Court Opinion

ID: 9743216
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:28:40.285136+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:39.978825
License: Public Domain

O’Connor, J.
The plaintiff appealed to the Appeals Court from the dismissal of her contempt complaint against her former husband for his failure to continue support payments allegedly owed to her under a judgment of divorce. The Appeals Court, by a two-to-one decision, reversed the judgment of the Probate Court. Bell v. Bell, 16 Mass. App. Ct. 188, 197 (1983). We granted the defendant’s application for further appellate review. We affirm the judgment of the Probate Court.
The judgment of divorce was entered on April 28, 1976, effective as of November 28,1975. It incorporated a separation *21agreement that provided in part that the defendant would make significant monthly alimony payments to the plaintiff for a period of fifteen years following the entry of a final judgment of divorce or until the “happening of the following contingencies: 1) the [wjife’s death, 2) the [wjife’s remarriage, and/or 3) [the wjife’s living together with a member of the opposite sex, so as to give the outward appearance of marriage at any time prior to May 1, 1981, whichever of the . . . three contingencies happens first.” The controversy concerns the interpretation and application of the third contingency provision (cohabitation clause). After a trial of the contempt matter, the judge made written findings and rulings. Based on his subsidiary findings with respect to the conduct of the plaintiff, we conclude that she “liv[edj together with a member of the opposite sex, so as to give the outward appearance of marriage . . . prior to May 1, 1981"1 It follows that the judge correctly ruled that the defendant’s obligation to pay alimony had terminated and the contempt complaint was properly dismissed.
The judge found that following the judgment of divorce the plaintiff resided at the marital home in Cohasset on a regular basis until March, 1978. From March, 1978, until that summer she resided part of the time at the Cohasset home and part of the time in an apartment leased by a man identified as “J.R.” From June, 1978, through October, 1979, she resided on a regular basis with J.R. in his apartment, and from October, 1979, to June, 1980, she resided with him at his apartment “for the most part.” The judge also found that “[djuring the period of time from June, 1978 through May, 1981, the plaintiff on a regular basis cohabited with J.R. . . . during which time they shared the same bedroom.”
In addition, the judge made numerous detailed findings which we summarize briefly. The apartment lease stood solely in J.R.’s name. The plaintiff’s name did not appear on the door or on the mailbox and she received her mail elsewhere. *22J.R. paid the rent and the plaintiff purchased the food and did most of the cooking and cleaning. Part of the furniture in the apartment was his and part of it was hers. They maintained separate bank accounts and never commingled assets. They took trips together and divided the costs. They socialized together. The plaintiff never represented to anyone that she was married to J.R. She never used his surname.
The cohabitation clause in question allowed the termination of alimony payments in the event that the plaintiff lived with a man “so as to give the outward appearance of marriage.” It focused on the possibility of the plaintiff’s sharing a home with a man, and it contemplated that that might occur in either of two ways: in a way that would create the appearance that the plaintiff and the man were married, orina way that would not create such an appearance. Clearly, the parties thought that a man and a woman could live together in a way that would normally be associated with being married without their actually being married and without claiming or acknowledging a marriage relationship. It is difficult to conceive of what conduct the parties contemplated if that conduct did not at least include the plaintiff’s sharing a bedroom with a man on a regular basis for approximately three years.
The Appeals Court held that it was the intention of the parties that alimony might be terminated only on the death or remarriage of the plaintiff, or “in circumstances so closely like marriage as to result in Mrs. Bell acquiring significant actual support or a new right to support from a man prior to the specified date in 1981.” Bell v. Bell, supra at 194. The Appeals Court correctly noted that, in the absence of a formally solemnized marriage, the plaintiff could not become entitled to support from a man except by a contract providing for it. Id. at 192-193. Thus, in effect, the Appeals Court interpreted the separation agreement to provide for the termination of alimony in less than fifteen years only if the plaintiff died or remarried or, irrespective of appearances, if she actually received significant financial support from a man other than the defendant, or entered into a contract for support.
*23The plain language of the agreement cannot properly be ignored. The clause in question does not mention support or the plaintiff’s continuing need for it in the absence of a new source. It would have been relatively easy for the parties to have expressly provided for the termination of alimony in the event of the plaintiff’s being substantially supported by another man or becoming contractually entitled to such support. There was no need to subtly express that thought by a reference to the plaintiff’s living with a man so as to give the outward appearance of marriage. The language is better suited, and we think was employed, to provide for termination of the plaintiff’s right to alimony if she were to remarry or were to live as though she were remarried.
In arriving at its interpretation of the cohabitation clause as relieving the defendant of his alimony obligation only if the plaintiff were to receive substantial support or were to become contractually entitled to receive support from another man, the Appeals Court relied in part on a provision in the separation agreement that “neither the [hjusband nor the [w]ife will hereafter interfere with the personal liberty of the other, and each may lead his or her life free from any criticism or restraint by the other.” Bell v. Bell, supra at 194. The court reasoned that, if the defendant were entitled to terminate alimony payments in response to the plaintiff’s arrangement with J.R., the defendant could coerce the plaintiff’s conduct in a way that was inconsistent with the intent of the parties as expressed in their agreement. Id. at 194-195. It is true that the disputed clause, as we interpret it, might give the plaintiff reason not to live with a man so as to give the outward appearance of marriage. It is also true that the provision permitting a termination of alimony in the event of the plaintiff’s remarriage might give her reason to decide against remarriage. We think, however, that it is clear that the parties did not intend by the noninterference provision to preclude the defendant from possibly influencing the plaintiff’s choices by terminating alimony payments in the event she were to remarry or were to live with a man in the manner of a married couple. Termination of alimony payments in such circumstances cannot be considered interfer*24ence with the plaintiff’s personal liberty or “criticism or restraint” within the meaning of the agreement.
Finally, the plaintiff argues that “[c]ohabitation clauses which operate to bar the receipt of support payments by the wife upon the commencement of a non-marital relationship with aman, unfairly discriminate against women, both pursuant to the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution and the Massachusetts Equal Rights Amendment.” The plaintiff’s argument challenging the constitutionality of the provision appears for the first time on appeal to this court. Because this argument was not raised below, we decline to consider it. See M.H. Gordon & Son v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Comm’n, 386 Mass. 64, 73 (1982); Trimmer, petitioner, 375 Mass. 588, 592 (1978).

Judgment of the Probate Court affirmed.

 We consider the cohabitation clause to be unambiguous as applied to the facts of this case, and therefore we do not rely on paroi evidence or on findings of the judge to determine the intent of the parties.