Telge v. Telge

677 S.W.2d 403, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4028
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 11, 1984
DocketWD 34336
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 677 S.W.2d 403 (Telge v. Telge) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Telge v. Telge, 677 S.W.2d 403, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4028 (Mo. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

NUGENT, Judge.

Donald E. Telge appeals from an order of the circuit court dismissing his petition and motion for equitable relief from portions of the circuit court’s dissolution decree providing for maintenance, and approving the parties’ separation agreement. Mr. Telge also appeals the.court’s award of attorney’s fees to Minnie Lou Telge incurred in defense of the appellant’s petition and motion. We affirm the judgment.

On November 18, 1981, Mrs. Telge filed a petition for dissolution of marriage. Pursuant to § 452.325, 1 the parties had earlier entered into a separation agreement disposing of their personal property and real property and providing for maintenance and support payments to Mrs. Telge. Mr. Telge filed an entry of appearance submitting to the jurisdiction of the court. After a hearing at which Mr. Telge was not present, the circuit court on January 21, 1982, entered its decree dissolving the marriage. The decree incorporated the separation agreement’s provision for maintenance and support, but stipulated that the provisions disposing of the parties’ property were not to be incorporated. The court found that the terms of the agreement were not unconscionable. At the time of the agreement both parties were represented by Mrs. Telge’s attorney, Mr. Loughlin. After the decree was entered, Mr. Telge retained separate counsel.

On February 14, 1982, Mr. Telge filed a motion to set aside portions of the decree approving the property settlement agreement and awarding maintenance. As far as we can tell from the record, the trial court did not rule on the motion. On March 3, 1982, Mr. Telge filed a notice of *405 appeal from the court s January 21 decree. On June 25, 1982, this court dismissed that appeal (along with the appeals in five other unrelated cases) “for failure to prosecute the appeal within the periods of time allowed under the Rules of Civil Procedure.” While that first appeal was still pending, however, he filed his petition for equitable relief which is in issue in this case.

In his petition in this case, Mr. Telge asserted that in the dissolution decree and the approved settlement agreement the court did not fully evaluate and enumerate the parties personal property, nor did the agreement and decree make a complete disposition of the parties’ personal property. Therefore, he contended, the decree was not a final judgment and thus any appeal right had not matured. He also asserted that the award of maintenance was not proper since Mrs. Telge’s own income was adequate for her needs. The circuit court heard the case and dismissed the petition, awarding Mrs. Telge $1,490 for attorney’s fees.

Mr. Telge raises three points on appeal. His first point refers to the disposition of personal property approved by the court, the same assertion found in the petition for equitable relief. His second point is that the judgment for maintenance and support is void and unenforceable since the judgment is vague and ambiguous and not susceptible to precise determination. Finally, Mr. Telge alleges the award of fees was not proper because Mrs. Telge failed to show she was in need of the award and because she is financially able to pay her attorney.

The action below was for equitable relief and was thus heard by the court. The scope of our review is set forth in Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo.1976) (en banc), which requires that a “decree or judgment of trial court will be sustained by the appellate court unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, unless it erroneously declares the law, or unless it erroneously applies the law.” The parties did not request findings of fact and conclusions of law and the court made none. Where no findings of fact and conclusions of law are requested or given, all issues are deemed to be found in accordance with the judgment, and the judgment is to be affirmed under any reasonable theory presented by the evidence. Porter v. Posey, 592 S.W.2d 844, 848 (Mo.App.1979).

Mr. Telge’s first point raises two issues: First, whether the court’s approval of the settlement agreement disposing of their personal property was erroneous because, in deciding that the agreement was not unconscionable as required by § 452.325, the court did not consider the factors set forth in § 452.330. Although by its terms § 452.330 applies where the court divides the property of the parties, we have held that “when a trial court considers the propriety of a property settlement under § 452.325.2, then the court should consider the factors recited in § 452.330 for a division by the court where no agreement exists.” Block v. Block, 593 S.W.2d 584, 591 (Mo.App.1979). But in this case, consideration of that issue is obviated by our resolution of the second issue raised by the first point.

That second issue is whether the court’s decree did not dispose of all the parties’ property and, therefore, is not a final judgment for purposes of appeal. The latter issue is decisive. If the trial court’s original decree approving the settlement agreement is a final judgment, then this action is a collateral attack upon it. In general, a final judgment is immune from collateral attack if the court had personal and subject matter jurisdiction and the judgment is not void on its face. Todd v. Garrison, 417 F.Supp. 97, 101 (E.D.Mo.1976); La Presto v. La Presto, 285 S.W.2d 568, 570 (Mo.1955).

The Todd decision involved circumstances similar to those in this case. That was an action to quiet title to real property distributed pursuant to an earlier dissolution decree and an incorporated separation agreement. The defendant attacked the agreement on the grounds that it was unconscionable and that the dissolution de *406 cree was not a final judgment and thus was unenforceable. The district court, relying upon Missouri law, refused to reach the conscionability issue, holding that the circuit court’s judgment was a final judgment for purposes of res judicata and not subject to collateral attack on the grounds asserted because the defendant had failed to appeal from the decree. The circuit court in our case had subject matter and personal jurisdiction, and, if it was res judicata, its decree is immune from attack on the grounds asserted.

The issue of finality in this case is controlled by State ex rel. McClintock v. Black, 608 S.W.2d 405 (Mo.1980) (en banc). In McClintock, a party to a separation agreement which was incorporated into a dissolution decree sought a writ of mandamus ordering the circuit court to assume jurisdiction to vacate a decree on the ground that it did not dispose of all the property. The Supreme Court sustained the appellate court’s quashing of the writ on the basis that the decree was a final judgment for purposes of res judicata. Id. at 406. No appeal had been taken from the original decree, and the relator had sought to vacate the decree seven months after its entry.

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Bluebook (online)
677 S.W.2d 403, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4028, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/telge-v-telge-moctapp-1984.