Bryan v. Leach

• Court: Tennessee Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: Patricia J. Cottrell, J.
• Citation: Bryan v. Leach, 85 S.W.3d 136 (Tenn. App. 2001)
• Decision Date: 05 June 2001
• Parties: Julia Sledge Leach BRYAN v. James Wendell LEACH.

Page 136

85 S.W.3d 136

Julia Sledge Leach BRYAN v. James Wendell LEACH.

Court of Appeals of Tennessee, Middle Section, at Nashville.

June 5, 2001.

Rehearing Denied July 5, 2001.

Permission to Appeal Denied by Supreme Court December 17, 2001.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Wm. Kennerly Burger, Murfreesboro, TN, Gregory D. Smith, Nashville, TN, for appellant, James Wendell Leach.

James DuBois, Columbia, TN, John A. Day, Nashville, TN, for appellee, Julia Sledge Leach Bryan.

OPINION

PATRICIA J. COTTRELL, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which BEN H. CANTRELL, P.J., M.S., and WILLIAM C. KOCH, JR., J., joined.

This case involves post-divorce disputes over alimony and child support and issues of contempt of court. The father commenced this appeal after the trial court declined to modify or terminate his alimony obligation and awarded the mother more than $50,000 in child support arrearages and, later, found the father in contempt of court and ordered him to pay a fine of $100 per day until all judgments were paid to the mother. On appeal, the father argues that his alimony obligation should have terminated or decreased, that a portion of his child support payments should be placed in trust for the benefit of the children, and that the trial court erred by fining him for contempt. We affirm the trial court's orders but modify the fine imposed upon the father.

James Wendell Leach ("Father") and Julia Sledge Leach Bryan ("Mother") married in 1980, shortly after Father began his medical practice in Columbia. The parties divorced in 1992 after twelve years of marriage; they have three children.¹ Father is an obstetrician/gynecologist who earns in excess of $400,000 annually. At the time of the marriage, Mother held a nursing degree from Vanderbilt University. Since then, she has maintained and enhanced her skills.

At the time of their divorce, the parties entered into a detailed Marital Dissolution Agreement ("MDA"). Under the agreement, Mother was given custody of the children, and Father had reasonable visitation. Father agreed to pay $1,750 per week in child support "until each child is 22 years of age provided they are enrolled annually in and attending college full-time." Father also agreed to pay private school tuition and to pay "college expenses, including room, boarding, tuition, books and supplies, and other expenses related to college until each such child graduates from college." Further, Father agreed, "As each child reaches the age of 16, [to] provide an automobile for such child and [to] be responsible for all expenses related to the use and maintenance of same ... until the youngest child reaches the age of 22."

Mother received the marital home and its contents and Father agreed to pay:

as additional child support until the youngest child reaches the age of 22 all expenses related to maintaining, repairing and/or replacing all improvements located therein and thereon (including appliances, machines and equipment), and all other expenses related to the residence, yard, swimming pool and other improvements. The necessity for said expenses shall be determined by [Mother] in her sole and absolute discretion.

Mother also received her car and van and, as "additional child support," Father agreed to pay for "all gas, oil, insurance, maintenance, repairs, replacement of tires, batteries and other accessories, and/or other debts thereon, including lease payments" and "[a]t the expiration of the lease on the 1990 Lexus, ... [to] provide [Mother] with a similar automobile by purchase or lease and [to] continue to do so every three (3) years until the youngest child reaches the age of 22."

In addition, Father agreed to pay health insurance for Mother and the children until the youngest child reached the age of 22 and to pay for any of their medical expenses not covered by insurance. He also agreed to "irrevocably designate [Mother] as the sole beneficiary" of his life insurance policy and to "remain liable for the payment of all premiums on same, if any." Father agreed to pay for a term life insurance policy for Mother until the youngest child reached the age of 22.

Mother received her Individual Retirement Account and Keogh Plan and $332,807.50 from an investment portfolio. Additionally, Father agreed to pay Mother "rehabilitative alimony in the amount of $5,569.00 per month ... for a period of twenty (20) years." He further agreed, "Such amount shall not be subject to modification or termination."

