Opinion ID: 2063087
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: did karen schroff consent to the jurisdiction of the wisconsin trial court when she signed the stipulation for alimony, property division, child support, custody and visitation rights which was incorporated into the florida dissolution of marriage judgment?

Text: Karen Schroff maintains that she was entitled to either a hearing under sec. 801.08, Stats. 1975, [3] to hear her jurisdictional objection or in the alternative that this court should vacate the judgment and dismiss the action for want of personal jurisdiction. William Schroff, on the other hand, argues that Karen Schroff submitted herself to the jurisdiction of the Wisconsin trial court when she signed the stipulation in Florida, and thus no jurisdictional hearing was necessary. William Schroff's argument is based on the fact that at the head of the stipulation were the captions of both the Florida case and the Wisconsin case which had been stayed by order of this court. The caption of the stipulation read:                          CIRCUIT COURT: HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY STATE OF FLORIDA IN RE THE MARRIAGE OF: KAREN M. SCHROFF, Petitioner vs. No. 76-7337 WILLIAM K. SCHROFF, DIVISION A Respondent STATE OF WISCONSIN: CIRCUIT COURT MILWAUKEE COUNTY WILLIAM K. SCHROFF, Plaintiff, vs. CASE NO. 445-223 KAREN ZEANAH SCHROFF, Defendant STIPULATION AND AGREEMENT        The Florida judgment provided, in part, as follows: . . . (4) The husband shall pay to the wife as and for her alimony and for support of the children, . . . the following payments: a) $1,000.00 monthly beginning 1/1/77 . . . In Estin v. Estin, 334 U.S. 541 (1948), the wife had been ordered alimony under a New York separation decree. The husband subsequently obtained an ex parte Nevada divorce, and contended that his obligation to make support payments ended with the termination of the marriage relationship. The United States Supreme Court held that while the Nevada court had jurisdiction to dissolve the marriage, it could not extinguish the wife's right to alimony without personal jurisdiction over her. The New York judgment is a property interest of respondent, created by New York in a proceeding in which both parties were present. It imposed obligations on petitioner and granted rights to respondent. The property interest which it created was an intangible, jurisdiction over which cannot be exerted through control over a physical thing. Jurisdiction over an intangible can indeed only arise from control or power over the persons whose relationships are the source of the rights and obligations. Jurisdiction over a debtor is sufficient to give the State of his domicile some control over the debt which he owes. It can, for example, levy a tax on its transfer by will; . . . appropriate it through garnishment or attachment . . .; collect it and administer it for the benefit of creditors. . . . But we are aware of no power which the State of domicile of the debtor has to determine the personal rights of the creditor in the intangible unless the creditor has been personally served or appears in the proceeding. (Citations omitted.) Id. at 548. [3] The United States Supreme Court reached the same result in Vanderbilt v. Vanderbilt, 354 U.S. 416 (1957), even though in that case the husband obtained an ex parte Nevada divorce before the wife's right to support had been reduced to judgment. The court said: It has long been the constitutional rule that a court cannot adjudicate a personal claim or obligation unless it has jurisdiction over the person of the defendant. Here the Nevada divorce court was as powerless to cut off the wife's support right as it would have been to order the husband to pay alimony if the wife had brought the action and he had not been subject to the divorce court's jurisdiction. Id. at 418-9. This has been the rule in Wisconsin. In Eule v. Eule, 9 Wis.2d 115, 123, 100 N.W.2d 554, certiorari denied 362 U.S. 988 (1960), this court held that an Illinois divorce court could not adjudicate the alimony rights of a Wisconsin wife over whom the court had no personal jurisdiction. [4] We hold the same reasoning applies where the support payments combine alimony and child support. [4] The trial court did not have jurisdiction over Karen Schroff on the basis of the so-called long arm statutes of Wisconsin, sec. 247.057 [5] and 801.05 (11). Both statutes require that the defendant live in this state in marital relationship with the plaintiff for at least six consecutive months within the six years next preceding the commencement of the action. The record clearly shows that Mrs. Schroff never lived with Mr. Schroff in marital relationship in Wisconsin. The question then becomes did she waive her defense of lack of jurisdiction by entering into the aforementioned stipulation with its Florida-Wisconsin caption. This is the position that is strongly argued by Mr. Schroff in contending that the Milwaukee circuit court had jurisdiction over her. Sec. 802.06(8) (a), Stats. 