Opinion ID: 1630227
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: whether the chancellor erred in modifying the alimony award.

Text: ¶ 14. William also claims that the chancellor's decision to modify the 1982 divorce decree and to increase the alimony payment was erroneous and contrary to prior decisions of this Court. Cynthia argued that there had been a substantial change in circumstances in that her mental condition had deteriorated and that William's financial condition had improved. The chancellor's final order concludes only that there had been a change in circumstances without addressing the claims with specificity. ¶ 15. William claims that the parties mutually agreed to the alimony amount in the agreed divorce judgment in 1982. He claims that Cynthia had mental problems at that time of the divorce, that future mental problems were foreseeable then, and that there was therefore no substantial change in circumstances. In Ivison v. Ivison, 762 So.2d 329 (Miss.2000), we held that, absent fraud or overreaching, a chancellor should take a dim view of efforts to modify improvidently agreed-upon divorce judgments. However, Ivison noted that agreed divorce judgments are still modifiable in the event of a change in circumstances not foreseen at the time of the agreement. Id. at 334. In order for a chancellor to find a substantial change in circumstances, there must have been some change which resulted from after-arising circumstances of the parties not reasonably anticipated at the time of the agreement and furthermore the change must be one that could not have been anticipated by the parties at the time of the original decree. Id. See also Steiner v. Steiner, 788 So.2d 771 (Miss.2001); Varner v. Varner, 666 So.2d 493, 497 (Miss.1995); Tingle v. Tingle, 573 So.2d 1389, 1391 (Miss.1990); Bell v. Bell, 572 So.2d 841 (Miss.1990). ¶ 16. The agreed divorce judgment here was therefore subject to modification only if there had been a material change in circumstances which could not have reasonably been anticipated at the time of the divorce. The chancellor found that there had been a change in circumstances but made no specific finding on whether the changes could have been reasonably anticipated. The chancellor did find that Cynthia's depression and other mental problems had preceded the divorce by approximately ten years; yet she made no further findings in support of her conclusion that alimony should be increased tenfold. We hold that the chancellor's findings as to a change in circumstances and specifically, whether the change could reasonably have been anticipated, to be insufficient and remand so that the chancellor may specifically address whether Cynthia's current mental condition was reasonably foreseeable at the time of the divorce. Additional findings should also be made as to the foreseeability that William's income would rise after Cynthia agreed to the divorce decree in 1982. ¶ 17. Finally, William claims that the chancellor based the decision to award $4000 per month in alimony on incorrect findings of fact. Without addressing these claims in detail, we note that the chancellor apparently confused the gross receipts from William's medical practice with his net income. She also relied on his personal total assets without taking his liabilities into account. We also note that the chancellor apparently based the amount of the award in part on the fact that the parties had been married for sixteen years. In fact, these parties had been married twice, and the second marriage, which resulted in the divorce decree at issue here, lasted less than a year and a half. We assume that these matters would have been brought to the chancellor's attention if there had been a contested hearing attended by lawyers for both parties. In any event, the record is insufficient to support the chancellor's findings.