Marriage of Yuro, In re

• Decision Date: 24 November 1998
• Docket Number: CA-CV,No. 2,2
• Citation: 968 P.2d 1053,192 Ariz. 568
• Parties: , 283 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 3 In re the MARRIAGE OF Francine Deborah YURO, Petitioner/Appellant, and Anthony Victor Yuro, Respondent/Appellee. 97-0225.
• Court: Arizona Court of Appeals

Page 1053

968 P.2d 1053

192 Ariz. 568, 283 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 3

In re the MARRIAGE OF Francine Deborah YURO, Petitioner/Appellant and

Anthony Victor Yuro, Respondent/Appellee.

No. 2 CA-CV 97-0225.

Court of Appeals of Arizona,

Division 2, Department B.

Nov. 24, 1998.

Barbara LaWall, Pima County by Thomas J. Zawada, Tucson, for Petitioner/Appellant.

Law Office of Michael H. Gottesman by Michael H. Gottesman, Tucson, for Respondent/Appellee.

OPINION

ESPINOSA, Judge.

¶1 This appeal involves a relatively straightforward child support collection action made complex by its long history and ensuing changes in state and federal child support laws, as well as concomitant questions of preemption and retroactivity. In June 1997, the Pima County Child Support Division filed on behalf of appellant, Francine Yuro, a resident of California, a request pursuant to Arizona's Revised Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (URESA), ¹ formerly A.R.S. §§ 12-1651 through 12-1691, ² to collect child support and spousal maintenance arrearages in the amount of $64,200.48, based on a 1985 California superior court order against respondent Anthony Yuro who now resides in Arizona. After a hearing, the trial court concluded that the doctrine of laches precluded Francine from enforcing the California order because she had accepted reduced payments under a 1988 New Mexico order resulting from a URESA action brought there on her behalf and had failed to seek other enforcement remedies or appeal the lesser amount of arrearages awarded by the New Mexico court. The trial court further found that the New Mexico order modified the 1985 California order and upheld its arrearage award of only $4,250.

¶2 On appeal, Francine argues that: (1) she cannot be bound by the New Mexico order because that court did not have personal jurisdiction over her; (2) the URESA action filed in New Mexico did not result in a modification of the 1985 California order; (3) the doctrine of laches is inapplicable; and (4) the 1985 California order established arrearages arising from a previous order of temporary support. We agree with the latter three arguments and therefore reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this decision.

Facts and Procedural History

¶3 We view the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the trial court's findings and will uphold them unless they are clearly erroneous or unsupported by the evidence. State v. Garcia, 187 Ariz. 527, 931 P.2d 427 (App.1996). Upon their separation in October 1981, a California court ordered Anthony to pay Francine $380 per child per month in child support and $800 monthly spousal maintenance. In January 1982, Anthony moved to vacate the temporary order. The court granted the motion, found Anthony owed arrearages in the amount of $575, ordered him to pay $400 per month in child support, and postponed the issue of spousal maintenance until the time of trial. The parties entered into a dissolution agreement in March 1985, at which time the court ordered Anthony to pay $600 per month in child support, "commencing March 11, 1983." The court's order did not mention arrearages resulting from the 1982 temporary order.

¶4 In July 1986, the Los Angeles County Bureau of Family Support filed a URESA petition on behalf of Francine, seeking to enforce the 1985 child support order and payment of arrearages totaling $22,800. The complaint for support was forwarded to New Mexico, where Anthony was then residing and he was served in October 1986. Anthony did not answer the complaint or otherwise appear and in September 1988, the New Mexico court entered a default judgment against him, ordering him to pay $450 per month in child support and arrearages in the amount of $4,250. ³ There was nothing in the order or otherwise as to whether the 1985 California order was being modified or superseded.

¶5 In March 1997, after Anthony had relocated to Arizona, Francine registered the California support order in Pima County pursuant to A.R.S. § 25-586, seeking all arrearages resulting from the two California orders entered in 1982 and 1985. Pima County Attorney Child Support Services filed a request in superior court to enforce the California order on her behalf in June 1997 pursuant to Arizona's former URESA statutes. As noted above, after an evidentiary hearing the trial court found that the 1985 California order failed to establish arrearages resulting from the temporary order, the New Mexico court's order effectively modified the 1985 California order, and Francine's action was barred by laches. This appeal followed.

