Tanbal v. Hall

878 S.W.2d 724, 317 Ark. 506, 1994 Ark. LEXIS 420
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJuly 5, 1994
Docket94-138
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 878 S.W.2d 724 (Tanbal v. Hall) 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
Tanbal v. Hall, 878 S.W.2d 724, 317 Ark. 506, 1994 Ark. LEXIS 420 (Ark. 1994).

Opinion

Robert L. Brown, Justice.

This appeal concerns the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement Support Act (Ark. Code Ann. § 9-14-301, et seq. (1987))1 and the authority of the Phillips County Chancery Court to nullify the original support order of another state, in this case Arizona, without specifically providing that the Arizona decree was nullified. The issue came before the chancery court in the form of a petition to enforce arrearages as found by the Arizona court in 1990 against the appellee, Larry E. Hall. The Arkansas chancery court denied the petition on the basis that it had entered its own judgment for an arrearage amount in 1989 which decided the issue. We conclude that there was no specific nullification of the Arizona decree by the Arkansas chancery court at any juncture, and we reverse and remand to the chancery court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Appellant Linda J. Hall Tanbal married appellee Larry E. Hall in 1968 in Tucson, Arizona. During the marriage, twin children were born. Less than four years later in 1971, the couple divorced. At the time of the divorce, the children were approximately eight months old. Under the decree, Linda Tanbal was granted custody of the two children, and Larry Hall was required to make child support payments of $225.00 per month.

Following the divorce, Hall moved to Phillips County, and these orders were entered by the Arkansas chancery court:

(a) On December 11, 1981, an order was entered, finding that Hall was $2,925.00 in arrears in child support and ordering him to continue child support payments of $225 per month.
(b) On December 17, 1982, an order was entered, finding that Hall was $5,625.00 in arrears in child support. Support was set at $18.00 per week per child and $5.00 per child for the arrearage.
(c) On January 13, 1984, an order was entered reducing Hall’s child support payments to $9.00 per week per child and $2.50 per week per child for the arrearage.
(d) On April 21, 1989, an order was entered, following Tanbal’s petition for arrearage and increased support and her personal appearance before the chancery court. An order finding an arrearage amount of $7,459.85 was entered and support payments of $218.00 per month were established.

Following the chancery court’s 1989 order, Tanbal returned to Arizona, and in October 1989, she filed a Petition for Judgment for Arrears in that state. Hall was served with the petition by registered mail but made no appearance. Tanbal sought a judgment in the amount of $47,700 for arrearages accumulating over the period from October 1, 1971, through June 1, 1989. In her affidavit to the court, she acknowledged that Larry Hall had made support payments pursuant to the 1971 decree and “other support orders granted in the URESA proceedings.” She also stated that the 1971 Arizona decree had not been modified. The Arizona court had before it at least two of the Arkansas chancery court support orders. By order dated January 2, 1990, the Arizona court found that Hall was $34,597.97 in arrears, after giving Hall credit for support payments made. No appeal was taken by either party from the 1989 Arkansas chancery court order establishing an arrearage of $7,459.85 or from the 1990 Arizona arrearage order.

On August 27, 1992, the Phillips County Child Support Unit filed its petition for payment of arrearages against Hall to enforce the Arizona arrearage recovery order of $34,597.97. Hall moved to dismiss on grounds that the 1989 chancery court order in Phillips County was entered before the 1990 Arizona order. He further asserted that Tanbal committed fraud by representing to the Arizona court by affidavit that the 1971 divorce decree had not been modified by subsequent court order. Additionally, he urged that res judicata was applicable in light of the chancery court’s 1989 order establishing the arrearage amount at $7,459.85. He finally contended that Tanbal should have appealed from either the Arizona or the chancery court arrearage order and was barred from further litigation on the matter because she did not.

The chancery court granted Hall’s motion to dismiss and found that the Arkansas chancery court orders amended the 1971 Arizona decree. The court further concluded that the issue of the arrearage amount before the Arizona court in 1990 had previously been litigated in Arkansas and resolved under the 1989 chancery court order.

For her sole point on appeal, Tanbal urges that the Arkansas chancery court erred in dismissing the Unit’s petition to enforce the Arizona arrearage order. She cites the fact that the Arkansas orders failed to specifically nullify the 1971 Arizona decree as required by the Arkansas Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act. See Ark. Code Ann. § 9-14-331 (1987).2 Under that statute, a foreign court’s order could only be nullified as follows:

A support order made by a court of this state pursuant to this subchapter does not nullify and is not nullified by a support order made by a court of this state pursuant to any other law or by a support order made by a court of any other state pursuant to a substantially similar act or any other law, regardless of priority of issuance, unless otherwise specifically provided by the court. Amounts paid for a particular period pursuant to any support order made by the court of another state shall be credited against the amounts accruing or accrued for the same period under any support order made by the court of this state. (Emphasis ours.)

We have scoured the four support orders entered by the chancery court, and there is no Arkansas order specifically providing for a nullification of the 1971 Arizona decree. However, because Hall chose only to pay the support amounts awarded under the various Arkansas orders, he argues that this effected a modification of the Arizona decree. This court has previously rejected a similar argument when the obligor alleged that his Arkansas obligation was fulfilled by compliance with orders reducing support in another state. See Britton v. Floyd, 293 Ark. 397, 738 S.W.2d 408 (1987); see also Luckes v. Luckes, 262 Ark. 770, 561 S.W.2d 300 (1978). In interpreting § 9-14-331, we stated in Britton:

Our statute clearly provides that a subsequent order does not nullify a prior order unless specifically provided by the court and that payments pursuant to another court’s order are treated as credits against the original order. The Arkansas court gave full faith and credit to the Kansas court order because the Kansas payments were properly credited in reduction of the Arkansas obligation.

293 Ark. at 400, 738 S.W.2d at 410.

Hall seeks to distinguish Britton v. Floyd in the same manner as did the chancery court. He points to the various Arkansas proceedings where more than his ability to pay was explored. He also emphasizes that throughout the history of this case the chancery court in Arkansas was issuing orders with regard to the 1971 Arizona decree. The effect of these orders, according to Hall and the chancery court, was to modify that decree.

We do not agree.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

STATE, OFFICE CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT v. Adams
228 S.W.3d 555 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2006)
Office of Child Support Enforcement v. Neely
41 S.W.3d 423 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2001)
Twaddell v. Anderson
523 S.E.2d 710 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1999)
State Office of Child Support Enforcement v. Mitchell
964 S.W.2d 218 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1998)
Jefferson County Child Support Enforcement Unit v. Hollands
939 S.W.2d 302 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1997)
CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT v. Troxel
931 S.W.2d 784 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
878 S.W.2d 724, 317 Ark. 506, 1994 Ark. LEXIS 420, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tanbal-v-hall-ark-1994.