GAVALA v. Classen, 02-059.
| Citation | 819 A.2d 760 |
| Case Date | February 14, 2003 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Vermont |
819 A.2d 760
Artemie GAVALAv.
Mary B. CLAASSEN
No. 02-059.
Supreme Court of Vermont.
February 14, 2003.
ENTRY ORDER
¶ 1. Father, who is seeking modification of a Massachusetts order in Vermont family court based on mother's residence in Vermont and his claim that he is no longer living in Massachusetts, appeals decisions of the magistrate and the family court setting aside an earlier order and dismissing his modification petition. We affirm.
¶ 2. The parties were divorced under a 1988 Massachusetts order. Mother moved to Vermont with the parties' minor daughter in 1993. In September 1999, father filed a motion in the Windsor Family Court to register and modify the February 1999 Massachusetts order setting father's child support obligation at $300 per week. In February 2000, following several days of hearings, the magistrate registered the Massachusetts order in Vermont based on evidence presented by father indicating that he was a Pennsylvania resident. In June 2000, the Office of Child Support (OCS) filed a motion to reopen the registration of the Massachusetts order and to dismiss father's modification petition. The magistrate denied the motion in an August 9, 2000 decision following a July 14 hearing.
¶ 3. In October 2000, OCS filed a renewed motion to reopen, citing newly discovered evidence indicating that no certificate of occupancy had been issued for the house at the address claimed by father as his Pennsylvania residence. On December 1, 2000, one week before the scheduled hearing on the motion to reopen, OCS moved to permit a Pennsylvania planning commissioner to testify by telephone as to what he found when he recently inspected the house father was claiming as his residence. The magistrate granted the motion on the day of the hearing, and the planning commissioner testified that the house in question was under construction and unoccupied. On cross-examination, the
¶ 4. On appeal to this Court, father argues that (1) the planning commissioner's speculative testimony was insufficient for the magistrate to find fraud by clear and convincing evidence; and (2) the family court was compelled by...
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