Kielar v. Kielar
| Decision Date | 19 April 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 1996,1996 |
| Citation | 429 S.E.2d 851,311 S.C. 466 |
| Court | South Carolina Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Casimir Michal KIELAR, Appellant/Respondent, v. Loretta Z. KIELAR, Respondent/Appellant. |
Allen C. Pate, Florence, for appellant/respondent.
Evander G. Jeffords and Mary Layton Wells, Florence, for respondent/appellant.
Casimir Michal Kielar commenced this action against his former wife, Loretta Z. Kielar, seeking a modification of their divorce decree. 1 The parties were divorced in 1988 based on one year of continuous separation. The divorce decree gave Dr. Kielar custody of their three children, required him to provide for their support, and awarded Ms. Kielar $2000 a month in alimony. On appeal by Dr. Kielar, this Court affirmed the award of alimony. See Kielar v. Kielar, Op. No. 90-MO-101 (Ct.App. filed June 11, 1990). During the pendency of that appeal, Dr. Kielar brought this suit seeking a reduction in Ms. Kielar's alimony, an order that she pay him child support, and other relief. He alleged these modifications of the original decree were warranted by a material change in the circumstances of the parties. The family court modified the decree to require Ms. Kielar to pay child support, but otherwise denied the relief sought. Both parties appealed. We reverse the order of child support and affirm on all other issues.
The family court made the following findings of fact, which are supported by the evidence:
1. Dr. Kielar is an anesthesiologist. At the time of the divorce, he earned in excess of $300,000 a year. At the time of the divorce, Ms. Kielar worked part time, earning about $120 a week.
2. After the divorce, Dr. Kielar remarried. His second wife works full time. Ms. Kielar has not remarried.
3. Dr. Kielar continues to live in the parties' former marital residence. He is a member of the Country Club of South Carolina. He owns a beach condominium. He also owns property in Virginia. He owns a Corvette automobile and a Corsica automobile. In the year after the divorce, he added $30,000 to one of his two retirement accounts. At no time since the divorce has he found it necessary to reduce any funds in either of his retirement accounts. In addition to his regular bank accounts, he has a special checking account in which he keeps an undisclosed amount of money. Between the divorce and the hearing in this case, he took two expensive trips to his homeland, Poland.
4. Ms. Kielar now lives in a rented apartment. She has purchased an automobile with proceeds from her share of the equitable distribution of the marital estate. She has also used money from the equitable distribution to pay for vacations and other expenses.
5. After the divorce, Dr. Kielar lost his position at Bruce Hospital in Florence. His written contract with Bruce Hospital Systems restricted him from working at other hospitals. On four different occasions, Dr. Kielar failed to report to Bruce Hospital while on call. On three of those occasions, he did not report because of conflicting engagements at other area hospitals. Following the earlier infractions, Bruce Hospital warned him that continued infractions would result in cancellation of his contract. Following the fourth incident, Bruce Hospital gave him the option of resigning or being fired. He resigned and obtained employment at St. Eugene Hospital in Dillon, where he worked at the time of the hearing. From January, 1990, through August, 1990, he earned over $121,000 at St. Eugene. He also earned an additional net monthly income of over $1000 for services performed at Bruce Hospital. His annual income from medical practice exceeds $180,000.
6. After the divorce, Ms. Kielar obtained full time secretarial employment at a private school. At the time of the hearing, she earned $1,516.67 a month, or about $18,200 a year.
7. Dr. Kielar's present actual income as well as his present earning capacity is such that the decrease in his income after losing his job at Bruce Hospital has had little economic impact on his lifestyle or existing assets.
Dr. Kielar claims the reduction in his income after his "involuntary resignation" from Bruce Hospital taken with the increase in Ms. Kielar's earned income is a sufficient change of circumstances to warrant modifying the alimony and child support provisions of the divorce decree. There is no question he has experienced a substantial loss of income at St. Eugene Hospital. However, on the facts of this case, his reduced income is not a material change of circumstances warranting modification of the divorce decree. His income is still enough that he is able to pay alimony and support his children without reducing the standard of living he enjoyed during the marriage. In contrast, Ms. Kielar's...
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Kelley v. Kelley
...to the initial setting of an alimony award have been applied in the modification context as well. See, e.g., Kielar v. Kielar, 311 S.C. 466, 429 S.E.2d 851 (Ct.App.1993) (parties' standard of living during the marriage); Boney v. Boney, 289 S.C. 596, 347 S.E.2d 890 (Ct.App.1986) (earning ca......
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Penny v. Green, 3754.
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