Connolly v. Connolly (In re Connolly)

• Decision Date: 09 February 2018
• Docket Number: C080256,C083238
• Citation: 20 Cal.App.5th 395,228 Cal.Rptr.3d 890
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: IN RE the MARRIAGE OF Diane and Joseph CONNOLLY. Diane Connolly, Respondent, v. Joseph Connolly, Appellant; El Dorado County Department of Child Support Services, Intervener and Respondent.

20 Cal.App.5th 395

228 Cal.Rptr.3d 890

IN RE the MARRIAGE OF Diane and Joseph CONNOLLY.Diane Connolly, Respondent,

v. Joseph Connolly, Appellant;El Dorado County Department of Child Support Services, Intervener and Respondent.

C080256

C083238

Court of Appeal, Third District, California.

Filed February 9, 2018

As Modified March 12, 2018

Certified for Partial Publication.^*

Law Office of Linda J. Conrad and Linda J. Conrad, Davis; Joseph Connolly, in pro. per., for Appellant.

Diane M. Connolly, in pro. per., for Respondent.

Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Julie Weng-Gutierrez, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Linda M. Gonzalez, Supervising Deputy Attorney General and Jennevee H. De Guzman, for Intervener and Respondent.

Duarte, J.Joseph Connolly appeals from various orders entered during his long-running dispute with his ex-wife Diane Connolly over spousal and child support arrearages.¹ Joseph challenges a 2015 order that denied his motion to terminate the jurisdiction of California courts over his support obligations and imposed interest, under California law, on a judgment of consolidated arrearages obtained in Utah. He also challenges a 2016 order that denied his motion to stay enforcement of the 2015 order. His basic contentions are that (1) California lacked jurisdiction to enter the orders because the Utah judgment on arrearages was the "controlling order" under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), and (2) by adding interest to the arrearages, California failed to grant full faith and credit to the Utah judgment, which did not include interest.

We conclude that the judgment entered in Utah was not a controlling order under UIFSA, but nonetheless conclude the trial court erred in adding California interest to this final money judgment. We reverse the portion of the 2015 order that purports to add interest to the Utah judgment and remand for further proceedings.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND²

Original California Court Orders

Joseph and Diane were married in 1988 and had two sons, born in February 1991 and November 1994. In August 2004, the marriage was dissolved and the El Dorado County Superior Court (the California court) ordered Joseph to pay Diane $400 a month in spousal support. Joseph, Diane, and the children then moved to Utah. Joseph returned to California in March 2005, where he remained until he returned to Utah in May 2010. He stayed in Utah until July 2013, at which time he returned to California.

In November 2005, the California court ordered Joseph to pay $1,610 a month in child support, commencing August 2005. The court also ordered Joseph to pay $100 a month in arrearages beginning October 2005.

In 2009, the parties stipulated to modify the support orders effective June 1. The California Court reduced Joseph's child support obligation to $1,023 a month, reflecting that the older son had reached age 18 and presumably finished high school ( Fam. Code, § 3901, subd. (a) ), and also reduced Joseph's spousal support obligation to $372 a month.

The Utah Judgment

In 2012, when all parties were living in Utah, Diane transferred support enforcement from the El Dorado County Department of Child Support Service (the Department) to the Utah Office of Recovery Services (Utah ORS). The Utah ORS sent Joseph a notice that he owed $65,704.93 in past due support. The record does not reveal how this amount was calculated or whether it included interest. In response, Joseph requested an adjudicatory hearing to review the amount of arrearages.

In December 2012, the Utah ORS issued an order and decision finding that as of November 30, 2012, Joseph owed $30,580.66 in child support arrears and $19,911.07 in spousal support arrears, for a total of $50,491.73. The order did not include interest on arrearages. Utah's policy was not to collect interest on an out-of-state support order unless the amount had been reduced to a lump sum by judicial order or judgment or the initiating state (here California) had calculated the interest and provided the Utah ORS with the specific interest amount. Diane did not request a hearing to contest the validity of the order.

In May 2013, Diane filed an order to show cause in Utah for a judgment against Joseph for $69,537.70 for child and spousal support arrearages as of April 5, 2013. In June, the Utah court found Diane had not appealed the administrative order on arrearages so the $50,491.73 order stood. After a hearing on Diane's objection in August, the Utah court found no abuse of discretion in the June determination that the administrative order should stand. The court entered judgment on that order in the amount of $50,491.73 (the Utah judgment).

