Title: Poston v. Poston

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

POSTON_V_POSTON.92-139; 160 Vt. 1; 624 A.2d 853


[Filed 19-Feb-1993]

 NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to motions for reargument under V.R.A.P.
 40 as well as formal revision before publication in the Vermont Reports.
 Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Vermont Supreme
 Court, 109 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05609-0801 of any errors in
 order that corrections may be made before this opinion goes to press.


                                 No. 92-139



 JoAnne M. Poston                             Supreme Court

                                              On Appeal from
      v.                                      Orleans Family Court


 James G. Poston                              December Term, 1992


 Shireen Avis Fisher and Walter M. Morris, JJ.

 Charles D. Hickey, St. Johnsbury, for plaintiff-appellee

 Peter F. Langrock, Kevin E. Brown and Mitchell L. Pearl of Langrock Sperry &
    Wool, Middlebury, for defendant-appellant


 PRESENT:  Gibson, Dooley, Morse and Johnson, JJ., and Peck, J. (Ret.),
           Specially Assigned


      MORSE, J.     James Poston, who had already obtained a Texas divorce
 from JoAnne Poston, appeals the judgment of the Vermont Family Court
 granting JoAnne child support, maintenance and attorney's fees.  James'
 claims of error are that once the Texas divorce had been granted, the
 Vermont judgment violated the federal constitutional guarantee of full faith
 and credit, and that Vermont lacked statutory authority for the award.  We
 affirm.
      James and JoAnne Poston were married in 1971.  During the next sixteen
 years, they moved frequently.  The first three years they lived in Dallas,
 Texas, where James completed his medical internship and residency.  They
 then moved to Ohio, Florida, Mississippi, Vermont, Minnesota, and, in 1982,
 back to Vermont, where James worked at the North Country Hospital in
 Newport.  The couple separated in October 1987, and James returned to Texas,
 his current residence.  JoAnne and their two children remained in Newport.
      James filed for divorce in Texas in May 1989.  JoAnne was served in
 Vermont by certified mail, but never appeared in that action.  In July
 1989, JoAnne filed for divorce in Vermont.  James was personally served
 while he was in Newport that summer, and he appeared and defended the
 Vermont action.
      On March 20, 1990, the 78th District Court of Wichita County, Texas,
 issued a decree of divorce to James Poston, asserting "sole and exclusive
 jurisdiction" over the action and noting that JoAnne had "not appeared and
 wholly made default."  JoAnne was given physical custody of the children.
 James was awarded visitation and ordered to provide the children an
 automobile, health insurance, education expenses, and airline tickets for
 visitation.  He was also ordered to pay JoAnne $2,500 a month in child
 support, which would be reduced to $2,000 a month when the older child no
 longer qualified for it.  The Texas court noted that the parties had, as
 agreed upon, sold their residence and split the proceeds, that James had
 purchased a car for JoAnne, and that JoAnne had received the majority of
 the parties' furnishings and possessions.  The court remarked that JoAnne
 had "received benefits substantially in excess of one-half (1/2) of the
 property."
      Further, the Texas court found that JoAnne was employed as a trained
 registered nurse and also was receiving support, unspecified in amount, from
 James.  Although JoAnne had set aside her professional aspirations in favor
 of those of her husband and had spent much of her married life as a
 homemaker, the court found that she "voluntarily chose[] to work only part-
 time in the past" and that "no reason or necessity exists" for the award of
 maintenance.  The court valued James' anesthesiology practice, which
 provided him with a six-digit income, at $10,000, $9,000 of which was
 attributed to his goodwill, leaving a net value of $1,000.  The court then
 awarded James all of his retirement and IRA accounts and ordered that he pay
 a lump sum of $30,000 to JoAnne, that each party pay their own attorneys'
 fees, and that James pay the court costs of bringing the Texas action.
 JoAnne did not appeal.
      In Vermont, James sought to dismiss JoAnne's complaint under the
 doctrines of full faith and credit and res judicata, and on the ground that
 15 V.S.A. { 752 did not permit the court to order maintenance to JoAnne
 because she was no longer married to him.  The family court denied the
 motion, holding that although the Texas decree served to terminate the
 marriage, JoAnne did not have the requisite "minimum contacts" with Texas to
 subject her to personal jurisdiction there.  Consequently, the Vermont court
 did not owe full faith and credit to the remainder of the Texas judgment.  A
 temporary hearing was held April 18, 1991, at which the parties entered into
 a stipulation for child support and a temporary order governing the parties'
 financial and personal relationship.  The matter went to trial on the merits
 on July 25, 1991, and September 18, 1991.
      Meanwhile, in August 1991, the Texas court, finding that JoAnne's
 conduct caused James "great expense and anguish," issued an order enjoining
 JoAnne from taking any action, including a suit for divorce, that might
 interfere with the Texas divorce order or that would seek any process or
 satisfaction of any judgment in Vermont.  Additionally, the Texas court
 ordered that JoAnne pay James $1,500,000, plus post-judgment interest, in
 damages should she pursue litigation and receive a judgment in Vermont
 against him.  Finally, the Texas order was punctuated with a judgment in
 James' favor for $25,000 in attorney's fees incurred in defending himself in
 Vermont.
      In February 1992, the Vermont Family Court ordered James to pay $2,500
 a month in child support, maintain health insurance for the children, and
 pay the children's educational and transportation expenses, including the
 purchase and maintenance of the children's automobiles.  The court found
 that in 1990, JoAnne earned $21,656, while James earned $441,598, and that
 JoAnne had a savings account and IRA account totalling $45,000, while James'
 Merrill Lynch and IRA accounts totalled $183,000.  Based on the substantial
 disparity in income between the parties and the fact that JoAnne lacked
 sufficient property and income to meet her reasonable needs and could not
 support herself at the standard of living established during the marriage,
 the court ordered James to pay permanent maintenance adjusted yearly for
 inflation.  Maintenance was set at $1,000 per month while child support was
 owing, increasing to $5,000 per month after child support was no longer due
 in order to build a retirement fund for her, the payments to end when she
 reached age sixty-two.  If JoAnne remarried, the maintenance would be
 reduced to $12,000 per year.  James was also ordered to maintain life
 insurance of $500,000 for JoAnne's benefit.  The court ordered James to pay
 $1,500 a month in a maintenance supplement under 15 V.S.A. { 661(a), to
 mitigate the lower standard of living for the children when residing with
 their mother.  Finally, the court awarded JoAnne over $16,000 in attorney's
 fees.  James then appealed to this Court.
                                     I.
      The United States Constitution requires that "Full Faith and Credit
 shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial
 Proceedings of every other State."  U.S. Const. art. IV, { 1.  Full faith
 and credit of the Texas divorce judgment, however, is conclusive in Vermont
 only if Texas had jurisdiction to render the judgment.  Williams v. North
 Carolina,