Court Opinion

ID: 9564617
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:04:24.802308+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:34.624109
License: Public Domain

Pike, J.,
Dissenting:
I dissent.
This dissent is from that portion of the majority opinion which holds that the enactment of NCL 9474.01 (Stats. Nev. 1949, ch. 79, p. 98, now NRS 125.170) conferred upon the district court jurisdiction to modify future payments of alimony provided to be paid under the provisions of a decree of divorce, in the absence of either a reservation of jurisdiction or stipulation of the parties.
The decree in the instant case was filed on February 10, 1950. It contained no reservation of jurisdiction to modify the amount of the monthly alimony payments ordered to be paid to the wife. The husband gave no notice of intention to move for relief under Rule XLV, District Court Rules, within the six months’ period provided by that rule.
Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure became effective January 1, 1953. It is not clear that NRCP Rule 60 (b) had the effect of continuing the time limitation of Rule XLV, but the Advisory Committee Notes state in part, “The rule [60(b)], as revised, is intended to preserve, *52in substance, the existing rules as to finality of judgments. * * * Rule XLV of the District Court Rules is thought to be of identical effect as this rule, but is temporarily not superseded, since it is so often referred to. * * *” (P. 113, Advisory Committee Notes to NRCP.) Accordingly, if NRCP 60(b) be viewed as having perpetuated the time limitation of Rule XLV, the subsequent repeal of Rule XLV by District Court Rule 40, effective November 1, 1959, would not have had the effect of removing the time limit from the right to move for modification. Nevada Compiled Laws, 1929, 1941 Supp., sec. 9463 (now NRS 125.050, 125.150) providing that, in granting a divorce a court may award alimony to the wife, was amended by Stats. Nev. 1949, ch. 45, p. 54, approved March 9, 1949. Such amendment (now NRS 125.150, subd. (4)1) provided that the court might, upon written stipulation by the parties, modify alimony awarded to the wife, whether or not the court had retained jurisdiction to modify the same. Thereafter, the same 1949 session of the Legislature enacted NCL 9474.012 (now NRS 125.170), approved March 17, 1949. Characteristically a statute empowering a court to act contains the word “court,” yet this significant word does not appear in NCL 9474.01. The statute does, however, state in effect that the parties shall not be precluded from entering into a stipulation “as to accrued installments prior to the time a motion for modification is *53filed,” and in this respect is similar to the then recent amendment to NCL 9463 giving the court authority to modify alimony, upon written stipulation of the parties, without differentiating between accrued and unaccrued payments.
The legislative intent in enacting NCL 9474.01 is not clear. Such legislative intent may be viewed as having been to clarify, qualify, or restrict NCL 9463, as the same had been recently amended by Stats. Nev. 1949, ch. 45, p. 54.
Had the Legislature intended to change the established law of this state, relating to the modification of unaccrued alimony provided to be paid by divorce decrees, it could have followed the suggestions contained in the opinion of this court in Schneider v. Second Judicial District Court, 64 Nev. 26, 37, 176 P.2d 797, 802, and used the language from Cal. Civ. Code, sec. 139, relating to the support of the wife, namely, “the court may from time to time modify its orders in this respect,” or language of similar import. This was not done, although in amending the statute relating to the custody of children, NCL 1929, sec. 9462, the 1947 Legislature had used the exact language from Cal. Civ. Code, sec. 138, as suggested in the Schneider opinion.
This evidenced lack of legislative intent to vest in the court jurisdiction to modify unaccrued payments of alimony, in the absence of a reservation of a right to so modify, when considered with the absence of authority supporting the view that the time limitation for moving to modify judgments was abolished by the repeal of Rule XLV, leads to the conclusion that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to strike that portion of the decree relating to unaccrued payments of alimony, and that said judgment should be reversed.

 NRS 125.150 “* * * (4) In the event alimony has been awarded to the wife, or the court otherwise adjudicates the property rights of the parties, or an agreement by the parties settling their property rights has been approved by the court, whether or not the court has retained jurisdiction to modify the same, such alimony so awarded, such adjudication of property rights, and such agreements settling property rights, may nevertheless at any time thereafter be modified by the court upon written stipulation duly signed and acknowledged by the parties to such action, and in accordance with the terms thereof.”

 NRS 125.170 “1. In divorce actions, installment judgments for alimony and support shall not be subject to modification as to accrued installments, but only as to installments not accrued at the time a motion for modification is filed.
"2. The provisions of this section shall not preclude the parties from entering into a stipulation as to accrued installments prior to the time a motion for modification is filed.”