Barnett v. Barnett

• Decision Date: 27 August 2010
• Docket Number: No. S-13177.,S-13177.
• Citation: 238 P.3d 594
• Parties: Alena BARNETT, Appellant, v. Timothy BARNETT, Appellee.
• Court: Alaska Supreme Court

238 P.3d 594

Alena BARNETT, Appellant,

v.Timothy BARNETT, Appellee.

No. S-13177.

Supreme Court of Alaska.

Aug. 27, 2010.

Thomas R. Wickwire, Law Office of Thomas Wickwire, Fairbanks, for Appellant.

Daniel L. Callahan, Callahan Law Office, Fairbanks, for Appellee.

Before: CARPENETI, Chief Justice, FABE, WINFREE, CHRISTEN, and STOWERS, Justices.

OPINION

CHRISTEN, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

Alena and Timothy Barnett met on the internet in the fall of 2004. In September 2005 Alena relocated to Fairbanks from her home in Belarus with her 18-year-old daughter. Alena and Timothy were married the next month. Timothy filed for divorce in January 2007. In April 2008 the superior court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law dividing the marital property and establishing spousal support. Alena appeals. She challenges the spousal support award on both federal and state law grounds, alleges procedural error by the superior court, and appeals the award of attorney's fees. We affirm the trial court's conclusions that Alena is not entitled to spousal support or attorney's fees under federal law, and we find no procedural error by the trial court. But because the award of spousal support made under state law was premised on an erroneous characterization of courtship costs as marital debt and on findings insufficient to allow us to review whether the award meets Alena's needs, we reverse the award and remand for reconsideration. We also vacate the award of attorney's fees made pursuant to state law.

II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

Timothy and Alena began a long-distance relationship in the fall of 2004 after meeting on the internet. Alena was living and working in Zhlobin, Belarus; she has a bachelor's degree in railroad transportation engineering, and she was employed by a steelwork company. Timothy was living in Fairbanks; he is the Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF).

Between January and September 2005 Timothy visited Alena in Belarus several times. In March of 2005 he began immigration paperwork for Alena to relocate to Fairbanks, and in May or June of that year Timothy gave Alena $2,500 to complete the purchase of her apartment in Belarus. In September 2005 Alena and her daughter Dasha moved from Belarus to Timothy's home in Fairbanks, where they lived with Timothy and his two teenaged sons. Alena brought $1,000 with her when she moved, and she maintained title to her apartment in Belarus. Timothy paid all of the costs associated with the move. Alena and Timothy married on October 8, 2005. At the time of the marriage, Dasha was 18 years old.

During the marriage, Alena earned between $10.50 and $11.50 per hour working as a salesperson at a hardware store and Timothy continued working at UAF. His income in 2004 was $109,395. Timothy and Alena completed renovations to Timothy's pre-marital home, sharing the work and the expense of the project. Timothy retained sole title to the home but took out a home equity loan to pay down credit card debt, including the costs incurred by Alena and Dasha in their move from Belarus. In Fairbanks, Timothy and Alena purchased a Toyota RAV4 for Alena to drive, and Alena and Dasha used Timothy's tuition reimbursement benefit to take English classes at UAF.

The Barnetts filed immigration paperwork requesting permanent resident status for Alena and Dasha in March 2006. Timothy served as sponsor for Alena and Dasha, and in that capacity he signed an INS Form I-864 affidavit pledging to support them at 125% of the federal poverty level.

Timothy filed a Complaint for Divorce and Motion for Temporary Orders Regarding Possession of Home and Support on January 10, 2007. Alena agreed with the allegations in the complaint and moved out of the Fairbanks home in May 2007. The court ordered that Alena and Timothy agree on an interim support amount, which they did. By May 2007 Dasha was living in her own apartment.

Trial was held in July 2007. On August 15, 2007, the superior court issued an oral decision on record dividing the parties' property and establishing spousal support. The court ordered that Alena receive $5,875 from the couple's 2006 tax refund (compared with Timothy's $4,000 share), the RAV4 (with approximately $20,000 in outstanding debt and $4,000 of equity), cross-country skis, a couch, a diamond ring, and a sewing machine purchased during the marriage. The court also ordered that Timothy pay Alena $1,500 per month in spousal support “for two years or until she remarries or until she dies or until she is living in the same house with another adult whose income she is relying on.” The court awarded Alena $2,000 in attorney's fees.

