Hall v. Hall
Decision Date | 13 June 2008 |
Docket Number | 2070063. |
Citation | 998 So.2d 1072 |
Parties | Susan D. HALL v. Malcolm J. HALL. |
Court | Alabama Court of Civil Appeals |
Susan Berman Norris, Wetumpka, for appellant.
Submitted on appellant's brief only.
On January 13, 2003, the Montgomery Circuit Court entered a judgment divorcing Susan D. Hall ("the mother") and Malcolm J. Hall ("the father"). The divorce judgment incorporated a settlement agreement that provided, among other things, that the father would pay $300 monthly as child support directly to the mother; that the medical expenses of the parties' child would be divided equally between the parties; that the father would maintain a life insurance policy on his life, with the child named as the beneficiary; and that, "[i]f either party violates any provision of this Agreement[, he or she] shall, upon a judicial determination of such violation, be responsible for payment of all costs, expenses and attorney fees incurred in connection with the enforcement hereof." The trial court also incorporated a child-support withholding order setting the father's child-support obligation at $280 per month. There is no explanation for the discrepancy between the child-support provision in the settlement agreement and the child-support withholding order.1
On September 27, 2006, the mother filed a petition requesting that the father be required to show cause why he should not be held in contempt for his alleged failure to pay child support, his alleged failure to pay his portion of the child's medical expenses, and his alleged failure to provide evidence of a life insurance policy naming the child as beneficiary. On October 4, 2006, the trial court set the mother's petition for a hearing on February 7, 2007. On February 5, 2007, the father moved for a continuance of the hearing, which was granted by the trial court on February 6, 2007; the trial court reset the hearing for March 19, 2007. On February 7, 2007, the mother filed an objection to the continuance. The trial court tried this case on March 19, 2007, and April 4, 2007.
On May 15, 2007, the trial court entered a judgment stating:
On June 12, 2007, the mother filed a motion to alter, amend, or vacate the trial court's May 15, 2007, judgment. On July 12, 2007, the trial court set a hearing on the mother's motion for August 13, 2007. On July 17, 2007, the father filed a response to the mother's postjudgment motion; that same day he filed a motion to continue the hearing on that motion. On August 8, 2007, the trial court granted the father's motion to continue and reset the hearing for August 20, 2007. The trial court held a hearing on August 20, 2007. The mother's motion was subsequently denied by operation of law on September 10, 2007. The mother timely appealed.
The mother testified that the father had deposited his child-support payments into a checking account at Regions Bank ("the checking account"). The father agreed that "[a] lot of times" he had deposited his child-support payments into the checking account. The mother initially testified that the account had been set up solely for the father to deposit his child-support payments; however, she later testified that she had had to deposit funds into the account to keep the account open. She also later stated that "some" of the deposits to the account had been made by her.
At the first hearing, on March 19, 2007, the mother testified that in December 2005 the father was already in arrears and that the father had not paid any child support since that month. The mother testified that the father's arrearage totaled $5,405 as of August 31, 2006; however, it is unclear whether the mother used the $300 or the $280 figure to calculate that arrearage. The father admitted that he had not paid any child support between December 2005 and August 2006. At the second hearing, on April 4, 2007, the parties agreed that the father had paid only $280 between the first and second hearings. At the second hearing, the mother introduced documents in which she had recorded the amount of child support that the father had paid in 2001, 2003, 2004, and January through July 2005. The mother entered into evidence all the bank statements from the checking account dating back to 2001 except the statements from the following months: June through August 2001; August 2002; February, May, and July 2006; and January through April 2007.
At the second hearing, the father entered into evidence an exhibit showing his current wife's estimation of the amount of child support that the father had paid...
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Khera v. Sameer (In re Khera)
......(E.g., Hall v . Hall (Ala.App.Ct. 2008) 998 So.2d 1072, 1076 [party alleging a child support arrearage exists has the burden of establishing the existence and ......
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Khera v. Sameer (In re Khera)
...obligations].) Other states assign the burden to the custodial parent receiving the child support payments. (E.g., Hall v. Hall (Ala.App.Ct. 2008) 998 So.2d 1072, 1076 [party alleging a child support arrearage exists has the burden of establishing the existence and amount of arrearage].) In......
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