Hollis v. Baker, 2011–CA–00799–COA.
| Decision Date | 12 February 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. 2011–CA–00799–COA.,2011–CA–00799–COA. |
| Citation | 107 So.3d 1060 |
| Parties | Steve E. HOLLIS, Appellant/ Cross–Appellee, v. Myra Hollis BAKER, Appellee/Cross–Appellant. |
| Court | Mississippi Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Mark G. Williamson, Starkville, attorney for appellant.
Joseph N. Studdard, Columbus, attorney for appellee.
EN BANC.
ROBERTS, J., for the Court:
¶ 1. This appeal requires this Court to address whether a provision in a property-settlement agreement is alimony subject to termination upon the remarriage of the alimony recipient. Steve Hollis and Myra Hollis Baker were granted a divorce on April 17, 2003, on the ground of adultery. Hollis and Baker entered into a written agreement disposing of the issues of child custody, child support, alimony, and division of property. This agreement was approved by the Oktibbeha County Chancery Court as adequate and sufficient, and it was incorporated into the divorce decree. The agreement required Hollis to pay $500 per month in child support and $500 per month in alimony to Baker. The chancery court later reduced the alimony amount from $500 to $350 on July 17, 2006, based upon a material change in circumstances. Then, on December 7, 2010, Hollis filed a petition to terminate child support and alimony because Baker had remarried in April 2010 and their daughter had reached the age of twenty-four. The chancery court denied Hollis's request to terminate alimony because the provision in the parties' agreement did not specifically state that the alimony obligation terminated upon Baker's remarriage. Hollis filed a motion for reconsideration and Baker filed a cross-motion for reconsideration. The chancery court denied both motions. Aggrieved by the chancery court's decision, Hollis executed the current appeal. Baker cross-appealed.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 2. Hollis and Baker were married on August 24, 1973. Together, they had one daughter named Stephanie Holly Hollis (Holly) born in May 1985. On November 7, 2002, Baker filed a complaint for divorce from Hollis on the ground of adultery. Hollis answered Baker's complaint and filed a cross-complaint for divorce on the ground of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment or, in the alternative, irreconcilable differences.
¶ 3. On April 17, 2003, the chancery court entered a final decree of divorce granting Baker a divorce from Hollis on the ground of adultery. The chancery court approved and incorporated the parties' proposed written agreement disposing of child custody, child support, alimony, and property division into the final decree. The agreement gave full physical and legal custody of Holly to Baker, with Hollis receiving reasonable visitation rights. Hollis was ordered to pay $500 per month in child support and to pay for Holly's health insurance. Both obligations terminated when Holly finished college, turned twenty-four, or was otherwise emancipated, whichever occurred first. He was also ordered to pay Baker's health insurance “until she remarrie[d].” Baker was required to pay Holly's college tuition while she was a freshman and sophomore, with Hollis responsible for her remaining college years. In regard to alimony, the agreement stated that Hollis would pay Baker $500 per month in alimony. He would be required to “increase alimony to $1,000 ... per month beginning the month after child support ceases, to continue for the life of [Baker].” If Baker died, Hollis would be required to pay “these $1,000 per month payments ... to the minor child” until his death. Hollis was also ordered to establish a trust for Holly and to fund the trust with $25,000 from the sale of his father's property. In addition, Hollis was to pay Baker $25,000 from the sale of his father's property. The parties' marital property, such as cars, retirement accounts, and personal belongings, was also distributed by the agreement.
¶ 4. Hollis filed a petition for modification on October 21, 2005, requesting that he no longer pay Baker alimony, provide her health insurance, or pay for Holly's college tuition. His petition claimed that he was unable to afford the payments because there was a “substantial decrease in his income which has hampered his ability to pay his financial obligations;” therefore, his income had significantly decreased. On July 17, 2006, the chancery court made a judicial determination that these monthly spousal support payments were alimony and reduced Hollis's monthly alimony payment from $500 to $350, but denied his remaining requests. Baker did not appeal this judgment modifying alimony. The chancery court also found in this July 17, 2006 decree that Hollis owed Baker $6,082 for past due medical bills and that he had failed to establish a $25,000 trust for Holly. Hollis was found in contempt for failing to establish the trust. Hollis filed bankruptcy on July 26, 2006, and was discharged on November 29, 2006.