Timothy's attorney raised an oral objection to the court's spousal support award, observing that it seemed to have been based on 125% of the poverty level for a family of five (the size of the entire blended Barnett family pre-divorce), rather than a family of one (the size of Alena's household after the divorce). The trial court judge stated that he would reexamine that portion of the decision and possibly reduce the award.

In March 2008 Timothy filed proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, mostly memorializing the court's oral decisions regarding property division and attorney's fees. The proposed findings granted Alena one-half of the marital portion of Timothy's retirement accounts, car payments on the RAV4 ($482.46 per month) through July 2008, and spousal support of $875 per month through the end of May 2008. ¹ On April 23, 2008, the superior court adopted the proposed findings and conclusions without alteration.

Alena's Motion to Reconsider and Vacate the April 23 findings of fact and conclusions of law was denied, and she appeals. Alena challenges the superior court's award of spousal support, some of its findings of fact, its adoption of unsolicited findings and conclusions proposed by Timothy's attorney, and its award of attorney's fees.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The trial court's interpretation of a statute is a question of law to which we apply our independent judgment, “interpreting the statute according to reason, practicality, and common sense, considering the meaning of the statute's language, its legislative history, and its purpose.” ²

“Trial courts have broad discretion in fashioning property divisions.” ³ Trial courts' allocations of property and awards of spousal support are reviewed for abuse of discretion; we reverse such awards only if they are clearly unjust. ⁴

We review a trial court's findings of fact for clear error, which is found “only ‘when we are left with a definite and firm conviction based on the entire record that a mistake has been made.’ ” ⁵

We review awards of attorney's fees for abuse of discretion. ⁶

IV. DISCUSSION A. The Trial Court Correctly Concluded That Timothy Did Not Owe Spousal Support Under Federal Law.

Alena argues that the superior court erred by failing to follow the terms of 8 U.S.C. § 1183a and the INS Form I-864 affidavit Timothy signed. 8 U.S.C. § 1183a requires that a non-citizen's sponsor contractually commit to support the non-citizen at 125% of the federal poverty level. ⁷ The sponsor's support obligation lasts until the non-citizen works 40 qualifying quarters under the Social Security Act or departs from the U.S., or until either the non-citizen or the sponsor dies. ⁸ The support obligation is enforceable in state or federal court against the sponsor by the non-citizen or the federal or state government. At the time of sponsorship, the required support level is 125% of the federal poverty level for “a family unit of a size equal to the number of members of the sponsor's household (including family and non-family dependents) plus the total number of other dependents and aliens sponsored by that sponsor.” ⁹ The Form I-864 affidavit instructions stipulate that “[d]ivorce does not end the sponsorship obligation.” ¹⁰

Alena argues that the superior court violated 8 U.S.C. § 1183a by not awarding spousal support for 40 quarters. She also questions the support award because it does not specify how and when to adjust the support payments within the 40 quarters if her circumstances change, whether 125% of the federal poverty line is a gross or net measure, whether she is charged with an affirmative duty to mitigate the need for support, and whether the size of her household should include Dasha. We conclude that the superior court did not err in its interpretation of 8 U.S.C. § 1183a and that the other questions raised by Alena are waived because they were inadequately briefed. ¹¹

Based upon Alena's work history in Fairbanks, the superior court found that her earning capacity was “approximately $28,000 per year.” The court also found that she would have the capacity to earn “approximately $18,000 per year” even if she scaled back to working 30 hours per week to continue university classes in English and engineering. The court concluded that because both of these amounts are greater than 125% of the federal poverty line for a one-person household in Alaska, neither 8 U.S.C. § 1183a nor the INS Form I-864 affidavit required that Timothy pay spousal support to Alena. ¹² We agree. Existing case law supports the conclusion that a sponsor is required to pay only the difference between the sponsored non-citizen's income and the 125% of poverty threshold. ¹³ And the parties have referred us to no authority supporting the proposition that federal law requires a sponsor to pay spousal support when the sponsored non-citizen's earned income exceeds 125% of the federal poverty threshold for a household the size of the sponsored non-citizen's household. We conclude that federal law does not require Timothy to pay a spousal support award to Alena at this time. If Alena's earned income falls below 125% of the federal poverty threshold for a family of one before the occurrence of a terminating event (completion of 40 quarters of work, Alena's...