Munn v. Munn

868 S.W.2d 478, 315 Ark. 494, 1994 Ark. LEXIS 21
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 18, 1994
Docket93-459
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 868 S.W.2d 478 (Munn v. Munn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Munn v. Munn, 868 S.W.2d 478, 315 Ark. 494, 1994 Ark. LEXIS 21 (Ark. 1994).

Opinion

Jack Holt, Jr., Chief Justice.

This case concerns the proper apportionment and utilization of a lump-sum workers’ compensation disability settlement payment for child support, our guidelines for child support enforcement, and the extent of a chancellor’s discretion in refusing to entertain evidence of alleged financial impropriety and irresponsibility on the part of parties in litigation. We find the appellant’s arguments unpersuasive, and we affirm the chancery court’s judgment.

The appellee, Anthony R. Munn, sustained an injury in 1981 which left him disabled. He and the appellant, Rebecca J. Munn, were married in 1983. A child, Kristie Renee Munn, was born of the union in 1984. On November 11, 1991, Mr. and Mrs. Munn entered into a written separation, child custody, and property settlement agreement. Subsequently, on November 20, 1991, the parties were divorced.

Under the terms of the agreement, which was incorporated in the divorce decree, Mr. Munn was required to pay $150 per month in child support. At the time of the divorce, Mr. Munn had no job-related income but received about $580 in monthly Social Security payments and, since 1981, about $700 in monthly workers’ compensation total-disability benefits. The record reveals that the minor daughter, Kristie, received $30 per month from Social Security in separate payments based on Mr. Munn’s total disability from his 1981 work-related injury.

In December 1991, less than a month after the divorce, Mr. Munn received a lump-sum workers’ compensation settlement in the amount of $143,000. The matter had been pending since 1981, prior to the parties’ marriage. According to Mr. Munn’s testimony, he informed his attorney that he wanted to settle the case about five days before the actual settlement was accomplished. He acknowledged that, while he was married, he had told Mrs. Munn that he was not going to settle the workers’ compensation case.

Upon receiving the lump sum settlement, Mr. Munn purchased a Dodge Stealth sports car for $26,150. He bought the house he had rented for the previous five years for about $50,000. Mr. Munn also paid $10,000 for a certificate of deposit to be used for his daughter’s college education. He spent $34,600 acquiring Wal-Mart stock and the remaining $23,000 on various items.

In July 1992, following Mr. Munn’s filing of a petition for regularizing visitation, Mrs. Munn filed.her response and a petition for increase of child support, contending that there had been substantial changes in the circumstances affecting her former husband’s ability to pay child support — chiefly regarding the amount of the workers’ compensation lump-sum settlement and the. prior “material misrepresentation” on Mr. Munn’s part concerning the likelihood of a settlement.

A hearing was held before the Columbia Chancery Court on December 2, 1992. In a letter opinion filed on December 30, 1992, the chancellor noted that Mr. Munn had stated that his Wal-Mart investment did not result in a substantial increase in his income. “However,” the judge wrote:

he can elect to invest that amount in securities or other forms which would result in a regular income to him. If that investment provided a 7% return he would increase his monthly income from $609.00 to $813.00. That monthly income would require child support in the amount of $200.00 per month pursuant to the Domestic Relations Chart. He presently pays $150.00 and Social Security pays $30.00 per month. Therefore, the monthly child support payment of defendant should be increased to $170.00 per month.

That figure was recorded in the court’s order, which was entered on January 27, 1993. This appeal followed.

I. Stewardship capacity

For her first point for reversal, Mrs. Munn contends that the chancellor should have taken into consideration evidence of the respective capacities for responsible stewardship of the $143,000 lump-sum settlement payment that her former husband received after the divorce. This issue was not preserved for appellate review.

At the hearing, Mrs. Munn’s attorney endeavored to elicit testimony from her with respect to Mr. Munn’s problems with handling financial matters. Mrs. Munn stated that her former husband would “take checks out of the middle of my checkbook,” prompting counsel for Mr. Munn to raise a relevancy objection. Before the court ruled on the matter, Mrs. Munn’s attorney made the following response:

Well, Your Honor, child support is about how much of one person’s money the Court is going to allow another person to administer, and that’s why I’m asking these questions to give the Court evidence on who might be the best person to be allowed to administer the money that’s available to the family.

No attempt was made, beyond this rather general statement of purpose, to proffer any testimony on the subject. The trial court then sustained the objection, and Mrs. Munn acquiesced in the ruling, repeating the court’s admonition to her not to answer the question about the checkbook: “Oh, don’t answer it. Oh, excuse me.”

An exclusion of evidence cannot be reviewed in the absence of a proffer showing what the evidence would have been. Jackson v. Farm and Commercial Properties, 284 Ark. 130, 680 S.W.2d 105 (1984). Further, acquiescence renders any error harmless. Jim Halsey Co., Inc. v. Bonar, 284 Ark. 461, 683 S.W.2d 898 (1985).

In any event, the question of fiscal responsibility had no actual bearing on the subject matter of the hearing: whether an increase in child support was warranted. The lump-sum payment was made in settlement of a workers’ compensation claim that predated the parties’ marriage by three years. The question of which person exercised the greater money-management skills during the course of a troubled marital relationship was simply irrelevant to the issue of changed circumstances.

II. Settlement apportionment

In her second argument for reversal, Mrs. Munn urges that the chancellor abused his discretion in failing to apportion fifty percent of the lump-sum settlement as child support under Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-110(d) (Supp. 1993) or, alternatively, in failing to apportion for periodic payments thirteen percent of the settlement amount, a figure drawn from the Per Curiam order, In Re Guidelines for Child Support Enforcement, 305 Ark. 613 (1991). Neither contention has merit.

A. Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-110(d)

Under the circumstances of the present case, Ark. Code Ann. §11-9-110 is inapplicable. That statute provides in relevant part:

(a) The right to compensation shall not be assignable and shall not be subject to garnishment, attachment, levy, execution, or any other legal process except for child support obligations.

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Related

White v. White
236 S.W.3d 540 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2006)
Halter v. Halter
959 S.W.2d 761 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1998)
Rockett v. State
890 S.W.2d 235 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
868 S.W.2d 478, 315 Ark. 494, 1994 Ark. LEXIS 21, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/munn-v-munn-ark-1994.