Saint v. Quick

24 So. 3d 395, 2009 Miss. App. LEXIS 937, 2009 WL 4801325
Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided December 15, 2009·No. 2008-CA-01333-COA·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

IRVING, J,

for the Court.

¶ 1. This appeal arises out of a custody agreement between Jeffrey Dale Quick and Tabatha Renee Quick Saint. Jeffrey and Tabatha were married in 1998, and three children were born during their marriage. In 2007, Tabatha and Jeffrey were granted a divorce by the Simpson County Chancery Court. Pursuant to the divorce, the parties agreed that Tabatha and Jeffrey would share joint legal custody of the children, but that Tabatha would have primary physical custody of them. Thereafter, Jeffrey filed a petition for modification of the custody agreement, alleging that a material change in circumstances that affected the children had occurred. Tabatha requested that the case be transferred to Alabama, where she had moved after the divorce. After a hearing that both parties attended, the chancery court declined to transfer the case to Alabama. Thereafter, a hearing was held to adjudicate Jeffrey’s petition. Tabatha refused to attend this hearing on the ground that she had not received notice and that the chancery court did not have jurisdiction over her. Ultimately, the chancery court ordered that: (1) it had continuing jurisdiction over the parties and their children, (2) the Al-bright 1 factors dictated that custody be transferred from Tabatha to Jeffrey, (3) Tabatha be jailed until she delivered the children to Jeffrey, and (4) Tabatha be denied any visitation with the children until such was specifically granted by the chancery court.

¶ 2. Feeling aggrieved, Tabatha appeals and asserts that: (1) the service of process on her for notice of a January 7, 2008, hearing was insufficient, and that the chancery court therefore lacked personal jurisdiction over her; (2) a chancery court errs when it considers Albright factors while only one parent is present; (3) this ease should have been transferred to Alabama; and (4) the chancery court’s January 10, 2008, order, which jailed Tabatha and denied Tabatha visitation with the children, “was inequitable, unfair, not based on the evidence, and created an undue hardship on Tabatha....”

¶ 3. We find that all of Tabatha’s issues are procedurally barred except for a consideration of issues raised in her Rule 60(b) motion and issues appealed from the court’s final order of contempt. We find that the chancery court properly found no merit to Tabatha’s Rule 60(b) motion; therefore, we affirm. However, we find error in the chancery court’s final order of contempt, which denied Tabatha visitation. Therefore, we affirm in part, and reverse and remand in part for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FACTS

¶ 4. Tabatha and Jeffrey were married on July 18, 1998, separated in September 2005, 2 and were granted an irreconcilable differences divorce on March 14, 2007. Three children were born during the *398 course of their marriage; at the time of the divorce, the oldest child was seven, and the youngest was two. The divorce decree indicates that Tabatha and Jeffrey had “entered into a written CHILD CUSTODY, SUPPORT AND PROPERTY SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT in anticipation of divorce.... ” The decree also “ratified and approved” the agreement.

¶ 5. The agreement specified that the parties would have joint legal and physical custody of the children, with Tabatha enjoying primary physical custody of the children. The agreement also specified that Tabatha would have visitation every Mother’s Day, and that Jeffrey would have visitation every Father’s Day. The noncustodial parent, Jeffrey, was given visitation “on weekends he is off work.” The agreement also determined a custody schedule for annual holidays, such as Easter, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. The agreement explicitly stated that Jeffrey was “not to remove the minor children from the Central Mississippi area during the first three (3) weekends of visitation at his parents [sic] home.” The agreement further stated that the children would be exchanged in Meridian, Mississippi, after the first three weekends of visitation. Pursuant to the agreement, Jeffrey was required to pay Tabatha eight hundred dollars per month in child support. The agreement distributed the marital property and marital debts, and mandated that alimony would not be received by either party, except that Jeffrey would pay Tabatha two hundred dollars each month in rehabilitative alimony for one year.

¶ 6. On June 27, 2007, Jeffrey filed a petition for contempt and for modification of the divorce decree. On the same day, a summons was issued to Tabatha by the Simpson County Chancery Clerk. Jeffrey’s petition stated that: (1) he was a citizen of the State of Louisiana; 3 (2) Tabatha was a resident of the State of Alabama; (3) Tabatha had refused to allow Jeffrey visitation with the children, thus violating the divorce agreement; (4) there had been a material and substantial change in circumstances that had affected the children; (5) Tabatha had “failed to properly care and provide for the children”; (6) Tabatha had failed to provide a “stable home environment for the children”; and (7) Tabatha had “done things to and with the children” that had “adversely affected the children mentally and/or physically.” The petition requested that: (1) Jeffrey be granted primary physical custody of the children; (2) Tabatha be required to pay Jeffrey’s attorney’s fees; and (3) a temporary hearing be held “to adequately provide for the custody, support[,] and shelter of the parties’ minor children.”

¶ 7. On July 17, 2007, a proof of service of summons was filed in the chancery court, wherein Jeffrey’s attorney averred that he had served process on Tabatha by registered mail. The associated summons informed Tabatha that a hearing would be held on July 25, 2007, at 9:30 a.m. at the Smith County Chancery Court building in Raleigh, Mississippi. The certified notice was sent on June 27, 2007, and was received by Tabatha on July 2, 2007, according to the return receipt. The hearing that was scheduled for July 25 was ultimately held on August 6, 2007, and Tabatha attended the hearing.

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Saint v. Quick, 24 So. 3d 395, 2009 Miss. App. LEXIS 937, 2009 WL 4801325 (Mich. Ct. App. 2009).

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