¶ 5. Hollis again failed to fulfill his obligation to pay Baker $6,082 in medical bills, $5,292 in health-insurance payments, $1,201.14 and $1,280.19 in other medical expenses, $1,200 in attorney's fees, and $25,000 for Holly's trust. Baker filed a petition to find Hollis in contempt. Hollis contended that his filing of bankruptcy discharged those debts; however, the chancery court disagreed and, on May 21, 2007, found Hollis was required to pay Baker the above amounts plus $750 in attorney's fees. Holly also received a judgment against Hollis for the $25,000 owed to her trust.
¶ 6. On December 7, 2010, Hollis filed a petition to terminate child support and alimony. Holly had turned twenty-four years old on May 28, 2009, and Baker had married Stan Baker in April 2010. According to his petition, Hollis claimed that the child-support payments were still being automatically deducted from his paycheck even though Holly had reached the age of twenty-four the year before. He requested the chancery court enter an order terminating his child-support obligation and that he receive a credit of $9,000 for his overpayment. The credit would be used against the balance of what he owed to Baker from the May 21, 2007 judgment of $15,805.33. He also requested the chancery court approve an arrangement that he pay Baker $250 per month until the remainder of the judgment against him was paid off. Lastly, he requested that his alimony obligations be terminated since Baker had remarried and no longer required spousal support from him. Baker filed a counterclaim requesting the chancery court find Hollis in contempt for his failure to comply with the May 21, 2007 judgment.
¶ 7. The chancery court issued its order on April 11, 2011. Hollis was given credit for $5,500 in child-support payments and $2,500 in payments he had made toward the judgment. Hollis was left with a balance of $7,805.33 plus interest. The chancery court terminated his obligations to pay child support but not his obligation to pay Baker alimony. As for Hollis's alimony payments, the chancery court found that Hollis should continue paying $850 in alimony because he and Baker had intended for the alimony to be extended beyond possible remarriage by stating in their agreement that the payments would last until Baker's death. Hollis was found in contempt for his failure to pay alimony and other expenses; therefore, he was also required to pay Baker $1,500 in attorney's fees, to be paid within sixty days of the order.
¶ 8. Both Hollis and Baker filed motions for reconsideration. Hollis sought reconsideration on the issue of alimony; Baker sought reconsideration on the issue of the amount owed to her under the judgment. She alleged that Hollis owed her $13,305.33 and not $7,805.33 because he should not have received credit for child-support payments. The chancery court denied both motions on May 17, 2011. Hollis executed his notice of appeal on June 6, 2011, and Baker executed her notice of cross-appeal on June 17, 2011.
¶ 9. On appeal, Hollis raises the following issue: “[Whether the chancery court] erred in concluding that [Hollis] had an obligation of support to his former wife, [Baker], through periodic alimony payments after the time that she had remarried to another husband.” Baker's issue on cross-appeal is whether the chancery court erred in calculating the past-due payments owed to her.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶ 10. A chancery court's final judgment receives much deference on review from an appellate court. Holley v. Holley, 892 So.2d 183, 184 (¶ 6) (Miss.2004). “This Court will not disturb the findings of a chancellor when supported by substantial evidence unless the chancellor abused his discretion, was manifestly wrong, [was] clearly erroneous[,] or [applied] an erroneous legal standard[.]” Sanderson v. Sanderson, 824 So.2d 623, 625–26 (¶ 8) (Miss.2002) (quoting Kilpatrick v. Kilpatrick, 732 So.2d 876, 880 (¶ 13) (Miss.1999)).
ANALYSIS
¶ 11. Over fifteen years ago, the Mississippi Supreme Court urged parties, attorneys, and judges to carefully draft property-settlement agreements to avoid future confusion and litigation over ambiguously drafted provisions. McDonald v. McDonald, 683 So.2d 929, 932–33 (Miss.1996). In McDonald, the supreme court stated:
[The] freedom to contract is not absolute, however, and parties and judges should be mindful of the traditional characteristics of lump[-]sum and periodic alimony in drafting their agreements and decrees for alimony payments. When possible, it would be advisable for parties and judges to pattern their alimony agreements and decrees for non-modifiable lump[-]sum alimony according to established precedent of this Court.
Id. at 932. The case before us is illustrative of the need for clear and careful drafting of property-settlement agreement provisions, particularly as these provisions relate to periodic monthly payments being considered by the parties as alimony or as a contractual division of marital property.
¶ 12. Hollis's sole issue on appeal involves the chancery court's finding that the provision in the agreement regarding...
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