Title: McCarthy v. McCarthy

State: minnesota

Issuer: Minnesota Supreme Court

Document:

196 N.W.2d 305 (1972) Agnes McCARTHY, Respondent, v. John E. McCARTHY, Appellant. No. 43102. Supreme Court of Minnesota. March 31, 1972. *306 Larson & Baddin and Robert E. Lucas, Duluth, for appellant. Leo M. McDonnell, Duluth, for respondent. Heard before KNUTSON, C. J., and ROGOSHESKE, TODD, and MASON, JJ. TODD, Justice. Proceedings brought by Agnes McCarthy to amend an original decree of divorce so as to allot to her an award of alimony although the decree did not clearly designate a specific award of alimony to her. From an order granting plaintiff alimony, defendant appeals. We reverse the order of the lower court. The original action for divorce was commenced in October 1957. In August 1958, a stipulation was entered into between the parties, paragraph 2 of which provided: Thereafter, on December 11, 1958, a decree of divorce was entered which contained the following language: Defendant promptly made all payments due under the divorce decree until December 25, 1969, when John Terrance McCarthy, the youngest child of the parties, reached the age of 21 years. During the time payments were being made, the only apparent dispute between the parties involved a letter from plaintiff to defendant postmarked May 4, 1968, a portion of which was read into the record as follows: On April 9, 1970, plaintiff made a motion for amendment of the decree. Defendant did not appear, and an order amending the decree was entered on April 13, 1970, and was subsequently vacated on May 6, 1970, to allow a rehearing in which defendant could respond. The matter was reheard on September 15, 1970, and the final order of the district court was entered on November 17, 1970. This order provided that defendant was to pay to plaintiff the sum of $100 per month as continuing alimony commencing May 1, 1970, and continuing on the first day of each month thereafter, together with an allowance of attorneys' fees and costs. In the memorandum accompanying the order, the court indicated that it interpreted the ambiguous language of the decree to mean that there had been no final determination *307 of alimony and that the court had retained jurisdiction to decide this issue after the youngest son had reached his majority. The trial court correctly found that there was no question of change of circumstances since, if its determination that it had retained continuing jurisdiction were correct, the court was merely being called upon to determine the portion of the original award that should be allocated to alimony. 1. At the time of the entry of the original decree of divorce, the following statutory language of Minn.St.1957, § 518.55, was applicable to the decree: Section 518.55 has been amended and presently provides in part: This change in statutory language has no effect upon the holding of the court in this case. This court receives additional powers under § 518.64, which reads in relevant part: When these sections are read together, the power of the district court emerges as one of deciding at the time of the divorce whether alimony is appropriate. If alimony is granted in accordance with the terms of the statutory requirements, the court retains jurisdiction to modify the decree at a later time if circumstances have changed so greatly that equity requires the modification. The trial court found that the original decree made no final allowance of alimony and that the court had reserved jurisdiction to amend the decree at a later date. Its finding is contrary to the statutory provisions of § 518.55 cited above. The statute says that the judgment of divorce "shall clearly designate whether the same is alimony or support money." (Italics supplied.) The use of the adverb "clearly" indicates an intention on the part of the legislature that the decree of divorce be specific and unambiguous regarding the award of alimony or support money. From a grammatical standpoint, the use of the word "clearly" adds very little to the sentence structure, but it is indicative of legislative intent. The statute then covers the situation where such clear designation is not made in the decree of divorce by creating a statutory presumption that any payments from furure earnings, such as involved here, shall be presumed to be support money. Both parties agree that the bare language of the stipulation and *308 the decree are ambiguous. Where a decree of divorce fails to specifically designate as alimony an award out of the future earnings of a husband not having custody of the minor children of the parties (or the future income or earnings of the noncustodial parent), the statutory presumption must take over, and all money so awarded will be presumed to be child support. There is no basis for judicial construction of this language. 2-3. Having found that the decree by its ambiguity and by operation of law makes no provision for alimony, then, under the rule of law laid down by this court in Warner v. Warner, 219 Minn. 59, 17 N.W.2d 58 (1944), the trial court lacks jurisdiction to amend the original decree. In the Warner case the conclusions of law and the decree were silent as to alimony, although the parties had by agreement made a complete property settlement which included a specific waiver of alimony by the plaintiff wife. This court quoted there with approval the language used by the trial judge in his memorandum denying the plaintiff wife's application for amendment of the decree. The trial court said (219 Minn. 65, 17 N.W.2d 62): We hold that where the decree of divorce is silent as to alimony or fails properly to designate alimony as required by statute, the trial court cannot thereafter modify the decree to award alimony since to allow such a practice would be to allow modification of something that never existed. Further, where the decree does not specifically reserve jurisdiction of the issue of alimony for determination at a later date, no such jurisdiction can later be claimed. The trial court in this situation had no jurisdiction to make the order it did. In support of her position, plaintiff cites, as did the trial court, Johnson v. Johnson, 269 Minn. 253, 130 N.W.2d 544 (1964). In that case the decree of divorce was absolutely silent as to the issue of alimony. This court there held that since the decree was silent as to the issue of alimony, and since there was no specific waiver of alimony in the decree, the issue of alimony could be reconsidered by the trial court. Seeking to distinguish the Warner case, this court said (269 Minn. 259, 130 N.W.2d 548): It is clear that the court made a basic error in examining and construing the Warner decision. The decree in the Warner case is totally silent as to the award of alimony or the waiver of alimony, and the decree in the Johnson case was exactly the same. The distinction sought to be drawn by this court in the Johnson case is invalid, and that case, being both totally irreconcilable with our decision in Warner and contrary to the statute, is hereby overruled. Neither party shall be allowed any attorneys' fees in this proceeding, and neither party shall be allowed costs. Reversed.