Gallup v. Gallup
Decision Date | 06 April 1994 |
Docket Number | No. 18788,18788 |
Citation | 873 S.W.2d 336 |
Parties | Karla GALLUP, Petitioner-Appellant, v. John Orville GALLUP, Defendant-Respondent. |
Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Elizabeth Preston-Roberts, Jefferson City, for petitioner-appellant.
No appearance for defendant-respondent.
This is a proceeding under The Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Law ["URESA"] §§ 454.010 to 454.360. 1 In March 1991, plaintiff Karla Gallup filed, in the Circuit Court of Dent County, a "Uniform Support Petition" against defendant John Gallup. The petition was accompanied by a certificate and order issued by the Circuit Court of LaSalle County, Illinois, and sent to the Missouri court for enforcement. The petition, which was earlier filed in the Illinois court, asked for reimbursement of $6,070 for "AFDC paid out by the State of Illinois for the support of Tonya Sue Gallup, born May 16, 1975." The petition also requested a reasonable amount for "ongoing" child support.
Defendant, who was personally served in Dent County, filed a motion to dismiss, which the trial court sustained. Plaintiff appeals. Respondent makes no appearance in this court.
In 1976, the marriage of the parties was dissolved by a decree of divorce entered in the Circuit Court of LaSalle County, Illinois. Plaintiff was awarded full custody of Tonya, subject to reasonable rights of visitation in defendant. The Illinois decree recited: "The question of child support shall be reserved until further order of this court."
The Missouri court, in its order of dismissal, found:
Plaintiff, in her excellent brief, contends that the trial court erred in entering the order of dismissal because: (a) "Under URESA, personal and subject matter jurisdiction were proper in the Circuit Court of Dent County, Missouri where the enforcement action was sought"; and (b) "URESA applies whenever a duty of support imposed or imposable by law is found with or without a previous order of support." These contentions are sound.
"Jurisdiction of all proceedings hereunder is vested in the circuit court." § 454.100. "Any circuit court of this state has jurisdiction in proceedings to enforce support, regardless of whether that particular court issued the original divorce decree." Spangler v. Spangler, 831 S.W.2d 256, 260 (Mo.App.1992).
" 'Duty of support' includes any duty of support imposed or imposable by law, or by any court order, decree or judgment, whether interlocutory or final, whether incidental to a proceeding for divorce, legal separation, separate maintenance or otherwise, and includes the duty to pay arrearages of support payments which are past due and unpaid." § 454.020(3). (Emphasis added.) "Clearly the Missouri URESA authorizes the Missouri court to find a duty of support which may be any duty of support imposed or imposable by law." State of Iowa ex rel. Nauman v. Troutman, 623 S.W.2d 269, 271 (Mo.App.1981).
A defendant in a URESA action can be required to pay child support in an amount greater or less than the amount required by the decree in a prior dissolution action. State ex rel. Osborne v. Goeke, 806 S.W.2d 670, 672 (Mo. banc 1991); Paul v. Paul, 439 S.W.2d 746, 750 (Mo. banc 1969); Consiglio v. Dept. of Social Services, 863 S.W.2d 665, 667 (Mo.App.1993); Hodgins v. Hodgins, 814 S.W.2d 710, 711 (Mo.App.1991); Loveland v. Henry, 700 S.W.2d 846, 850 (Mo.App.1985); Olson v. Olson, 534 S.W.2d 526, 529 (Mo.App.1976). Such a variation from the underlying order of support does not alter the underlying order. Osborne, at 672; Hodgins, at 711. "No order of support issued by a court of this state when acting as a responding state shall supersede any other order of support but the amounts for a particular period paid pursuant to either order shall be credited against amounts accruing or accrued for the same period under both." § 454.280.
The ruling of the trial court is inconsistent with principles enunciated in Paul and Olson. In Paul, the parties were divorced in 1965 under a decree of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri. The mother was awarded custody of the children, and the father was ordered to pay child support of $11.25 per week per child. The mother and children moved to Arizona. When the father became delinquent in child support payments, the mother filed a URESA complaint in Arizona. The Arizona court found that the father owed a duty to support and that the mother had complied with URESA. The URESA documents were then forwarded to the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, for further proceedings. The Missouri court sustained the father's motion to dismiss on the theory that it continued to have exclusive jurisdiction in the divorce action as to matters of child support.
The supreme court held that the Circuit Court of Jackson County had jurisdiction in the URESA proceeding and that the trial court's order of dismissal was erroneous.
At 749 the court said:
(Emphasis added.)
Also at 749 the court said:
At 750 the court said:
(Emphasis added.)
In Olson, the marriage of Victoria and Richard was dissolved by a California decree, entered in 1970, which required Richard to pay $50 per month as child support for each of two children. Victoria moved to Virginia and instituted a URESA action there. Richard was then a resident of Missouri, and URESA proceedings were instituted in Missouri based on personal service. Richard was not delinquent in making the payments required by the California decree. In the URESA action, Victoria sought child support in an amount greater than the amount awarded in the divorce action. In 1974 the Missouri trial court entered a judgment requiring Richard to pay child support...
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State, Secretary of Social Rehabilitation Services v. Briggs
...in the circuit court of Harrison County, Missouri, where the enforcement action was sought. § 454.100, RSMo 1994; Gallup v. Gallup, 873 S.W.2d 336, 337 (Mo.App.1994). Once the petition was received by the Harrison County court, acting as the responding state, it was required to docket the c......