support payments as ordered and was in- arrears in the amount of $6,200.

The wife remarried, with the husband’s knowledge. He at no time objected to making the payments to the bank as ordered. However, when the wife filed an application for a contempt citation against the husband for failure to pay child support, he filed a motion to terminate the payments to the bank on the theory that these were support alimony payments which should have terminated on remarriage or death of the wife. The trial court agreed and credited the husband’s payments made after the remarriage to the child support arrearage and then terminated the payments.

I

The first question we must ask is: does this case fall within the purview of 12 O.S.1981 § 1289(B)? The answer is no, because the amounts which were ordered paid were not in the form of support alimony but rather property division.

Let us examine the order: First, the paragraph in question starts as follows: “It is further ordered, adjudged and decreed by the Court that the Defendant is to assume and pay certain jointly acquired debts and obligations of the parties hereto outstanding at the time of the decree.” Second, the order describes two debts to Fidelity Bank secured by notes on property awarded to the wife for a total of $9,559.77 with a monthly payment of $242.41. Third, the order next awards support alimony to the wife in the exact amount of the debts to be paid at the exact monthly payment already required. Finally, the paragraph concludes by stating, “that said alimony is not dis-chargeable in Bankruptcy or upon the death or remarriage of Plaintiff [wife].”

The record at the hearing reveals that the husband made every payment to the bank. The wife did not receive one cent of the money for the support and maintenance of the children.

It is obvious that an error was made by the drafter of the decree by calling the property settlement “support alimony.” The amount set out was already a debt for which both parties were obligated. However, even if we approach the problem assuming the payments were correctly labeled, the statute relied upon does not require the result reached by the court.

The statute in question is 12 O.S.1981 § 1289(B), which provides:

“B. In any divorce decree which provides for periodic alimony payments, the court shall plainly state, at the time of entering the original decree, what dollar amount of all or a portion of each such payment is designated as support, and what dollar amount of all or a portion of such payment is a payment pertaining to a division of property. Upon the death of the recipient, the payments for support, if not already accrued, shall terminate, but the payments pertaining to a division of property shall continue until completed; and the decree shall so specify. The payments pertaining to a division of property shall be irrevocable.... The court shall also provide in the divorce decree that any such payment of support shall terminate after remarriage of the recipient, unless the recipient can make a proper showing that some amount of support is still needed and that circumstances have not rendered payment of the same inequitable. Provided however, that unless the recipient shall commence an action for such determination within ninety (90) days of the date of such remarriage, the court shall, upon proper application, order the pay[1041]*1041ment of support terminated and the lien thereof discharged.”

There have been numerous cases which have recognized the rights of the parties to enter into such agreements as they may desire concerning the termination of support alimony. Section 1289 has not abrogated the parties’ right to contract or reach such agreements. Perry v. Perry, Okl., 551 P.2d 256 (1976).

In fact, even when the decree makes no specific provision that payments are to continue after remarriage, the court may refuse to terminate them if it concludes that it was the parties’ intent that they continue after remarriage. Stuart v. Stuart, Okl., 555 P.2d 611 (1976). In Stuart the court found the factor that the husband had continued to pay alimony installments after the wife’s remarriage as being persuasive in determining the intent of the parties.

Here, of course, the husband also continued to pay after the wife’s remarriage. However, there is a much stronger indicator of the parties’ intent. In this case the husband and wife negotiated and the husband signed the decree which provided that the alimony would not terminate after remarriage.

We conclude, therefore, that the termination of the payments under the seeming authority of 12 O.S.1981 § 1289(B), was error.

II

The next question we must address is whether the terms of the divorce decree could be modified by the trial court pursuant to 12 O.S.1981 § 1031 and 1038.

The court modified the decree but gave no reason. Since we have ruled that 12 O.S.1981 § 1289(B), gave no basis for such modification, it could only be for the reason set out in the fourth section of 12 O.S.1981 § 1031.

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Related

Byrom v. Spencer (In Re Spencer)
207 B.R. 233 (E.D. Oklahoma, 1997)
Chiles v. Chiles
1989 OK CIV APP 48 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
675 P.2d 1038, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnston-v-griffith-oklacivapp-1984.