Surya Janjam v. Gosike Raja Rajeshwari

2020 Ark. App. 448, 611 S.W.3d 202
Court of Appeals of Arkansas·Decided September 30, 2020·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

Cite as 2020 Ark. App. 448 Reason: I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Date: 2021-07-12 14:12:05 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS Foxit PhantomPDF Version: DIVISION III 9.7.5 No. CV-19-728

SURYA JANJAM Opinion Delivered September 30, 2020

APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE BENTON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

V. [NO. 04DR-17-1983]

HONORABLE JOHN R. SCOTT,

GOSIKE RAJA RAJESHWARI JUDGE

APPELLEE AFFIRMED

MEREDITH B. SWITZER, Judge Surya Janjam (“Surya”) and Gosike Raja Rajeshwari (“Raja”) were divorced on May 30, 2019, by order of the Benton County Circuit Court. On appeal, Surya contends the circuit court clearly erred in four respects: (1) granting Raja a divorce based on the ground of general indignities; (2) not granting joint custody of the parties’ minor child; (3) awarding retroactive child support; and (4) awarding Raja an unequal division of marital property.

We affirm on all points.

I. Facts

The parties married on December 25, 2014, and have a son, EJ, who was born on August 13, 2016. The parties separated on December 15, 2017. Raja filed her complaint for divorce, alleging general indignities, on December 18, 2017. 1 EJ was undergoing

1

In her original complaint, Raja alleged Surya had absconded with EJ out of the country (both parties are from India)and refused to bring EJ back into the country for extended periods of time or to notify Raja of his whereabouts. On the basis of Raja’s

treatments for leukemia at that time. On December 27, the parties entered into an agreed temporary order giving Raja primary custody with Surya having visitation either supervised by Raja’s parents or taking place at Raja’s home. They agreed to travel to Little Rock together for EJ’s leukemia treatments; for Surya to continue paying health-insurance premiums and any out-of-pocket medical expenses for EJ; and for Surya to pay $350 a month toward Raja’s rent beginning in January 2018. The temporary order further provided that “the issue of child support is reserved for the final hearing. That this amount of child support is a deviation from the child support chart due to [Surya] paying 100% of all medical expenses because of the child’s illness.”

In February 2018, Raja moved to modify the temporary order asking for Surya’s visitation take place in a public location because her parents were no longer in the United States and could not supervise visitation. Surya requested the temporary order be modified to joint custody of EJ because he was capable of caring for EJ without supervision.

A second temporary order, filed on May 22, kept temporary custody with Raja and modified Surya’s visitation to alternating weekends. The parties were also ordered to list the marital home for sale. This order further provided, “[Surya] shall continue paying support of $350.00 per month as well as the medical expenses for the child per the initial Temporary Order pending a final hearing in this matter.”

divorce petition, the circuit court entered an ex parte order on December 19 vesting temporary custody in Raja and granting Surya reasonable supervised visitation. Raja later amended her complaint to clarify that while EJ was in Raja’s parents’ custody in India, Surya’s parents had taken him and refused to return EJ to either Raja or her parents.

On May 24, Raja filed a motion requesting an increase in spousal support because she lost her job due to her immigration status because Surya refused to turn over the necessary papers for her to renew her visa. Surya objected, but the circuit court ordered Surya to pay Raja $650 for the month of August.

The testimony at the final hearing revealed the following: Raja moved from India to Houston after she and Surya married. They then moved to Bentonville in August 2015 for Surya to work at Walmart. She was concerned Surya was having an affair with an ex- girlfriend because he regularly locked himself in the bathroom or bedroom and called her. She also found what she described as “vulgar” photos of the ex-girlfriend on Surya’s cell phone; when she confronted Surya, he accused her of violating his privacy.

Raja also testified that the couple had financial disputes. She said that Surya held a second job, but she performed all the duties for that job; she responded to emails for him, logged into meetings as him, and reported the meeting details back to him. When she became pregnant and was unable to keep up with the work, Surya lost the second job and blamed her for the loss of income. According to Raja, Surya pressured her to obtain employment; she began working for Walmart in March 2016 and worked until one week before she delivered EJ.

Surya handled all the finances, including Raja’s income. When she asked about his income, he told her she did not need to know how much money he made and needed to worry only about how much money she made. He required her to be transparent about her finances, but he did not have to reciprocate, and Raja was not to question him. When Surya learned that Raja had changed her bank-account password, Surya became angry and

told Raja, who was pregnant at the time, that she had to buy her own groceries, make her own meals, sleep by herself, and pay her own living expenses. She was told that if she wanted to live with him, she had to give him her money. She also recalled a time during her pregnancy when Surya was going out of town, refused to leave the house keys with her, and told her she had to stay out of the house. It was only when she threatened to call the police that Surya relented and left the keys behind.

According the Raja, Surya began pressuring her to return to work two months after EJ was born. When she told Surya that she would stay home with EJ, he told her that she would have to go back to India with EJ because it was too difficult for him to take care of them both. Raja returned to India with EJ and lived with her parents for six months. During that time, Raja’s parents supported her and EJ; Surya gave her no money. Surya took Raja and EJ to India and left them at her parents’ home. He claimed he was going on a business trip, but when he returned, Raja detected a change in his behavior, and she discovered photos and social-media posts about Surya’s being with his girlfriend.

Raja returned to the United States in July 2017 and began working for Walmart. EJ remained in India with her parents until October 2017, when her father brought EJ back to the United States and stayed to care for him until February 2018. Her father returned to Arkansas again from October to December 2018 to assist Raja with EJ. Raja testified that to her knowledge, Surya had never sent any money to her father to assist in EJ’s care. He did, however, send about $40,000 to his family during that same time frame and did not tell her he was sending the money.

Raja recounted that her paycheck was deposited into a joint account, but Surya’s paycheck was not always deposited into the joint account; she later learned he was depositing sums from his paycheck into an account solely in his name. She said that $51,000 was transferred from her account to Surya’s account, but Surya never transferred any money from his account to her account.

Raja also testified that in September 2017, she told Surya she would call the police if he tried to separate her from EJ, and he locked her cell phone in the bedroom. When she told him that she knew about his affair and only stayed with him for EJ, Surya hit her in the face, choked her, and kicked her off the bed. When she decided to file for divorce, Surya refused to timely provide her with her work visa, passport, and documentation needed to renew her visa; as a result, she lost her job.

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Surya Janjam v. Gosike Raja Rajeshwari, 2020 Ark. App. 448, 611 S.W.3d 202 (Ark. Ct. App. 2020).

2020 Ark. App. 448 (Surya Janjam v. Gosike Raja Rajeshwari) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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