Court Opinion

ID: 9707585
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 02:16:04.067711+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:35.407071
License: Public Domain

POPOVICH, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the opinion of the majority because I do not believe the Civil Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Cambria County had subject matter jurisdiction over this action to enforce a criminal judgment of sentence. Further, assuming arguendo, that the criminal judgment is enforceable as a support order, I agree with appellant that the action should be barred by the six year statute of limitations. Finally, I am convinced that appellant is entitled to a credit against his “support” obligation for the total amount of his Department of Veterans Affairs benefits paid to his son directly, and, since the total VA benefits paid directly to his son exceeds his support obligation, I would find that appellant has discharged his duty under his judgment of sentence for desertion 1 and non-support2 which was entered over fifty years ago on December 31, 1945.
Appellant argues that appellee lacks standing to petition for enforcement of this “support order” and the district attorney is the proper authority to enforce the judgment of sentence. The majority concluded that appellant has waived this issue for failing to raise the issue in written exceptions to the master’s report. However, I would find the argument was not waived since the lower court heard oral argument on the issue on July 24, 1995. See, Pa.R.C.P. 1910.12(f) (“Matters not covered by exceptions are deemed waived unless, prior to entry of the final order, leave is granted to- file exceptions raising those matters.”).
*441Regardless of whether the issue of standing has been waived, I believe the issue should be addressed because it is more properly framed as an attack on the jurisdiction of the civil division of the Court of Common Pleas to enforce terms of a criminal judgment of sentence. Since questions relating to the jurisdiction of the court are not waived by the parties’ failure to raise them and may be raised by this court sua sponte, I believe we must address the question of subject matter jurisdiction herein raised. Fried v. Fried, 509 Pa. 89, 90-94, 501 A.2d 211, 212-213 (1985); Commonwealth v. Stadtfeld, 445 Pa.Super. 271, 278 n. 3, 665 A.2d 487, 491 n. 3 (1995).
In the recent case of Commonwealth v. Johnson, 542 Pa. 568, 574-578, 669 A.2d 315, 319-320 (1995), our supreme court held that jeopardy does not attach when an order transferring a juvenile from the jurisdiction of the criminal division of the court to the juvenile division of the court is improper. In other words, a case must be heard in the correci division of the court of common pleas for that court to possess the requisite subject matter jurisdiction, and without subject matter jurisdiction, any action take by the court is void. Johnson, supra. Presently, it is undisputed that appellant’s duty of support arises from a criminal judgment of sentence, not a civil support order. Thus, I submit the civil division of the court of common pleas did not possess jurisdiction over this matter, and the actions taken below are void. This matter should have been resolved in the criminal division of the court, and the lower court was without authority to order appellant to pay the arrearages.
Next, assuming the criminal judgment of sentence for desertion and non-support has somehow been transmogrified into a civil support order, I am convinced appellee is barred by the statute of limitations from asserting the claim for child support arrearages. First, it is duplicitous for the lower court to rule that the six year statute of limitations has no bearing upon a criminal judgment of sentence and then to enforce the judgment of sentence when, in fact, the civil division of the court of common pleas has no authority to enforce a criminal judgment. Second, I agree with appellant that Cohen v. *442Cohen, 352 Pa.Super. 453, 508 A.2d 561 (1986) is controlling and the six year statute of limitations, 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5527, should be applied if we are going to consider this criminal judgment of sentence to now be a civil support order.
Finally, I am convinced that appellant has discharged his duty of support under the judgment of sentence since it is undisputed that the total VA benefits paid directly to appellant’s son has well exceeded appellant’s total support obligation. The fact that the VA payments did not begin until October 11, 1957, when his child was eleven, in no way limits appellant’s entitlement to credit towards the support arrearages which accrued before the date when VA benefits were first paid.

. 18P.S§ 4731 (repealed).

. 18 P.S. § 4733 (repealed).