Sekik v. Abdelnabi
| Decision Date | 13 January 2021 |
| Docket Number | No. E2019-01302-COA-R3-CV,E2019-01302-COA-R3-CV |
| Parties | FATMA ADEL SEKIK v. NEHAD ABDELNABI ET AL. |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Appeals |
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Knox County
In this divorce appeal, Husband challenges the court's failure to grant a continuance, the child support and alimony obligation imposed, and certain provisions of the parenting plan prohibiting contact with his children and revoking the parental rights set forth in Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-6-101(a)(3)(B). This proceeding also involved allegations of a conspiracy to defraud Wife of funds resulting from a sale of marital property in Gaza during the pendency of the divorce by Husband, his brother, and his brother's wife; those non-spousal parties challenge the court's jurisdiction over them and over the property in Gaza, as well as the court's valuation of that property. They also challenge the court's rulings that they engaged in a civil conspiracy and whether the judgment imposed against them is supported by the pleadings and the evidence. Upon our review of the issues raised, we discern no reversible error in the rulings of the court and accordingly affirm it in all respects.
J. STEVEN STAFFORD, P.J. W.S., delivered the opinion of the court, in which ARNOLD B. GOLDIN and CARMA DENNIS MCGEE, JJ., joined.
Matthew D. Barocas, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellants, Nahed Abdulnabi and Rewa Gharbawe.
Nehad Abdelnabi, Only, Tennessee, Pro Se.
Wanda G. Sobieski, Diane M. Messer, Caitlin Elledge, Zachary T. Powers, and Laura E. Wyrick, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Fatma Adel Sekik.
OPINIONThis appeal arises out of a divorce proceeding. Fatma Adel Sekik ("Wife" or "Mother") and Nehad Abdelnabi ("Husband" or "Father") are from the Middle East; Wife is from Cairo, Egypt, and Husband is from Palestine. The parties were married in 1996 in Egypt and moved to the United States shortly thereafter, where they resided in Knoxville, Tennessee. The parties have four children. Their third child, Hamza, was born in 2002 and has special needs. Husband is an "electronics technician" and owned an electronics business in Knoxville. He also oversaw the financial aspects of family life, including the buying and selling of real property during the marriage, such as the real property located in the Gaza Strip that is the subject of many issues raised in this appeal. Wife primarily took care of the parties' home and four children. Wife also works part-time from home, translating Arabic conversations by phone, for which she is paid by the minute.
Their home was not entirely a happy one, as Wife and her two daughters testified about the emotional and physical abuse Husband inflicted on the family members. The breakdown of the marital relationship accelerated in February 2012, when Husband kidnapped and assaulted a man named Naser Ferwanah, with whom he believed Wife was having an affair. He was indicted for these offenses on September 18, 2012, and in 2016, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 17 years in the Tennessee Department of Correction for the felony offenses of aggravated kidnapping, especially aggravated kidnapping, and two counts of aggravated assault.1
Wife filed a complaint for divorce on September 7, 2012, on the basis of irreconcilable differences and Husband's inappropriate marital conduct. She sought to be named primary residential parent of the parties' children and sought "reasonable spousal support," both during the pendency of the divorce and after entry of the decree. The complaint contained the automatic mandatory injunctions set forth at Tennessee CodeAnnotated section 36-4-106(d).2 On September 8, a temporary parenting plan was entered, granting Husband weekend visitation every week, setting his child support obligation at $2,000 per month, and requiring him to pay the premiums of health, dental, and life insurance policies for Wife and the children, as well as "for all Hamza's medical, dental, visual [expenses] and all Hamza's therapy[.]"
On September 27, 2012, Wife filed a Notice of Filing of Related Order to which she attached an order of protection that had been entered by agreement of Husband and Wife in Knox County Circuit Court case number 126003. In that order, Husband agreed to not come about Wife or contact her, directly or indirectly. He also agreed to pay for the household expenses, including the mortgage, utilities, phone and internet, credit cards, health insurance, medical bills, automobile insurance, and others, as well as $2,000 per month in child support. Husband and Wife subsequently reconciled, and by an agreed Amended Order of Protection entered December 5, 2012, they were permitted to have contact. All other terms of the prior agreed order of protection pertaining to Husband's payments of household expenses and child support remained in effect.
