Court Opinion

ID: 9855320
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:22:43.261766+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:25:39.532860
License: Public Domain

WADE, Justice
(concurring):
I concur with Chief Justice Henriod’s opinion.
However, there are two statements in the opinion which might be construed to be contrary to our holding in Larsen v. Larsen.1 'The opinion says: “In that case this court sent the case hack for findings of fact by the court with respect to future obligations.” Later the opinion says: “Secondly, a decree awarding child support payments cannot be avoided by parent’s conduct or agreement.”
In the Larsen case the trial court ruled that equitable estoppel was not available as a defense for nonpayment of accrued support money for a minor child, and therefore made no findings of fact on that issue or on the issue of whether the support of the child by a third person (the mother’s husband) was voluntary. There we concluded that the evidence would support a finding either way on those issues and remanded the case for a new trial thereon.
Since we conclude that the facts in this case show no representation by plaintiff to defendant with respect to discontinuance of support payments, there can be no doubt that mere silence over a period of time will not raise an estoppel issue under the facts here shown.
In the Larsen case we said:
“In Price v. Price [4 Utah 2d 153, 289 P.2d 1044], we held that because the state is interested in the child’s welfare the parents cannot effectively release future payments of support money by agreeing with the other to that effect. However, this does not mean that a mother may not by her actions or representations, or both, preclude herself from recovering past due installments of support money to reimburse her for the money which *363she has spent for the support of the child. Where the father’s failure to make such payments was induced by her representations or actions and where as a result of such representations or actions the father has been lulled into failing to make such payments and into changing his position which he would not have done but for such representations, and that as a result of such failure to pay and change in his conditions it will cause him great hardship and injustice if she is allowed to enforce the payment of such back installments, she may be thereby estopped from enforcing the payment of such back installments. * * * ”
Since the facts in the Larsen case are entirely different from the facts in this case, I agree with Chief Justice Henriod’s opinion that that case had no bearing on this question.

. Larsen v. Larsen, 5 Utah 2d 224, 300 P.2d 596, rehearing, 9 Utah 2d 160, 340 P.2d 421.