Sat v. Ed

972 So. 2d 804, 2007 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 319, 2007 WL 1377879
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Sat v. Ed. Read the opinion of the Court — 972 So. 2d 804
Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama·Decided May 11, 2007·No. 2060164·Published

Opinion

972 So.2d 804 (2007)

S.A.T.
v.
E.D.

2060164.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

May 11, 2007.

*805 Karen H. Jackson, Prattville, for appellant.

B. Diane Paris, Montgomery, for appellee.

BRYAN, Judge.

S.A.T. ("the mother") appeals a judgment insofar as it modified the child-support obligation of E.D. ("the father") from 8365 per month to $175 per month, found the mother in contempt, and awarded the father an attorney's fee in the amount of $250. We dismiss the appeal in part and affirm the judgment in part.

The father and the mother, who have never been married, had one child together. That child was born in November 1993. The father resides in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and the mother resides in Montgomery, Alabama.

*806 On November 3, 2005, the father petitioned the juvenile court to find the child dependent. As grounds, the father alleged that the mother had mentally and emotionally abused the child by denying the child communication and contact with the father. The father also alleged that, although a Texas court had previously adjudicated the issue of child support, there had been no adjudication regarding the custody of the child. In addition to the adjudication of dependency, the father sought an award of joint legal and joint physical custody of the child and an award of pendente lite and regular visitation rights with the child.

The father subsequently amended his petition to eliminate his claim seeking joint physical custody. In that amended petition, the father alleged that the mother had not permitted the father to visit with the child.

On December 15, 2005, the juvenile court entered a pendente lite order awarding the father visitation during every third weekend and the Christmas holidays. That order also directed the parties to meet for visitation exchanges at the Alabama-Georgia state line or any other place the parties agreed upon.

On April 20, 2006, the father petitioned the juvenile court to find the mother in contempt. As grounds, the father alleged that the mother had violated the December 15 order by refusing to meet at the Alabama-Georgia state line for visitation exchanges,

The mother responded by filing a pleading titled, in part, "Motion to Strike Petitioner's Motion for Contempt." In that pleading, the mother denied that she had willfully violated the December 15 order and alleged that she could not travel to the Alabama-Georgia state line for visitation exchanges due to a back injury and that the parties had agreed to make visitation exchanges in Montgomery. The mother attached, among other things, her physician's affidavit stating that the mother's back pain prevents her from sitting for prolonged periods of time.

The juvenile court then held a hearing on the father's petitions. At the conclusion of the hearing, the juvenile court orally rendered its ruling. The juvenile court found the mother in contempt for failure to comply with the visitation provisions of the December 15 order, modified the father's child-support obligation' by reducing it from $365 per month to $175 per month, and awarded the father an attorney's fee in the amount of $250.

The juvenile court subsequently entered a written judgment. That judgment awarded the mother primary physical custody; awarded the parties' joint legal custody; awarded the father visitation rights; modified the father's child-support obligation by reducing it to $175 per month; awarded the father an attorney's fee in the amount of $250 for the contempt proceeding; and denied the father's petition seeking an adjudication of dependency. The mother appealed to this court without filing a postjudgment motion in the juvenile court.

The mother first argues that the juvenile court erred in modifying the father's child-support obligation because it did so in the absence of a registered Texas child-support judgment pursuant to the provisions of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act ("UIFSA"), codified at § 30-3A-101 et seq., Ala.Code 1975.

Generally, the court will not consider arguments the appellant did not first present to the trial court. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Motley, 909 So.2d 806, 821 (Ala.2005) ("This Court cannot consider arguments advanced for the purpose of reversing the judgment of a trial court when those arguments were never presented to the trial court for consideration or were raised for the first time on *807 appeal."). However, in this instance, although the mother failed to present to the juvenile court her argument that the father's child-support obligation could not be modified in the absence of registering the Texas child-support judgment, we will consider that argument because it challenges the juvenile court's subject-matter jurisdiction to modify the father's child-support obligation. Challenges to subject-matter jurisdiction may be raised for the first time on appeal, because "`a lack of jurisdiction cannot be waived.' Takao v. Zoning Bd. of Adjustment of Birmingham, 656 So.2d 873, 874 (Ala.Civ.App.1995)." Morgan v. Morgan, 964 So.2d 24, 28 (Ala. Civ.App.2007).

Section 30-3A-601, Ala.Code 1975, states: "A support order or an income-withholding order issued by a tribunal of another state may be registered in this state for enforcement." Moreover, the Official Comment to § 30-3A-601 states:

"The common practice under the [Revised Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act[1]] was to initiate a new suit for the establishment of a support order, even though there was an existing order for child support. That practice is specifically rejected by UIFSA. . . .
"Under the one-order system of UIFSA, only one existing order is to be enforced prospectively. . . . Registration of [a child-support] order in "the responding state is the first step to enforcement by a tribunal of that state. Rather than being an optional procedure, . . . registration for enforcement under UIFSA is the primary method for interstate enforcement of child support."

(Emphasis added.) Therefore, when a court of another state has issued a valid child-support order, in order for an Alabama court to exercise subject-matter jurisdiction over a child-support-modification petition, the foreign child-support order must be registered in Alabama.

"Register" as defined in § 30-3101(15), Ala.Code 1975, "means to file a support order or judgment determining parentage with the clerk of the appropriate court." Additionally, § 30-3A-603(a), Ala.Code 1975, provides: "A support order or income-withholding order issued in another state is registered when the order is filed in the appropriate court of this state." See Wall v. Borosky, 850 So.2d 351, 356 (Ala.Civ.App.2002) (concluding that foreign child-support orders were registered in Alabama when the party sought to domesticate those foreign judgments in an Alabama court).

In the case now before us, there is nothing in the record to establish that either the father or the mother registered the Texas child-support judgment in Alabama. Consequently, the juvenile court could not exercise subject-matter jurisdiction over the issue of child support. A judgment entered by a court that lacks subject-matter jurisdiction is void. Gulf Beach Hotel, Inc. v. State ex rel. Whetstone, 935 So.2d 1177, 1183 (Ala.2006). Such a judgment will not support an appeal. Id. Therefore, we dismiss the mother's appeal insofar as she appeals the juvenile court's purported modification of the father's child-support obligation

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Sat v. Ed, 972 So. 2d 804, 2007 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 319, 2007 WL 1377879 (Ala. Ct. App. 2007).

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