In September 2016, Wife moved for a default judgment due to Husband's failure to answer the complaint for divorce. In that motion, she alleged that Husband's "refusal to respond or cooperate with the process has left [Wife] and the parties' four (4) children in desperate financial straits unable to make the arrangements necessary to keep their home or property." She also alleged that Husband "has sent the largest share of the parties' financial resources to the Gaza Strip where it is essentially beyond the reach of his wife and children for their support" and sought a default judgment "so that she can begin the process of making arrangements with the bank to possibly save the home from foreclosure for the children and herself."
Husband responded by filing an answer as well as a Response to the motion for default judgment on October 6; in his response, Husband asserted:
The default judgment sought, in which Mr. Abdelnabi is deprived of all of his constitutional parental rights while being ordered to pay the extravagant sum of $3,200.00 per month in child support for life—unsupported by the Child Support Guidelines—and in which Plaintiff is awarded all of the marital estate and potential personal property, including unidentified, unspecified, and likely fictional property in the Gaza Strip, is unreasonable,inequitable, and unjust under the circumstances and should not be awarded to Plaintiff.
In his answer, Husband admitted that irreconcilable differences had arisen between the parties but denied that he was guilty of inappropriate marital conduct. He also admitted that Wife was a fit and proper person to be primary residential parent of the parties' minor children but averred "that he is also a fit and proper person to be the primary residential parent for the parties' minor children upon his release from incarceration."
On December 8, 2016, Wife filed a Motion for Interim Relief in which she alleged details of Husband's abusive and controlling behavior, reiterated her belief that he had "sent the largest share of the parties' financial resources to the Gaza Strip where it is essentially beyond the reach of his wife and children for their support," and that she feared Husband's brother, who had "recently gone to the Gaza Strip," "may be carrying with him a Power of Attorney to transfer the Gaza Strip property out of [Husband] and into his family over there." On that basis, she asked the court to divest Husband of all real property he held in the United States and in the Gaza Strip and vest it in her "so that she may try to find a way to use it to support the children." She also requested that the court grant her a divorce "now" and reserve any other issues.
The trial court held a hearing and granted Wife's motion for relief by order entered March 20, 2017, in which it, inter alia, "ordered and empowered [Wife] to investigate all monies and properties in Defendant's name or in which Defendant may have or has had an interest, wherever located, including, but not limited to, the Gaza Strip" as well as all debts, claims, liens, and contracts relating to those properties. The trial court also ordered Husband to instruct all persons receiving funds "from any property in which he has or had an interest (including, but not limited to the Gaza Strip properties) to pay only the reasonable and necessary expenses related to the property and forward to [Wife] all net revenues for the next sixty (60) days (starting February 22, 2017)." After that time, Wife was "empowered to take control of all properties to which [Husband] holds title or in which [he] has or has had an interest." The order also provided that "[a]ll income related to the properties, including, but not limited to, the properties in the Gaza Strip, shall be paid to or retained by [Wife] to be used for the reasonable support of the family and the marital estate and for which [Wife] shall account to this Court." She was also ordered to "collect, marshal, and take custody, control and possession of all funds, accounts, mail, and other assets of [Husband], or under the possession or control of [Husband] or assets traceable to assets owned or controlled by [him] wherever situated (except as set forth in Paragraph 4 regarding the sixty (60) day period for transfer of control in the Gaza Strip)" but that she was not to "alienate, transfer, sell or dispose of such property without court approval." The trial court also ordered Husband to "execute any document, release, power of attorney or other required authorization to allow [Wife] to investigate the real property."
Wife attempted to comply with the court's order but filed a Motion for EmergencyRelief on June 13, 2017, in which she alleged that Husband and his counsel had not responded to her requests to execute the power of attorney and release documents she needed in order to investigate Husband's real property holdings. She also alleged that she had sent the court's order to be "entered by the...
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