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IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS OF WEST VIRGINIA

CHARLENE D. FLESHMAN,

aka Charlene D. Christy, 

Petitioner Below, Petitioner

vs.) No. 22-ICA-20 (Cir. Ct. Greenbrier Co. No. 22-D-AP-3)

JAMES A. FLESHMAN,

Respondent Below, Respondent

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Petitioner Charlene D. Fleshman appeals the Circuit Court of Greenbrier County’s 

July 6, 2022, Order Refusing Appeal of the family court’s order denying her spousal 

support which accrued during the pendency of an earlier appeal. Respondent James A. 

Fleshman filed a response in support of the circuit court’s order. Petitioner did not file a 

reply.1

This Court has jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to West Virginia Code § 51-

11-4 (2022). This Court has considered the parties’ briefs and the record on appeal. The 

decisional process would not be significantly aided by oral argument. Upon consideration 

of the standard of review, the briefs, and the record presented, the Court finds no substantial 

question of law and no prejudicial error. For these reasons a memorandum decision 

affirming the circuit court’s order is appropriate under Rule 21 of the Rules of Appellate 

Procedure.

The parties were divorced by final order entered on September 9, 2017, wherein 

respondent was ordered to pay petitioner one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) per month 

spousal support. Both parties appealed to circuit court which remanded the matter back to 

family court. The family court entered a Corrected Divorce Order, wherein twenty-seven 

hundred dollars ($2,700.00) monthly spousal support was awarded, effective May 7, 2018. 

Respondent did not pay the twenty-seven hundred dollars ($2,700.00). Both parties 

appealed and the circuit court again remanded to family court, where spousal support was 

modified to one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) per month in an amended order on remand,

entered December 30, 2020. On February 4, 2020, petitioner filed a petition for contempt

to enforce the spousal support award that accumulated while the second appeal was 

1 Petitioner is represented by Paul S. Detch, Esq. Respondent is represented by cocounsel Michelle L. Bechtel, Esq., and Alyson A. Dotson, Esq.

FILED

November 15, 2022

EDYTHE NASH GAISER, CLERK

INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS

OF WEST VIRGINIA
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pending; petitioner also appealed the December 30, 2020, family court order. The circuit 

court heard the appeal and remanded back to family court. On October 14, 2021, after

remand, the family court entered a Corrected Amended Order, which was appealed by 

petitioner. The matter was heard by the circuit court and remanded back to the family court 

with instructions. The family court entered its Second Corrected Order on Remand on 

March 23, 2022. Pursuant to this Order, respondent was ordered to pay petitioner one 

thousand dollars ($1,000.00) per month permanent spousal support dating back to

December 1, 2017. Petitioner appealed to circuit court, which refused her appeal.

Petitioner now appeals the circuit court’s refusal of her appeal of the family court’s 

order denying her spousal support awarded in the May 7, 2018, order that accrued during 

the pendency of its appeal to circuit court. We apply the same standard of review that is 

applied by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia:

In reviewing a final order entered by a circuit court 

judge upon a review of, or upon a refusal to review, a final 

order of a family court judge, we review the findings of fact 

made by the family court judge under the clearly erroneous 

standard, and the application of law to the facts under an abuse 

of discretion standard. We review questions of law de novo.

Syl., Carr v. Hancock, 216 W. Va. 474, 607 S.E.2d 803 (2004). “‘Questions relating to 

[spousal support]...are within the sound discretion of the court and its action with respect 

to such matter [ ] will not be disturbed on appeal unless it clearly appears that such 

discretion has been abused.’ Syl., in part, Nichols v. Nichols, 160 W. Va. 514, 236 S.E.2d

36 (1977).” Syl. Pt. 2, Mulugeta v. Misailidis, 239 W. Va. 404, 801 S.E.2d 282 (2017); 

accord Syl. Pt. 2, Petruska v. Petruska, 200 W. Va. 79, 488 S.E.2d 354 (1996).

Petitioner argues that spousal support must be paid during the pendency of an 

appeal, pursuant to West Virginia Code § 51-2A-12(c) (2001), which states, “An order 

granting a motion for a stay under the provisions of this section may not include a stay of 

an award for the payment of spousal support or child support pending the appeal, except 

that an award of past due child support may be stayed pending an appeal.” She argues that 

it was error for the lower courts not to require respondent to pay her the twenty-seven 

hundred dollars ($2,700.00) monthly spousal support pursuant to the May 7, 2018, order, 

even though the award was later reversed.

In contrast, respondent argues that petitioner filed her contempt petition too late. 

The contempt petition should have been filed while the award was in effect and the appeal 

was pending, not after the family court’s order was reversed, remanded, and spousal 

support was recalculated.
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After review, we find the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in refusing this 

appeal based on the untimeliness of the contempt petition. Because the contempt action 

was not commenced by petitioner during the timeframe that the May 7, 2018, order was in 

effect, there is no avenue to enforce it. 

Accordingly, we affirm.

Affirmed.

ISSUED: November 15, 2022

CONCURRED IN BY:

Chief Judge Daniel W. Greear

Judge Thomas E. Scarr

Judge Charles O. Lorensen