In exchange for all the provisions listed above, Father retained, among other things, his Individual Retirement Account and Keogh Plan, the commercial real property which housed his office, and his medical practice, including "any cash, checking accounts, furniture, fixtures, equipment, machinery, supplies, Columbia Diagnostic Associates, Physicians Equipment Partners, Ltd, and accounts receivable." Each of those items was retained in its entirety, free from any claims by Mother.

The MDA also contained the following provisions:

Should there be any obligation, alimony, child support or other, due in the future, after the death of [Father], the children and [Mother] shall have a claim against the estate of [Father] for monies due in the future under this agreement.

* * *

In the event of a breach of this agreement by either party, the party breaching said agreement agrees to pay all expenses of the nonbreaching party, including reasonable attorney's fees.

The agreement was incorporated into the divorce decree issued on January 27, 1992. The parties later agreed to modify the MDA, and in June 1996 the court approved a consent order reflecting, among other things, the parties' agreement that Father be released from certain responsibilities required under the initial Marital Dissolution Agreement, including the purchase or lease of a new vehicle for Mother every three years and the maintenance of the home and vehicle. The parties also agreed to divide certain medical expenses for the children, and Father remained liable for only half of Mother's medical expenses not covered by insurance. In exchange for these modifications, Father agreed to pay Mother an additional $300 per week in child support, making his obligation $2,050 per week.

In October 1996, the trial court issued a consent order to change custody because the oldest child had chosen to live with Father. The order vested Father with primary physical custody of the couple's daughter. In conjunction with that change, the parties agreed that Father's "weekly child support obligation shall be reduced ... from $2,050 per week to $1,355 per week, which amount takes into account [Father's] obligation to support the parties' other two minor children in the amount of $1,600 per week and [Mother's] obligation to support [the older daughter] in the amount of $245 per week. When [the older daughter] reaches the age of 18, and has graduated from high school, [Father's] support obligation shall be readjusted to reflect that he is no longer entitled to an offset for [her] support."

The daughter returned to Mother's home to live in February of 1997, but Father continued to pay the reduced support amount. On March 7, 1997, Mother filed a petition for change of custody and increase in child support after the daughter decided to resume living with her. Two months later, Father filed a petition for termination of alimony based on Mother's remarriage in April 1997. He also argued that his obligation to pay alimony should cease because Mother's financial situation had improved due to his payments to her, while his earnings had decreased.²

Father had remarried in March 1993 to a woman with two minor children, and in 1996 Father and his family had moved into a larger, more expensive house. Mother remarried in April 1997, to a certified flight instructor, who earned approximately $14,000 annually.

At the May 1998 hearing, Father testified that he had greater expenses, including spending over $22,000 per month on his new household and the larger house. He testified that he owned $620,000 in real estate and his personal property was worth approximately $150,000. He also testified that he had to work more hours in order to maintain his level of income due to changes in medical practice in the area. Testimony at the hearing also revealed that Mother's estate had increased dramatically with the rise of the stock market. Her net worth was over one million dollars and she had paid off the mortgage on the family home. Mother testified that from the divorce to the time of trial, she had filed four contempt petitions based on Father's failure to pay his obligations under their agreement.

In its order, the trial court found that Mother's remarriage did not affect her alimony and that Father had failed to prove any material change of circumstance warranting a modification or reduction of alimony. The court further found that Father had failed to prove a material change in circumstance warranting a change in child support and ordered him to resume weekly payments of $2,050, later assessing arrearages of $46,200 for the time after the older daughter returned to Mother's custody.

The court also found Mother's contempt petition to be "well taken insofar as [Father] has failed to pay or reimburse [Mother] for medical and educational expenses previously ordered by this Court." However, it declined to find Father in "willful contempt" or to impose a penalty, instead awarding Mother a judgment for $5,581.92 for the accumulated arrearages. Mother later filed another petition for nonpayment of child support and for expenses unpaid since the court's last order and for Father's failure to pay the amounts previously ordered. Father requested that a portion of the child support payments be placed in trust for the children's future needs.

In its order following the hearing on contempt, the trial court found Father in willful contempt for failure to pay...