Lawrence v. Lawrence

956 So. 2d 251, 2006 WL 2474029
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedAugust 29, 2006
Docket2004-CA-02387-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 956 So. 2d 251 (Lawrence v. Lawrence) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lawrence v. Lawrence, 956 So. 2d 251, 2006 WL 2474029 (Mich. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *Page 253

[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *Page 254

¶ 1. April Thornell Lawrence appeals the chancellor's decision to grant partial summary judgment in favor of William Andrew Lawrence and award of child custody to Andy. *Page 255

¶ 2. April contends that the chancellor erred: (1) in granting summary judgment in favor of Andy on her allegation of adultery; (2) by failing to follow the mandates of the custody statute when evidence of domestic violence was presented; (3) in the determination of custody of the couple's minor children; and (4) in the determination of visitation. We find reversible error. Therefore, we reverse and remand the chancellor's judgement.

FACTS
¶ 3. April and Andy were married on May 16, 1998. They had two children. Noah Andrew was born on July 19, 1999. Emma Katherine was born on July 30, 2000. At the time of the hearing, Noah was five years old, and Emma Kate was four years old. They are now ages seven and six, respectively.

¶ 4. In the spring of 2003, April and Andy separated for approximately a week. When Andy returned to the marital home, April confronted him about rumors of an affair. At first, Andy denied the affair, but later admitted the affair and begged forgiveness. On April 17, 2003, April filed her initial complaint for divorce on the grounds of adultery or, in the alternative, irreconcilable differences. April and Andy, even though the complaint for divorce was filed, continued to reside together and were not legally separated. Affidavits from April and Andy indicate that Andy admitted his affair, which occurred in 2002. They attempted to reconcile, but April's complaint for divorce was never dismissed.

¶ 5. In the fall of 2003, April began to ask Andy to leave the marital residence, and the divorce proceedings were resumed. They continued to reside in the same household.

¶ 6. In December of 2003, April met Brian Sellers. The following May, April moved from the marital home into a rental home in Caledonia.

¶ 7. In June of 2004, the chancellor entered a temporary order that granted April custody of the two minor children and ordered Andy to pay child support. For several months prior to the temporary order, Andy did not deposit his paycheck into the couple's joint bank account and did not provide any financial support for the children.

¶ 8. On August 4, 2004, Andy filed a motion for summary judgment. He claimed that he was entitled to judgment on the claim of adultery because April condoned his affair. The result was that Andy's adultery could no longer support the grounds for divorce pled in April's complaint for divorce. The chancellor granted the motion, and the parties proceeded to trial on Andy's complaint for divorce on the grounds of adultery.

¶ 9. The chancellor granted Andy a divorce and awarded him custody of the two minor children. The chancellor also divided the marital assets of the parties. However, the division of assets was not challenged on appeal.

STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶ 10. The standard of review in this case presents two separate standards for us to consider.

¶ 11. The first issue requires that we consider the chancellor's decision to grant a motion for partial summary judgment. This Court employs a de novo standard of review of a lower court's grant or denial of summary judgment and examines all the evidentiary matters before it admissions in pleadings, answers to interrogatories, depositions, affidavits, etc.McMillan v. Rodriguez, 823 So.2d 1173, 1176-77 (¶ 9) (Miss. 2002). The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable *Page 256 to the party against whom the motion has been made.Id. at 1177 (¶ 9). If, in this view, there is no genuine issue of material fact, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, summary judgment should forthwith be entered in his or her favor. Id. Issues of fact sufficient to require reversal of a summary judgment obviously are present where one party swears to one version of the matter in issue and another says the opposite.Id.

¶ 12. The second and third issues are typical divorce, child custody and child support issues. Findings of the chancellor, as to these issues, will not be disturbed or set aside on appeal unless the decision of the chancellor was manifestly wrong and not supported by substantial credible evidence, or unless an erroneous legal standard was applied.Pittman v. Pittman, 652 So.2d 1105, 1108 (Miss. 1995). For questions of law, our standard of review is de novo.Harrison County v. City of Gulfport, 557 So.2d 780,784 (Miss. 1990).

ANALYSIS
I. Did the chancellor err in granting a partial summary judgment on April's ground of divorce for adultery?

¶ 13. On August 4, 2004, Andy filed a motion for summary judgment on April's "claim for divorce on the ground of adultery for reason of condonation of Andy. The motion contained no additional information.1 The motion did not set forth the factual or legal basis upon which Andy relied to move for summary judgment. No affidavits, depositions, or other pleadings were attached. On September 22, 2004, the chancellor signed an order granting April additional time to respond to the motion and set the hearing for October 11, 2004.2 On October 1, 2004, April filed her response and affidavit. On October 12, 2004, the chancellor executed an order granting partial summary judgment. The order provides that it is supported by April's deposition and opposed by her affidavit. The record next contains a document, filed on October 19, 2004, entitled "Designation of excerpts of deposition testimony of April Thornell Lawrence considered by the court in ruling on motion for summary judgment." Attached to this document are several pages from April's deposition transcript.

¶ 14. Rule 56(c) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure provides that "[t]he judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Our standard of review of motions granting summary judgment is de novo. McMillan,823 So.2d at 1176-77 (¶ 9).

¶ 15. We begin our de novo review by noting the discrepancies in the record. Rule 56(c) expressly provides that summary judgment may be rendered if the pleadings, depositions, etc. "on file" establish *Page 257 no genuine issue of material fact and that a party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. It is certainly contrary to Rule 56(c) for the chancellor to consider documents that are not "on file" prior to the hearing on the motion. M.R.C.P. 6(b). See also Richardson v. APAC-Miss., Inc.,631 So.2d 143, 146 (Miss. 1994).

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Bluebook (online)
956 So. 2d 251, 2006 WL 2474029, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lawrence-v-lawrence-missctapp-2006.