Title: Storer v. Storer

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

346 So. 2d 994 (1977)
Peter STORER and Stuart W. Patton As Co-Executors of the Estate of George B. Storer, Deceased, Petitioners,
v.
Dorothy M. STORER, Respondent.
No. 46935.

Supreme Court of Florida.
April 7, 1977.
Rehearing Denied June 28, 1977.
Sam Spector, Cynthia S. Tunnicliff, Tallahassee, and Patton, Kanner, Nadeau, Segal, Zeller & LaPorte, Miami, for petitioners.
William G. Earle and Hugo L. Black, Jr., of Kelly, Black, Black & Kenny, and Sam Daniels, Miami, for respondent.
PER CURIAM.
The petition for writ of certiorari reflected apparent jurisdiction in this Court. We issued the writ and have heard argument of the parties. Upon further consideration of the matter, we have determined that the cited decisions present no direct conflict as required by Article V, Section 3(b)(3), Florida Constitution. Therefore, the writ must be and is hereby discharged.
It is so ordered.
OVERTON, C.J., and BOYD, ENGLAND, SUNDBERG and HATCHETT, JJ., concur.
ADKINS, J., dissents with an opinion with which ROBERTS (Retired), J., concurs.
ADKINS, Justice, dissenting.
Until January, 1972, the legal residence of both husband and wife was Wyoming. The residence of the husband remained in Wyoming. Between January, 1972, and April 25, 1972, the wife changed her residence from Wyoming to Florida. On April 25, 1972, the date upon which she was served with process in Florida in the Wyoming divorce proceedings, the wife was a *995 resident of Florida and remained so during the pendency of the proceeding. The District Court held that the provisions of the Wyoming decree of divorce relating to the wife's alimony right or other property rights were not binding upon her and that portion of the Wyoming decree was not entitled to full faith and credit under the Constitution of the United States.
In Pinebrook v. Pinebrook, 329 So. 2d 343 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976), the husband and wife established a marital domicile in California which they maintained for over eight years. In 1973 the wife who continued to reside in California, instituted divorce proceedings. However, the husband was residing in Utah and was served with process under the provisions under the California Long Arm statute. The husband made no appearance in the California action. The California court dissolved the marriage, awarded the wife custody of the child, ordered the husband to pay alimony, child support and attorney fees, and directed the parties to sell certain Florida real estate and to divide the proceedings therefrom.
The wife brought suit in Florida to enforce that portion of the decree ordering the disposition of the Florida property. The husband contended that this portion of the order was a personal judgment which could only be entered upon the acquisition of personal jurisdiction. The District Court held that the form of service was calculated to give actual notice to the husband by serving him by certified, airmail, return receipt requested. The court in its opinion said:
The court pointed out that the minimum contact held sufficient to satisfy due process has consisted of as simple an act as maintenance of the last marital domicile within the forum state, coupled with one spouse's continued residence in the forum state. This is exactly the situation in the case sub judice, as the husband Storer remained in Wyoming.
Wyoming law permits acquisition of personal jurisdiction over a nonresident. The Wyoming court specifically found that it acquired personal jurisdiction under the laws of that state. Requiring a nondefendant to submit to such jurisdiction under the circumstances of the case sub judice is consonant with the requirements of due process.
In Storer v. Storer, 305 So. 2d 212 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1975), the District Court held that the non-residence of the defendant precluded any possibility of a valid personal judgment in Wyoming which would be entitled to full faith and credit.
*996 This Court in Carroll v. Carroll, 341 So. 2d 771, opinion filed January 13, 1977, in discussing venue, approved a decision of the First District Court which held that venue should be in that county in which the marriage was last evidenced by a continuing union of partners who intended to remain married, indefinitely if not permanently. As stated by the Court,
Under this pronouncement, the former martial relationship in Wyoming is a sufficient minimum contact to satisfy due process.
The question before us is whether or not the long arm statute of the forum state was sufficient to acquire personal jurisdiction over the nonresident wife so that the subsequent judgment was entitled to full faith and credit. Storer v. Storer, supra, says no. Pinebrook v. Pinebrook, supra, says yes. There is conflict.
We should also note the case of Lefkovitz v. Lefkovitz, 341 So. 2d 253 (Fla. 1st DCA), opinion filed December 30, 1976. The court held that an Illinois court did not acquire personal jurisdiction of the husband, a former resident of Illinois, because the act giving rise to the Illinois divorce action occurred in Florida and at that time there was no marital domicile in Illinois. The dissenting opinion, referring to the confusion now existing among the courts of Florida in applying the full faith and credit provision of the constitution, contains the following:
In Mitchim v. Mitchim, 518 S.W.2d 362 (Tex. 1975), the Supreme Court of Texas said:
In explaining the rationale for applying the minimum contacts test in matrimonial cases, the District Court in Pinebrook, supra, quoted from Mizner v. Mizner, 84 Nev. 268, 439 P.2d 679 (1968), cert. denied 393 U.S. 847, 89 S. Ct. 130, 21 L. Ed. 2d 117 (1968), as follows:
The District Court in Pinebrook, supra, then added:
I conclude that the Wyoming law permits acquisition of personal jurisdiction over a nonresident by extraterritorial service. The Wyoming court found that such notice was given and personal jurisdiction acquired. I further conclude that requiring a defendant to submit to such jurisdiction under these circumstances is consonant of the requirements of due process. I would hold that the Wyoming divorce decree, insofar as it constituted a personal judgment, is valid and therefore entitled to enforcement in our courts under the full faith and credit clause of the United States Constitution. For that reason the petition or complaint of the wife should have been dismissed.
The decision of the District Court of Appeal should be quashed and the cause remanded to the trial judge with instructions to grant the husband's motion to quash.
ROBERTS (Retired), J., concurs.