Discussion

¶6 Francine argues that the trial court erred because the issue of modification was never before the New Mexico court and, in any event, its order did not comply with URESA requirements for modifying the California order. ⁴ Anthony responds that the California order was effectively modified by the New Mexico court, and that Arizona lacks subject matter jurisdiction "to resolve a conflict between the courts of two sister states." Anthony is patently wrong about the latter point. Arizona's Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) authorizes Arizona's courts to enforce support orders from other states when registered under its provisions, see A.R.S. § 25-648, and expressly sets forth procedures for dealing with competing support orders in A.R.S. § 25-628. Thus, in determining which child support order Arizona should recognize as controlling, we first look to our own law.

¶7 Arizona has adopted and replaced URESA with the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA). ⁵ A.R.S. §§ 25-621 through 25-661. Although that act became effective June 30, 1995, it provides that if, subsequent to that date, a case is received from a state that had not yet enacted and implemented UIFSA, Arizona's URESA, even though repealed, should be applied. 1993 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 143, § 4. Because California had not enacted and implemented UIFSA at the time the petition was filed in Arizona, we would have utilized URESA to determine which order is controlling. See A.R.S. tit. 25, art. 4 (table of jurisdictions wherein act has been adopted). We cannot do so, however, without considering the intervening Congressional enactment of the Full Faith and Credit for Child Support Orders Act (FFCCSOA), 28 U.S.C.A. § 1738B. In an attempt to bring uniformity to the laws regarding interstate child support enforcement, Congress enacted FFCCSOA which, as a federal statute, preempts all similar state laws pursuant to the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution. U.S. Const. art. VI. See State Dept. of Rev. v. Skladanuk, 683 So.2d 624 (Fla.App.1996) (modification of support obligation pursuant to URESA preempted by FFCCSOA); see also In re Marriage of Comer, 14 Cal.4th 504, 59 Cal.Rptr.2d 155, 927 P.2d 265 (Cal.1996). We must therefore first determine whether the FFCCSOA, enacted in 1994, applies retroactively to a purported modification entered in 1988 under URESA. If it does, we are bound to apply FFCCSOA in determining whether the New Mexico order modified the 1985 California order. ⁶

A. Retroactivity of FFCCSOA

¶8 In Bradley v. School Bd. of Richmond, 416 U.S. 696, 94 S.Ct. 2006, 40 L.Ed.2d 476 (1974), the Supreme Court held that an appellate court must apply the law in effect at the time it renders its decision unless doing so would result in manifest injustice or there is statutory direction or legislative history to the contrary. The following factors are considered in determining whether manifest injustice would result in the retroactive application of a statute: (1) the nature and identity of the parties; (2) the nature of their rights; and (3) the impact of the change in law upon those rights. Id. The first factor suggests that injustice could result when the litigation involves private cases between individuals. The Supreme Court recognized, however, that in certain circumstances retroactive application may be justified to promote expeditious implementation of the law, particularly when it is one involving a compelling national concern. Id.

¶9 Although the instant action is between private individuals, at issue is a matter that has caused Congress sufficient concern to prompt it to promulgate legislation in an area traditionally regulated by the states. Congress enacted FFCCSOA to "facilitate the enforcement of child support orders among the States; ... discourage continuing interstate controversies over child support ... and ... avoid jurisdictional competition and conflict among State courts in the establishment of child support orders." Congressional Findings and Declaration of Purpose, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1738B, Pub.L. No. 103-383 § 2; see also Day v. Child Support Enforcement Div., 272 Mont. 170, 900 P.2d 296 (Mont.1995) (lack of uniformity in laws regarding support orders encouraged noncustodial parents to relocate to avoid jurisdiction of home state resulting in relitigation of cases and increased AFDC because of low levels of child support payments in interstate cases). In light of the purpose of FFCCSOA and its nation-wide scope, we conclude the private nature of this case is of no consequence.

¶10 Under the second factor, we consider whether retroactive application of FFCCSOA would deprive either party of a matured or unconditional right. Bradley. Although neither party has raised this issue, ⁷ Anthony has argued that because Francine accepted his reduced payments and failed to appeal the New Mexico order, he had a right to rely on that order. There is nothing in the record, however, to suggest that Francine ever agreed to accept the lower amount in lieu of the higher amount or that the New Mexico order actually modified the 1985 California order. See In re Marriage of Ward, 29 Cal.App.4th 1452, 35 Cal.Rptr.2d 32 (App.1994) (acceptance of decreased payments not evidence of agreement and reliance on mere acceptance of such payments unreasonable). There appears in the record no...