In re Pitts
| Decision Date | 30 April 2001 |
| Docket Number | Bankruptcy No. 00-20448,Adversary No. 00-2041. |
| Citation | 262 BR 482 |
| Parties | In re Eddie Jo PITTS, Susan Renee Pitts, Debtors. Eddie Jo Pitts, Plaintiff, v. State of Missouri, Division of Child Support Enforcement, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Western District of Missouri |
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Noel Magee, Columbia, MO, for debtor.
Steven Kuntz, Jefferson City, MO, for defendant.
Jack E. Brown, Columbia, MO, Chapter 7 Trustee.
This matter is before the Court on the adversary complaint filed by the debtor/plaintiff, Eddie Jo Pitts, requesting that this Court declare dischargeable a judgment debt owed by Eddie Jo Pitts to the State of Missouri, Division of Family Services in the amount of $8752.00. For the following reasons, the Court will deny the relief sought in the complaint.
On April 14, 2000, Eddie Jo Pitts and Susan Renee Pitts filed a voluntary petition for rehabilitation under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code. Thereafter, on July 14, 2000, the case was converted to a Chapter 7. The State of Missouri, Division of Child Support Enforcement ("DCSE") filed a proof of claim alleging an unsecured priority child support debt in the amount of $8752.00 based upon a judgment entered in favor of the State of Missouri, Division of Family Services against Eddie Jo Pitts on November 13, 1998, by the Circuit Court of Saline County, Missouri in Case Number CV496-148. On October 23, 2000, Eddie Jo Pitts filed this adversary complaint contending this judgment debt should be discharged on the grounds that no exceptions to discharge applied. The DCSE filed its answer asserting nondischargeability under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(5)(A).
The trial in this matter was held on December 20, 2000. The parties stipulated to the admission of four exhibits, which was the only evidence offered by the parties in support of their respective positions whether the judgment debt was nondischargeable under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(5)(A), as well as whether the debt was nondischargeable under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(18). Three exhibits were actually admitted into evidence on December 20th. Those were a copy of the November 13, 1998 judgment entered by the Circuit Court of Saline County, Missouri ("Judgment"); a copy of the Support Calculation Summary prepared by the Division of Family Services for use in the Saline County, Missouri cause of action, which reflected a debt owing to the Division of Family Services in the amount of $8752.00 as of September 2, 1998 ("Support Calculation"); and a copy of the Petition for Declaration of Paternity, Order of Support and Custody, Medical Insurance, and Reimbursement of State Debt ("Paternity Petition") filed in Case Number CV496-148 on July 11, 1996. The fourth exhibit, Exhibit 4, which the parties had originally agreed was admissible, was a purported assignment of support rights executed by Shawne Lynn Oliver in favor of the Division of Family Services. However, a court order was required before the Division of Family Services would provide this exhibit to the DCSE. The Court entered the required order and was subsequently notified by the DCSE that the Division of Family Services had produced the exhibit, but that counsel for Pitts now objected to its admission contending that it did not constitute a sufficient assignment of support rights to the Division of Family Services. On February 15, 2001, the Court held a hearing on the admissibility of Exhibit 4, and took the matter under advisement with the remainder of the case. The Court also established a generous briefing schedule for the parties, and requested that the parties address the issue of the admissibility of Exhibit 4 in addition to the question of nondischargeability of the judgment debt. The final brief was filed on March 26, 2001.
The relevant facts culminating in the entry of the $8752.00 judgment debt against Eddie Jo Pitts in favor of the Division of Family Services are set out in the Paternity Petition, Support Calculation and Judgment. Shawne Lynn Oliver1 and Eddie Jo Pitts are the parents of a child, Jacob Ray Oliver, born out of wedlock on January 9, 1991. From July of 1994 until July of 1998, Shawne Lynn Oliver received aid in the form of cash payments designated as Aid to Families with Dependent Children ("AFDC") from the State of Missouri, Division of Family Services in the total amount of $8752.00. As a condition to receiving AFDC payments, Shawne Lynn Oliver was required to assign to the Division of Family Services any rights to receive child support from another person. See Mo.Rev.Stat. § 208.040.2.(2) (1996). On July 11, 1996, the State of Missouri, ex relatione, Division of Family Services; Jacob Ray Oliver, by his next friend Shawne Lynn Oliver; and Shawne Lynn Oliver filed the Paternity Petition requesting that the Saline County Circuit Court declare Eddie Jo Pitts the father of Jacob Ray Oliver; order Eddie Jo Pitts to pay reasonable child support retroactive to the date of the filing of the Paternity Petition; order Eddie Jo Pitts to maintain medical insurance on Jacob Ray Oliver and pay for medical expenses for the child not covered by insurance; order Eddie Jo Pitts to reimburse Shawne Lynn Oliver for past support provided for Jacob Ray Oliver; place custody of Jacob Ray Oliver with Shawne Lynn Oliver, subject to rights of reasonable visitation by Eddie Jo Pitts; order the Division of Health to issue a new birth certificate reflecting Eddie Jo Pitts as the father of Jacob Ray Oliver; and order Eddie Jo Pitts to reimburse the State of Missouri, Division of Family Services for the amount of AFDC payments made to Shawne Lynn Oliver as of the date of judgment, alleging the payments provided the necessaries of life to Jacob Ray Oliver. The State of Missouri, Division of Family Services specifically alleged in the Paternity Petition that:
Petitioner, State of Missouri, has at all times, since the birth of said minor child or for a period of 60 months prior to the date of filing hereof, whichever last occurred, expected to be reimbursed for support provided to said minor child, and Petitioner, Shawne L. Oliver, has made an assignment of rights and/or has given authority to the State of Missouri to collect support for said minor child.
In the Judgment, the Saline County Circuit Court, in relevant part, found that Eddie Jo Pitts was the father of Jacob Ray Oliver; ordered Eddie Jo Pitts to pay child support in the amount of $300.00 per month beginning October 15, 1998, and ordered same to be paid to the Clerk of the Saline County Circuit Court; found that the State of Missouri, Division of Family Services had paid $8752.00 for necessaries for Jacob Ray Oliver and granted a judgment against Eddie Jo Pitts for that amount; ordered Eddie Jo Pitts to pay an additional sum of $75.00 per month beginning October 15, 1998, to the Clerk of the Saline County Circuit Court to be applied to the judgment awarded the State of Missouri, Division of Family Services until said judgment was paid in full; and awarded joint custody of Jacob Ray Oliver to both parents, but placed physical custody of the child with Shawne Lynn Oliver subject to scheduled visitation by Eddie Jo Pitts.
Although directed to do so, counsel for Pitts failed to brief the issue of the admissibility of Exhibit 4, instead focusing only on the issue of dischargeability of the judgment debt.2 Nevertheless, even though Pitts's counsel may have waived this issue, the Court will proceed to make an evidentiary ruling.
As mentioned above, as a condition to receiving AFDC payments, Shawne Lynn Oliver was required to assign to the Division of Family Services any rights to receive child support from another person pursuant to Missouri Revised Statute § 208.040.2.(2). The version of section 208.040.2.(2) in effect at the time the Paternity Petition was filed and the Judgment was entered provides that:
Mo.Rev.Stat. § 208.040.2.(2) (1996)(emphasis added).3
Likewise, Title 13 of the Missouri Code of State Regulations at section 40-2.335, which is a provision in the Missouri regulations governing the Division of Family Services, states in relevant part that:
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