Parker v. Parker, 29377
| Decision Date | 07 January 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 29377,29377 |
| Citation | 233 Ga. 434,211 S.E.2d 729 |
| Parties | Emily Spano PARKER v. Paul I. PARKER. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Hirsch, Beil & Partin, John P. Partin, Columbus, for appellant.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
This is an appeal from a final judgment of the Superior Court of Muscogee County which determined the court could not domesticate a final divorce decree of Taxas in order to enforce the child support payments by contempt proceedings in Muscogee Superior Court although both parties to the Texas decree were now residents of Muscogee County and subject to the jurisdiction of the court. We reverse the trial court's judgment.
Appellant argues that Georgia should permit a divorce and alimony (including child support) decree of a sister state to be enforced by the same equitable remedies, including contempt proceedings, that are applicable to the enforcement of a Georgia decree. In support of this point of view, appellant's supplemental brief states that: 'The following states have decreed that a final alimony judgment or a divorce decree of a sister state providing for alimony or child support is enforceable in equitable proceedings, including the use of the contempt power and, as additionally stated, that for future instalments said judgment is enforceable in the same manner as a local judgment: California in Palen v. Palen, 12 Cal.App.2d 357, 55 P.2d 228 (1936); Florida in Sackler v. Sackler, 47 So.2d 292 (1950); Illinois in Rule v. Rule, 313 Ill.App. 108, 39 N.E.2d 379 (1942); Oregon in Cousineau v. Cousineau, 155 Ore. 184, 163(63) P.2d 897 (1936); Tennessee in Thones v. Thones, 185 Tenn. 124, 203 S.W.2d 597 (1947); Virginia in McKeel v. McKeel, 185 Va. 108, 37 S.E.2d 746 (1946); Washington in Shibley v. Shibley, 181 Wash. 166, 42 P.2d 446 (1935); Mississippi in Fanchier v. Gammill, 148 Miss. 723, 114 So. 813 (1927); Texas in Guercia v. Guercia (Tex.Civ.App.), 239 S.W.2d 169 (1951); Maryland in McCabe v. McCabe, 210 Md. 308, 123 A.2d 447 (1956); South Dakota in Bahr v. Bahr, 85 S.Dak. 240, 180 N.W.2d 465 (1970); and, South Carolina in Johnson v. Johnson, 194 S.C. 115, 8 S.E.2d 351 (1940), which was reaffirmed in Bennett v. Bennett, 260 S.C. 605, 198 S.E.2d 114 (1973).'
The appellee argues that he is not presently in arrears, under the Taxas decree, on his child support payments and that since he has otherwise complied with the decree there is no reason for this litigation in Georgia. There is case authority in Georgia that in an action on a foreign divorce and alimony decree for alimony and child support the Georgia court is empowered only 'to issue an ordinary money judgment based on the (foreign) decree' for monies due. E.g., see Henderson v. Henderson, 86 Ga.App. 812, 814, 72 S.E.2d 731; McLendon v. McLendon, 192 Ga. 70, 14 S.E.2d 477 and Martin v. Martin, 123 Ga.App. 278(2, a), 180 S.E.2d 562. In addition, as noted by appellant's counsel, this court held in Lawrence v. Lawrence, 196 Ga. 204(3), 26 S.E.2d 283, that 'such a suit in a Georgia court does not come within the statutes and more liberal rules as to extraordinary relief.' The language in these, and similar cases, militate against the domestication of this Texas divorce decree so that 'the ordinary equitable powers of contempt . . . can be made available to (appellant) for the sake of her minor son to enforce the valid final decree of the State of Taxas, awarding to (appellant) $175 per month for the support of her minor child from the father . . .'
We decline to follow these earlier cases as we find no present statutory basis for making a distinction between the enforcement of a final divorce and alimony decree originally rendered in Georgia and a similar decree rendered in another state which has been domesticated in Georgia when the enforcement sought in Georgia is authorized under our law and under the laws of the state where the judgment was granted. Once the foreign decree is made the judgment of the Georgia court of the defendant's residence, it 'shall have the same full faith and credit' in this state as it has by law or usage in the courts of the state where it was rendered. See Code Ann. § 38-630 (Ga.L.1973, pp. 299-303).
Since the present decree can be enforced by contempt in Texas where it was granted, there is no logical reason why a complaint cannot be brought on this Texas decree for domestication in the county of defendant's residence in Georgia, and, if proven, subsequently enforced by contempt in the Georgia court for wilful violation. The Texas courts would enforce this decree by contempt if it had been granted in Georgia. See Guercia v. Guercia, Tex.Civ.App., 239 S.W.2d 169. The statutory public policy of Georgia supports our domesticating and subsequently enforcing the present Texas decree by contempt as an act of comity....
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...Georgia law in 1986, the old procedure remains available, albeit only for use by judgment creditors. OCGA § 9-12-136. Parker v. Parker, 233 Ga. 434, 211 S.E.2d 729 (1975), and White v. White, 233 Ga. 289, 210 S.E.2d 817 (1974), both involved the old separate procedure for domestication, i.e......
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Gray v. Loper
...he could have been heard on in the court of the sister state when and before the judgment was rendered. However, in Parker v. Parker, 233 Ga. 434, 436, 211 S.E.2d 729, the Supreme Court, citing Henderson v. Henderson, 86 Ga.App. 812, 814, 72 S.E.2d 731, supra, and others, stated it would no......
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...it as the decree of a Georgia court through domestication and treating it as though it were a local decree. Parker v. Parker, 233 Ga. 434, 211 S.E.2d 729 (1975); White v. White, 233 Ga. 289, 210 S.E.2d 817 (1974). As Parker indicates, a growing number of states follow this policy. The issue......