Opinion ID: 2604341
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Jurisdiction to Modify Alimony.

Text: Vincent contends the district court had no jurisdiction to modify the alimony award because he had made his final alimony payment before Joanne filed her motion, so there were no unaccrued alimony payments remaining to modify. NRS 125.150(7) states: If a decree of divorce, or an agreement between the parties which was ratified, adopted or approved in a decree of divorce, provides for specified periodic payments of alimony, the decree or agreement is not subject to modification by the court as to accrued payments. Payments pursuant to a decree entered on or after July 1, 1975, which have not accrued at the time a motion for modification is filed may be modified upon a showing of changed circumstances, whether or not the court has expressly retained jurisdiction for the modification. See Hildahl v. Hildahl, 95 Nev. 657, 660, 601 P.2d 58, 60 (1979) (alimony payments once accrued are non-modifiable). The district court's jurisdiction, therefore, is co-existent with the alimony order itself, and the alimony award may not be modified after the order has expired of its own terms, since a court cannot modify that which no longer exists. See Brown v. Brown, 507 P.2d 157, 158-59 (Wash. Ct. App. 1973); Russell G. Donaldson, J.D., Annotation, Power to Modify Spousal Support Award for a Limited Term, Issued in Conjunction with Divorce, So As to Extend the Term or Make the Award Permanent, 62 A.L.R. 4th 180, 186-87, 216-19 (1988). In Schryver v. Schryver, 108 Nev. 190, 826 P.2d 569 (1992), we shed light on the meaning of accrued payments in NRS 125.150(7). In Schryver, husband and wife were divorced and husband was ordered to pay wife $1,200.00 per month in alimony beginning on October 1, 1982, and continuing for a period of eight years. Id. at 190, 826 P.2d at 569-70. September of 1990 was the last month husband was required to make alimony payments under the divorce decree, and husband paid the last payments of $1,200.00 in full at the beginning of the month. Id. at 190, 826 P.2d at 570. In the middle of the month, wife, seeking an increase and extension of the alimony payments, filed a motion to modify the alimony portion of the divorce decree. Id. at 190-91, 826 P.2d at 570. The district court dismissed the motion for modification, and although it did not state its grounds for the dismissal, both the litigants and this court assumed the dismissal was for lack of jurisdiction. Id. at 191, 826 P.2d at 570. Wife contended on appeal that, although husband had made his final alimony payment prior to her motion for modification, the term of support, and thus the court's jurisdiction, did not terminate until the last day of the month. Id. In a case of first impression in Nevada, we accepted wife's contentions and found the district court had jurisdiction to consider wife's motion for modification. Id. We found that [t]o hold otherwise would allow a payor spouse to deprive the court of jurisdiction simply by making advance payments. Id. Thus, in Schryver, we held the time when alimony payments accrue is determined not only by whether the payments have been made, but also by the period of the alimony award. Where the period of the alimony award has not elapsed, the district court has jurisdiction to modify the alimony portion of a divorce decree, regardless of whether the supporting spouse has made all required alimony payments. In other words, a district court retains jurisdiction to modify an award of alimony until the expiration of the period for which the original alimony award was decreed to run. We conclude that Schryver is dispositive of the instant case. The district court ordered Vincent to pay Joanne alimony arrearages of $3,000.00 on November 1, 1988, and $7,500.00 on the first day of December 1988 and continuing on the like day of each and every month thereafter until all sums due under the Judgment shall have been paid in full. The district court also ordered Vincent to pay interest on the $126,000.00 judgment at the rate of twelve percent per annum from November 10, 1987. In effect, the district court ordered specified periodic payments of alimony, each and every month, for a period which, though not explicitly stated, could easily be calculated. When calculated, the period of the district court's award of alimony is found to be more than twenty months, and therefore, the period of the award extended through September, 1990. Since Joanne brought her motion to modify the alimony award on August 31, 1990, well before the period for the payment of monthly alimony installments expired, we hold that the district court maintained jurisdiction to modify the alimony award. Vincent alternatively argues that the order which Joanne seeks to modify is a non-modifiable judgment for alimony arrearages, rather than an alimony award, and that the district court lacks jurisdiction to consider Joanne's motion for modification because the original periodic alimony award expired in September, 1988. We find Vincent's argument to be unpersuasive. At the time the original alimony award expired, Vincent was heavily in arrears in his alimony obligations, and because of this, Joanne sought and obtained a judgment for $126,000.00 in alimony arrearages. As a supporting spouse may not deprive the court of jurisdiction by making advance alimony payments, Schryver v. Schryver, 108 Nev. 190, 191, 826 P.2d 569, 570 (1992), neither may a supporting spouse deprive the court of jurisdiction by failing to make alimony payments. Where the supporting spouse is in arrears at the expiration of the original alimony term, modification of the alimony award is proper after the expiration of the original alimony term. Brown v. Brown, 338 S.2d 916, 918-19 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1976). The Brown court stated: A spouse who is behind in the payment of alimony can hardly be heard to complain that his wilful failure to carry out his original alimony obligations has had the effect of extending the period of time within which the court is entitled to consider a request for further alimony.... Id. at 919. We hold that a supporting spouse, such as Vincent, cannot take advantage of his own failure to comply with his alimony obligations to shield him from subsequent modification of the alimony award, and that the district court maintained jurisdiction over the alimony award when the original alimony period expired while Vincent was heavily in arrears. A judgment for alimony arrearages extends the supporting spouse's alimony obligations for the period of the judgment, and these alimony obligations are modifiable until the expiration of the term specified in the judgment.