Gibson v. Bennett, 71038
| Decision Date | 10 May 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 71038,71038 |
| Parties | 15 Fla. L. Weekly S294 Oscar David GIBSON a/k/a James Clinton Parker, Petitioner, v. Patricia Gibson BENNETT, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Mark P. Kelly of Freeman & Lopez, P.A., Tampa, for petitioner.
Patricia Ann Bennett, Springfield, Va., pro se.
Joseph R. Boyd and William H. Branch of Boyd & Branch, P.A., Tallahassee, and Chriss Walker, Dept. of Health and Rehabilitative Services, Tallahassee, amicus curiae for Dept. of Health and Rehabilitative Services.
Louis F. Hubener, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, amicus curiae for Robert A. Butterworth, as Atty. Gen. of the State of Fla.
Kathy G. Chinoy of the Law Offices of Chinoy & Soud, Jacksonville, and Sally F. Goldarb, New York City, amicus curiae for NOW Legal Defense and Educ. Fund.
June K. Inuzuka, Staff Atty., Washington, D.C., amicus curiae for Women's Equity Action League.
John A. Rupp, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Richmond, Va., amicus curiae for Mary Sue Terry, as Atty. Gen. of the State of Va.
We have for review Bennett v. Gibson, 510 So.2d 1234, 1237 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987), in which the district court certified the following question of great public importance:
DO THE CIRCUIT COURTS OF THIS STATE HAVE JURISDICTION TO ENFORCE A FOREIGN JUDGMENT FOR ARREARAGES OF ALIMONY OR CHILD SUPPORT BY MEANS OF EQUITABLE REMEDIES INCLUDING CONTEMPT?
We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. We answer the certified question in the affirmative and remand to the district court.
Patricia Gibson Bennett and Oscar David Gibson were married in Virginia on December 26, 1964. On August 28, 1968, when Bennett was four months pregnant with their third child, Gibson abandoned Bennett and their two infant children.
Gibson was arrested in Virginia on January 15, 1969, after failing to make child support payments. He was ordered to pay $50.00 per week as child support beginning on January 20, 1969. After making two payments, Gibson disappeared. He was last seen by his wife in March 1969. Gibson then left Virginia and never returned. Bennett obtained a final divorce decree in Virginia on June 20, 1972, on the grounds of desertion and abandonment.
In 1985, Gibson was discovered in Pasco County, Florida, living under the name of James Clinton Parker. 1 A writ of ne exeat was issued for his arrest in Hillsborough County in January 1985. After spending two days in the county jail, the writ was vacated on the ground that there was no evidence Gibson would attempt to flee the state of Florida.
On June 6, 1985, the Virginia district court issued a rule to show cause to Gibson regarding arrearages in child support. Gibson filed an answer, but failed to appear at the July 11, 1985 hearing on the rule. The Virginia court reduced the arrearages to a final judgment in the amount of $106,073.58. The $50.00 per week child support has continued to accrue since July 11, 1985. The Virginia judgment was not appealed.
The foreign judgment was filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in Pasco County on December 23, 1985, and notice of the recording of the judgment was mailed to Gibson pursuant to section 55.505, Florida Statutes (1985). Gibson has never contested the jurisdiction of the Virginia court, nor the validity of the judgment. Bennett filed a motion seeking to enforce the judgment by invoking the equitable powers of the Pasco County circuit court on August 21, 1986. Bennett's motion was denied solely on the trial judge's ruling that he had no jurisdiction to enforce the judgment by contempt or by the exercise of any equitable powers of the Florida court.
On appeal the Second District reversed the trial court's ruling on the authority of Sackler v. Sackler, 47 So.2d 292 (Fla.1950), and its progeny and certified the question now before this Court.
As a matter of public policy, the state of Florida imposes a statutory duty upon parents to support their children. § 61.13(1)(a), Fla.Stat. (1987). This policy stems from the unique moral character of a support obligation and the stated objective that responsibility for maintenance of the family should not shift to the state. McDuffie v. McDuffie, 155 Fla. 63, 19 So.2d 511, 513 (1944). 2 When a Florida court structures a child support award, it has considered the needs of the children and has assigned the responsibility of support to the parent who is most able to provide that support. Once the court has issued a support order, it is empowered to enforce the obligation by equitable means.
