Opinion ID: 2572748
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Superior Court's April 10, 2001 Judgment for Unpaid Interim Support

Text: The superior court's judgment found that David owed Annette $24,822.10 in unpaid interim child and spousal support, $44,631.53 in municipal property taxes, $151,761.88 in mortgage and insurance on the family residence, and $8,818.81 in interest for a total of $230,034.32. [20] David claims that the superior court's judgment for unpaid interim support is overstated because the superior court did not credit him for a number of payments made either to or for Annette and because it ordered him to make payments that were Annette's responsibility. With one exception, we reject these claims.
David claims that Annette overstated the property tax arrearage, and that the superior court erred by including the property taxes on the 11th Avenue house between January 1, 1999 and September 30, 1999 in its judgment against him. This claim rests primarily on the fact that the interim support order, which became effective on October 1, 1999 required David to pay and bring current the arrearage on the home mortgage and pay the monthly mortgage, property tax and insurance on the family residence, but did not mention the arrearage in property taxes. The failure to specifically mention property tax arrearages in the interim support order does not forbid the award of such arrearages if it would further the clear purpose of the order. [21] Annette is correct that the superior court intended the order to require David to pay both the outstanding debt and the monthly mortgage payments on the 11th Avenue home because the interim support order provides that David must pay for all household expenses in addition to $5,000 in support per month. Allowing the property to be encumbered by a property tax debt which might have led to foreclosure by the municipality is inconsistent with the intent of the interim support order. That the superior court did not grant David relief on this issue provides further support for the conclusion that the omission of property tax arrearages from the original order was mere oversight. Additionally, David's claim that he is not responsible for the property tax arrearages because he provided Annette with money in early 1999 that could have been used to pay them must fail because the superior court intended that he pay the outstanding taxes. Therefore, the superior court did not err by declining to credit David for any portion of the property tax arrearages he was required to pay.
The superior court adopted Annette's requested judgment for unpaid interim support, which assessed to David the fees owed to Bank of America because of the parties' failure to make their mortgage payments on time. David claims that Annette should be responsible for the $413.97 per month in late charges because Annette had the funds to make these payments on time. This argument is frivolous. The superior court explicitly gave David the responsibility for making the mortgage payments, determining that he was fully capable of meeting the interim support order. Whether Annette could have made the payments is irrelevant given that the court directly ordered David to pay the household expenses. Therefore, David is responsible for all late charges resulting from his failure to meet his interim support obligations in a timely manner.
David argues that the amount of property insurance premiums claimed by Annette and awarded by the superior court was overstated. The superior court adopted Annette's requested judgment and awarded her $11,213.15 in reimbursement for insurance payments to State Farm, the insurer. David failed to raise any challenge to this reimbursement in his objections to the proposed judgment for unpaid interim support. We have previously held that [m]atters not made issues or tried before the lower court will not be considered on appeal. [22] Because David failed to raise this issue before the superior court, we will not consider it on appeal. 4. The superior court did not err in forcing David to pay for the cost of the Bank of America insurance policy procured because he failed to make timely interim support payments. David challenges the superior court's award to Annette of the costs of a Bank of America insurance policy on the 11th Avenue house which was obtained when Annette defaulted on the State Farm policy discussed above, arguing that Annette should be held responsible for the difference in cost between the two policies because she failed to pay the State Farm policy with the money she had available. David also claims that he should not be responsible for the cost of the Bank of America policy because the policy was grossly overpriced. The above analysis concerning David's inability to claim a credit for mortgage late fees caused by his failure to make mortgage payments in accordance with the superior court order applies with equal weight to this claim. The superior court did not err by holding David responsible for any increase in insurance premiums caused by his failure to fulfill the requirements of the interim support order in a timely manner. 5. The superior court did not err in relying on a Child Support Enforcement Division statement or in failing to credit David for support payments. David next claims that the superior court erred in relying on a Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED) arrearage statement that failed to credit him for any payments he made to Annette prior to September 13, 2000. David claims that this statement fails to include various payments he made in April and May 2000 which should have been applied to the spousal support payments for January through May 2000 and the child support payments for March through May 2000. David is wrong: CSED did credit David for spousal and child support payments every month from October 1999 through January 2001 in the document in question, an Adjustment Worksheet. Therefore, David has failed to demonstrate that the superior court did not credit him for the payments made in April and May 2000. 6. The superior court did not err in failing to credit David for costs of appraisals of real property. David also claims that the judgment is overstated because he was not credited for the money he spent for appraisals of certain property under the superior court's order that the parties share the cost of appraising property, unless otherwise ordered, in the event that the value of the property was contested. Annette responds that the superior court's final judgment for unpaid interim support constituted an order that appraisal costs would not be shared. We find Annette's argument unpersuasive because the judgment for interim spousal support did not specifically mention any of David's alleged credits or the allocation of appraisal costs. Annette also argues that the parties hired appraisers as expert witnesses rather than neutral, joint appraisers, and that each party should bear the full cost for his or her independent expert witnesses. We agree with Annette on this point: One party should not be forced to pay for one who is essentially the other party's expert witness. Therefore, the superior court did not err by declining to credit David for the majority of his appraisal costs. 7. The superior court erred in failing to credit David for one-half of the appraisal cost of his medical practice. We note an exception to the rule stated in the previous section for the appraisal costs regarding David's medical practice. The prenuptial agreement provided that David's practice could only be valued by the accounting firm that prepared the business' most recent federal income tax return. This provision, which explicitly provides for a particular appraiser, was agreed to by both parties. Therefore, David should be credited with half of the cost of this appraisal. David's brief does not clearly state the costs of this appraisal, as it lists three different parties that appraised David's medical practice and holdings. Because the record is unclear on this point we remand this issue to the superior court to make factual findings regarding the cost of valuing David's medical practice by the appraiser specified in the prenuptial agreement, and to credit David for one-half of that amount.