Opinion ID: 1751702
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Termination of Alimony for Remarriage

Text: Agnes contends that the trial court erred in terminating her alimony because the payments represent a gross alimony payment which was payable in installments or, if not that, the alimony awarded was part and parcel of the property division negotiated between the parties. In either case, Agnes alleges that the alimony payments are therefore not subject to termination. There is no question but what remarriage can impact a party's right to continue receiving alimony. The court held in Marquardt v. Marquardt by Rempfer, 396 N.W.2d 753, 754 (S.D.1986) (quoting Bauer v. Bauer, 356 N.W.2d 897, 898 (N.D.1984)) that `[p]roof that the spouse receiving spousal support payments has remarried establishes a prima facie case requiring the court to terminate the support payments unless there are extraordinary circumstances which justify continuance of the payments.' A remarriage does not automatically terminate alimony, but places the burden of proving the existence of extraordinary circumstances warranting the continuation of alimony payments on the spouse receiving same. Marquardt, 396 N.W.2d at 754 (citing In re Marriage of Shima, 360 N.W.2d 827, 828 (Iowa 1985)). Agnes argues that the agreement negotiated as the property settlement agreement by the parties is ambiguous as it relates to this alimony issue. A trial court, when asked to interpret a property settlement agreement incorporated into a divorce decree, applies contract principles. Johnson v. Johnson, 291 N.W.2d 776 (S.D. 1980). One of these principles of construction is that a court should, if possible, ascertain and enforce the mutual intention of the parties as set forth in their agreement. Id. at 778. The parties deleted the following words from the executed agreement, for full and complete distribution and settlements of all equity assets and, which left Paragraph 16 of their agreement to read Defendant (Kenneth) agrees and shall pay to Plaintiff (Agnes) as rehabilitation alimony .... (Emphasis added.) In reviewing the total agreement, Paragraphs 13, 14, 15 and 17 provided for the division of personal property, the marital home, and the parties' debts. In fact, this record discloses that the parties treated these payments as alimony for income tax purposes. The trial court was correct in holding that the parties' intention as evidenced by this unambiguous agreement was to limit Paragraph 16 to alimony. Agnes next argues that the alimony, if not part of the property settlement, was a lump-sum award which is not modifiable even if to be paid in installments. Holt v. Holt, 84 S.D. 671, 674, 176 N.W.2d 51, 53 (1970). Other than alimony being terminated at a fixed point in time, the agreement is devoid of any language establishing a lump-sum distribution to be paid in installments. Rather, this agreement clearly states that Kenneth was to pay Agnes rehabilitative alimony in decreasing amounts over the years as she gained financial independence. This agreement simply awards Agnes what it is purported to provide for her  rehabilitative alimony and clearly does not show an intention on the part of these parties to provide for nonmodifiable lump-sum alimony award. Agnes failed to present any evidence to establish extraordinary circumstances requiring a continuation of her alimony payments after the filing of Kenneth's petition for modification and the trial court did not err in terminating her alimony after this date.