Opinion ID: 1891965
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: authority to make the order.

Text: The order presently under consideration directs the defendant to pay $3,943.30, the amount that would have been paid under the insurance contract. This sum is less than the full amount of the hospital and medical expenses incurred by the plaintiff during her hospitalization. [4] The trial judge specifically stated that the order was not intended as a judgment or a modification of the divorce judgment. We view the order here under consideration as one properly entered for the enforcement of paragraph 10 of the divorce judgment. Sec. 247.01, Stats., vests in the trial courts the authority to do all . . . things necessary and proper . . . to carry their orders and judgments into execution . . . in actions affecting marriage. We believe it is well established that the trial court has broad authority to enforce its judgments in family court proceedings and may employ any remedy customarily available to courts of equity and appropriate to a particular case. Courtney v. Courtney, 251 Wis. 443, 29 N.W.2d 759 (1947). This court has said: The court in a divorce proceeding is authorized to make and award such judgments, decrees, and orders as  justice may require and issue execution and other writs and processes as may be necessary to carry into effect the powers given by statute. . . . Courtney v. Courtney, supra, 453. In Laing v. Williams, 135 Wis. 253, 258, 115 N.W. 821 (1908), this court said that a: . . . circuit court as a court of equity [is] not limited to contempt proceedings in the enforcement of its interlocutory decree, but [may] in a final decree make such provision as would protect the party aggrieved from loss caused by the failure of the other party to comply with the interlocutory decree. (Emphasis added.) [5] In the instant case, the defendant's failure to act occurred within the interlocutory period of the divorce judgment. The judgment became final before the trial court entered the order now before us on appeal, but the order was necessary to give effect to the divorce judgment and to protect the plaintiff from the loss occasioned by the inaction of the defendant. Absent such authority, under the facts of this case, paragraph 10 of the judgment would be of no effect. Laing v. Williams, supra , stands for the proposition that in matters of equity, such as family court matters, trial courts have inherent powers, independent of contempt proceedings, to remedy injuries arising from violations of or noncompliance with their orders or judgments. 2 Nelson, Divorce and Annulment (2d ed., 1961 rev.), sec. 16.50, pp. 509, 510, states the general proposition as follows: . . . It is generally held, either by virtue of [statutory] . . . provisions or as a matter of inherent power of the court to effectuate its orders and do justice in this type of litigation, that the court can do almost anything necessary to insure that the husband meets the obligations imposed upon him. . . .  It is presumed the defendant will make the payment provided for in the order which we here affirm. On this appeal, we do not reach the question of what procedures are available to the plaintiff for enforcement of the order in the event of nonpayment by the defendant. By the Court. Order of August 26, 1975, affirmed. Appeal from the order of October 9, 1975, dismissed.