Litigating the Utah Judgment in California

In October 2013, Joseph moved in the California court to terminate spousal support. This motion was not heard until the following October; in the meantime, California courts addressed various other motions by the parties, such as for contempt and sanctions. The California court reduced the amount of spousal support to zero effective October 28, 2013, but found it "inappropriate" to disturb the Utah judgment on spousal support arrearages.

In 2014, the Utah ORS terminated its child support services and the Department reopened its child support case. In June 2014, the California court issued an income withholding order of $535 a month against Joseph's Coast Guard pension.³ In August, this order was amended to increase the withholding to $1,007 a month.

Diane applied to determine spousal support arrearages and asked that interest be "reattached" to the Utah judgment. In February 2015, Joseph moved to terminate California's jurisdiction over his support obligations. He argued "Utah has the most appropriate responsibility for what is left, which is to enforce that state's 2013 judgment of support arrearages [the Utah judgment]."

2015 Order on Appeal

The California court held a hearing on June 10, 2015. Because the parties had filed multiple motions raising the same issues multiple times, the court asked the parties why they were in court and addressed only the issues they identified then even if those issues were not the same as those in the written motions. The court determined the hearing was to address whether to (1) continue the withholding order, (2) add interest to the Utah judgment, and (3) terminate California's jurisdiction. The court noted that the Utah judgment could not be modified by a California court, but found the "more troubling question" was whether Utah allowed interest to accrue. It concluded the answer was irrelevant because the California Constitution allowed for 10 percent interest on judgments of support arrearages. The court reasoned the Utah judgment was based on a California judgment (the original support order) and the Utah court had no power to set aside the California Constitution. The court determined the Utah judgment was not an out-of-state judgment, but instead was a California judgment merely "clarified" by the Utah court.

The California court modified the income withholding order from $1,007 to $600 a month. It denied Joseph's motion for termination of child and spousal support jurisdiction. It found "that child and spousal support arrears were adjudicated by Utah on December 27, 2012, and entered as a judgment against [Joseph] by the Utah District Court on August 30, 2013 in the amount of $50,491.73," and "that Utah's judgment is subject to California's statutory interest rate on arrears."

Joseph appeals from this order (the 2015 order) in case No. C080256.

2016 Order on Appeal

On January 25, 2016, Joseph contested enforcement of the support arrearages, again arguing that the California court could not modify the Utah judgment to add interest. Joseph declared that the Department had issued an audit of $22,347.93 in past-due child support and $21,582.52 in interest pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 685.010. The audit (which is not in the record) cited the case number of the Utah judgment.

In response, Diane requested the matter be dismissed with prejudice, arguing the court had already ruled upon all contested issues. The motion was eventually heard May 26, 2016. The California court denied Joseph's motion contesting enforcement of the support arrearages with prejudice. On August 17, 2106, the court found no issues for trial and denied a stay of enforcement.

Joseph appeals from the resulting order (the 2016 order) in case No. C083238.

DISCUSSION

I

Jurisdiction under UIFSA

Joseph contends the California courts had no jurisdiction over the support orders pursuant to the provisions of UIFSA, and therefore both the 2015 and 2016 orders were invalid.

UIFSA "governs, inter alia, the procedures for establishing, enforcing and modifying child support orders in cases in which more than one state is involved." ( In re Marriage of Crosby & Grooms (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 201, 206, 10 Cal.Rptr.3d 146 ( Crosby ).) The goal of UIFSA is to ensure that " ‘only one valid support order may be effective at any one time’ [citation], even though the parties and their children may move from state to state." ( In re Marriage of Amezquita & Archuleta (2002) 101 Cal.App.4th 1415, 1420, 124 Cal.Rptr.2d 887.) " ‘[T]he central jurisdictional feature of UIFSA is the concept of continuing, exclusive jurisdiction. Under UIFSA, a court that makes a valid child support order retains exclusive jurisdiction to modify the order as long as the requirements for continuing, exclusive jurisdiction remain fulfilled. The court of another state may enforce a child support order registered in that state, but may not modify it unless the decree state has lost its continuing, exclusive jurisdiction.’ [Citations.]" ( Knabe v. Brister (2007) 154 Cal.App.4th 1316, 1319, 65 Cal.Rptr.3d 493 ( Knabe ).)

Although all 50 states have adopted UIFSA ( Crosby, supra , 116 Cal.App.4th at p. 206, 10 Cal.Rptr.3d 146 ), California and Utah adopted different versions at various times. In California, the Legislature adopted...