Enforcement of foreign support decrees by equitable means was first mandated in Florida in McDuffie. This Court recognized that a Florida court of equity could exercise jurisdiction over a cause of action arising from a foreign decree for spousal support brought against a husband who had become a Florida citizen. To reach this result, the Court relied on the leading case of Fanchier v. Gammill, 148 Miss. 723, 114 So. 813 (1927). In Fanchier, the Supreme Court of Mississippi concluded that a suit in equity could be maintained in the state of Mississippi based on a foreign support decree. The Mississippi decision was predicated on two grounds: the public policy requiring a husband to support his wife and children and the power of enforcement by attachment and contempt proceedings inherent in judgments for support.
In Sackler, this Court went a step further and held that a nonresident wife may seek enforcement in Florida of a support decree which had been reduced to a foreign judgment by the same equitable remedies, including contempt proceedings, available to enforce a local decree. In deciding this issue, the Court noted that the question of whether equitable remedies could be used to enforce a final decree for support had been settled in McDuffie. The Sackler court acknowledged the sound public policy underlying a judgment for alimony and applied the rule of McDuffie to the facts before it.
Later, this Court reaffirmed its decision in Sackler in the case of Haas v. Haas, 59 So.2d 640 (Fla.1952). In Haas a former wife who had been awarded alimony in New York and later obtained a New York judgment for past due payments brought suit in a Florida court of equity to enforce the New York judgment. After citing the rule announced in Sackler, this Court held that a nonresident wife may seek enforcement of a money judgment based on a final decree for support either in a court of law or a court of equity. Haas, 59 So.2d at 643. Thus, it is well established in Florida that a nonresident custodial parent may seek enforcement by equitable processes of a foreign support decree or a foreign support decree that has been reduced to a money judgment. Sackler; Haas. See also Lanigan v. Lanigan, 78 So.2d 92 (Fla.1955); Grotnes v. Grotnes, 338 So.2d 1122 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976); West v. West, 301 So.2d 823 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974); Miller v. Miller, 105 So.2d 386 (Fla. 1st DCA 1958), cert. quashed, 112 So.2d 832 (Fla.1959).
Gibson contends, however, that the rule laid down in Sackler is no longer the prevailing law in Florida. Gibson's assertion is based on his view that Sackler and its progeny have been receded from in Sokolsky v. Kuhn, 405 So.2d 975 (Fla.1981), and Lamm v. Chapman, 413 So.2d 749 (Fla.1982). Gibson argues that these cases preclude the use of equitable remedies, including contempt, to enforce a support obligation once the obligation has been reduced to a money judgment. Gibson concludes that reducing a support decree to a money judgment transforms the decree to an ordinary judgment debt, enforceable only by an action at law. He points out that contempt would have been available as a remedy if Bennett had tried to enforce the support decree issued by the Virginia court. However, Gibson asserts that once Bennett obtained a money judgment, she acquired different rights accompanied by different remedies, which do not include enforcement of the judgment by contempt.
To support his contention, Gibson relies principally upon language in Lamm explaining generally the rights of parties seeking to enforce child support obligations:
We note that, although contempt may be the most generally used means of enforcing the child support obligation, it is not the only remedy available to the state or to the child's custodian. Either could obtain a judgment for an arrearage of child support. In the event that such a judgment is obtained, it constitutes a judgment debt upon which traditional enforcement remedies, including liens and levies, may be utilized. The contempt power of the court is no longer available to enforce the child support obligation for those arrearages which have been reduced to a judgment debt for which execution may issue, regardless of whether the judgment was obtained by the department or by the custodial parent.
We find Gibson's reliance on Sokolsky and Lamm to be misplaced. In Sokolsky, this Court was asked to determine whether section 61.12(1), Florida Statutes (1979), permitting garnishment of wages of the head of a household to enforce an order issued by a Florida court for child support, applies in those cases in which child support arrearages have been reduced to a final money judgment. The Court held that the provisions of section 61.12(1) do not apply to create an exception to the exemption from garnishment provided by section 222.11, Florida Statutes (1979), for the wages of a head of a family residing in Florida. The Court concluded that a money judgment for support arrearages was not the equivalent of an order "of the court of this state for alimony, suit money, or child support" within the meaning of section 61.12, and therefore no exception applied under the circumstances. Sokolsky, 405 So.2d at 977.
In Lamm, this Court held that when a custodial parent accepts public assistance money for the support of a dependent child, the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services can seek reimbursement of the payments from the support...
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