1975, provides: WAIVER OR PRESERVATION OF CERTAIN DEFENSES. (a) A defense of lack of jurisdiction over the person or the res, insufficiency of process, untimeliness or insufficiency of service of process or another action pending between the same parties for the same cause is waived only 1) if it is omitted from a motion in the circumstances described in sub. (7), or 2) if it is neither made by motion under this section nor included in a responsive pleading. Sec. 802.06 (7), Stats., requires that a party who makes a motion under this section include any defense or objection then available to the party which this section permits to be raised by a motion. They may not subsequently make a motion based on the defense or objection so omitted (except certain grounds not material herein). Lack of personal jurisdiction is one of those defenses which must be included in such a motion. Mrs. Schroff repeatedly, and at every appropriate proceeding, raised the objection of lack of personal jurisdiction over her. Mr. Schroff does not contend that she waived her defense of lack of personal jurisdiction by failure to make the proper motions. On the contrary he concedes that but for her action in executing and filing the joint stipulation, she was entitled to a hearing on her objection. For his position that the double captioned stipulation gave the Wisconsin court jurisdiction he relies on a 1939 Vermont case, Noyes v. Noyes, 110 Vt. 511, 9 A.2d 123 (1939). In Noyes, the husband left the state of Vermont and took up residence in California where he was personally served with copies of his wife's divorce complaint. He did nothing about appearing in the action, except that he entered into a stipulation with his wife for alimony and attorney fees. The court concluded that the stipulation amounted to a general appearance by the husband, and that therefore the court did have jurisdiction. But our statute, 802.06 (8), makes it clear that the defense of lack of personal jurisdiction is waived only, 1) if it is omitted from a motion in the circumstances described in sub. (7) or 2) if it is neither made by motion under this section nor included in a responsive pleading. (Emphasis added.) [5] The facts in this case do not show a waiver by Karen Schroff. She signed the stipulation in Florida. The substance of the document dealt with alimony, property division, child support, custody, and visitation and was incorporated into the Florida judgment. When the stipulation was signed, the proceedings in the Wisconsin trial court had been stayed by order of this court. When the Florida judgment was granted, the purpose of the stipulation was at an end. We find no basis for Mr. Schroff's assertion that having executed and filed the stipulation, with obvious understanding that it was part of the proceeding in the trial court, she consented to the jurisdiction of the Wisconsin court. The record before us is silent as to why the stipulation was headed with both Florida and Wisconsin case captions. Looking at the substance of the stipulation, however, there is no basis for asserting that Karen Schroff recognized the case as being in the Wisconsin court. That case had been stayed by this court, thus leaving it open for the completion of the divorce action in the Florida court and the utilization of the stipulation in that action. The Noyes case recognizes that there is no general appearance where the subject matter and nature of the stipulation are such that they in no way recognize the case as being in the court. Noyes v. Noyes, supra at 517. Furthermore, the husband in Noyes joined in filing the stipulation in the Vermont court. Mrs. Schroff has filed no stipulation in the Wisconsin court. In fact, she has done nothing in Wisconsin, other than ask that the case be dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction over her. Such a result is consistent with Wisconsin cases dealing with the effect of a stipulation on jurisdiction. In Gale v. Consolidated Bus & Equipment, 251 Wis. 642, 30 N.W.2d 84 (1947), a stipulation by the defendant as to the time and place of trial was held to constitute submission to the jurisdiction of the court. In Keeler v. Keeler, 24 Wis. 522 (1869), the defendant's stipulation that the cause be tried in Portage county circuit court and waiving further notice of trial was held to constitute an appearance in the action. In both those cases, the stipulation directly acknowledged that the case was in court. We conclude, therefore, that Karen Schroff did not consent to jurisdiction of the Wisconsin court.