Court Opinion

ID: 9637917
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:26:18.760003+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:01.791343
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Judge,
dissenting opinion.
Because I find no error in the trial court order sustaining Wife’s preliminary objections and dismissing Husband’s complaint, I must respectfully dissent.
When this Court is reviewing the factual determinations of the trial court, it is well-established that “it is not within our province to find facts or to substitute our judgment for that of the trial court.” Hodges v. Rodriguez, 435 Pa.Super. 360, 366, 645 A.2d 1340 (1994). In addition, the determination that a person intends to establish a new domicile can only be made by evaluating his actions which manifest that intent. Scoggins v. Scoggins, 382 Pa.Super. 507, 523, 555 A.2d 1314, 1323 (1989).
The Honorable Judge Michael J. Kane received testimony and reviewed the transcripts of testimony taken in the Maryland proceedings and made the following findings of fact: First, Husband has been in the military since 1970. Husband and Wife purchased their Maryland home in 1979, and they have owned that residence for fifteen years. While Husband was stationed in Maryland and Virginia, the parties lived in that home. Even when Husband was transferred out of the country, the parties retained ownership of the home, and they returned to it when Husband was reassigned to a nearby post. In addition, throughout that fifteen-year period, Husband and *130Wife have maintained Maryland bank accounts, and they have registered and insured their automobiles in Maryland. The parties also listed the Maryland home as their residence with the IRS, and consistently maintained the Maryland address as their residence on all other correspondence. Finally, the trial court noted that, during the marriage Husband voted once in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and he conveniently changed his voter’s registration to Bucks County on the day of the initial divorce hearing in Bucks County. Based upon these factual findings, Judge Kane concluded that Husband had changed his domicile from Pennsylvania to Maryland sometime after the parties purchased their home in 1979.
The Majority, however, quickly disregards these factual findings. Instead, the Majority reviews the same record and concludes that Husband has not abandoned his Pennsylvania domicile. In reaching this determination, the Majority focuses on the fact that Husband attended grade school, high school, and college in Pennsylvania, and the fact that the parties were married in Pennsylvania. Further, neither party has a Maryland driver’s license, nor has either party ever voted in Maryland. Finally, the Majority finds support in the fact that the parties’ son attends a Pennsylvania college with an in-state tuition rate. In my view, an evaluation of Husband’s actions as evidenced by these facts does not compel the conclusion that he intended to retain a Pennsylvania domicile. First, both Husband’s schooling and the parties’ marriage occurred before 1979, the date that they purchased the Maryland home. Also, the Pennsylvania driver’s license has been renewed by mail and lists the Maryland address, thus sparing the parties the inconvenience of taking another driving test. Also, I cannot conclude that one instance of voting in Pennsylvania, while Husband was stationed in this state, proves that Husband intended to re-affirm his Pennsylvania domicile. Finally, the son has obtained in-state tuition solely based upon Husband’s army records. The college did not independently investigate the son’s actual domicile. If it had, it likely would have concluded, as I have, that the entire family is domiciled in Maryland, their home of the last fifteen years.
*131Moreover, the Majority relies on dicta in a 1938 decision, Nixon v. Nixon, 329 Pa. 256, 198 A. 154, to support its conclusion that Wife did not meet her required burden of proof to establish that Husband intended to change his domicile. I find this reliance to be misplaced. The court in Nixon was not convinced that husband had changed his domicile based upon the fact that he had purchased a house outside the state. However, the parties in that case did not have the long history that Vincent and Kathryn Bernhard have established of returning to their Maryland home several times over a long period, coupled with the additional facts as found by the trial court and listed above. I am concerned that in reaching its conclusion the Majority has simply substituted its judgment for that of the trial court by placing greater emphasis on extraneous facts. This is not the proper function of this Court. Hodges, supra.
The Majority fails to explain how Judge Kane has committed error in his analysis or in reaching his conclusion that Husband has changed his domicile. Judge Kane found that the established facts clearly support the conclusion that Husband intended to establish a new domicile in Maryland and abandon his former one in Pennsylvania. After evaluating the trial court’s factual findings to determine whether Husband intended to establish a new domicile, and finding support for those findings in the record, I would agree with Judge Kane’s conclusion. Accordingly, I would hold that the trial court did not err in sustaining Wife’s preliminary objections and dismissing Husband’s complaint. Hence, this dissent.