Court Opinion

ID: 9631999
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:58:29.463403+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:06.142672
License: Public Domain

DURHAM, Justice
(concurring and dissenting):
I dissent from the portions of the majority opinion dealing with evidence concerning defendant’s bankruptcy debts, the denial of plaintiff’s homestead exemption, and the contempt judgment against plaintiff.
*257I. BANKRUPTCY DEBTS
The majority opinion states that the trial court should not be required to reopen the case to hear evidence offered concerning the nature of defendant’s bankruptcy debts. I disagree.
The amended divorce decree of December 14, 1981, ordered payment of all defendant’s debts from the proceeds of the sale of the home before dividing the equity between them. On January 7, 1982, plaintiff moved to modify the decree and offered an itemized list of the bankruptcy debts, indicating which debts were marital and which were defendant’s personal and business debts. Defendant repeatedly refused to cooperate with the court’s attempts to discover the nature of his bankruptcy debts. Furthermore, the trial court had not made a final determination of this issue at the time of the final hearing on February 4, 1983. The court abused its discretion in refusing to hear plaintiff’s evidence concerning the nature of defendant’s debts because it had not made a final determination on that issue at the time plaintiff offered the evidence and because plaintiff offered considerable evidence to show that not all of the debts were marital.
II. PROPERTY DIVISION AND HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION
I also disagree with the majority’s assertion that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to hear evidence that the down payment on the family house came from plaintiff’s premarital funds. The majority states that the trial court did not err in refusing to hear this evidence because plaintiff did not offer it at trial. Defendant, however, offered contradictory evidence at trial concerning whether all of his bankruptcy debts were joint or separate and the trial court, as already mentioned, had not made a final determination as to the nature of his debts at the time plaintiff offered evidence to contradict defendant’s representations at trial. Under these circumstances, the trial court abused its discretion when it refused to hear plaintiff’s evidence concerning the source of the funds used for the down payment on the family home.
I further disagree with the majority’s treatment of plaintiff’s application for a homestead exemption. The Utah Constitution establishes as a right of state citizenship a mandatory homestead exemption protecting certain property against claims of unsecured creditors. Utah Const, art XXII, § 1. We have held that the courts have no power to deny a homestead exemption to a qualified petitioner. In Volker-Scowcroft Lumber Co. v. Vance, 32 Utah 74, 84-85, 88 P. 896, 899 (1907), this Court stated:
[I]t is obvious that the constitutional provision exempts a homestead from execution sale without restriction, limitation, or exception of any kind.... When the people, through their Constitution, have spoken and have thus exempted the homestead from execution sales without exceptions of any kind, neither the Legislature nor the courts have power to subject it to any such sale.
Again, in Utah Builders’ Supply Co. v. Gardner, 86 Utah 257, 259, 42 P.2d 989, 989 (1935), we declared:
The right to claim a homestead exemption is a right which the head of a family may assert to prevent sale under execution of his homestead at any time prior to the sale of the premises, unless such claim has been previously asserted and actually adjudicated against him. This is not a mere privilege conferred upon the head of a family, but an absolute right intended to secure and protect the home against creditors as a means of support to every family in the state, and the claim may be made at any time before sale or execution.
Under the Utah Exemptions Act, Utah Code Ann. §§ 78-23-1 to -15 (Supp.1986), a homestead exemption may be claimed for a head of family, a spouse, and each dependent, any one of whom may assert the claim. “A homestead consisting of property in this state shall be exempt in an amount not exceeding $8,000 in value for a head of family, $2,000 in value for a spouse, and *258$500 in value for each other dependent.” Utah Code Ann. § 78-23-3 (Supp.1986).
If an individual fails to select property entitled to be claimed as exempt or to object to a levy on the property or to assert any other right under this chapter, the spouse or a dependent of the individual or any other authorized person may make the claim or objection or assert the rights provided by this chapter.
Utah Code Ann. § 78-23-12 (Supp.1986).
Plaintiff filed a complete and timely declaration of homestead as required by the Utah Exemptions Act, claiming the maximum statutory amount for herself, defendant, and the three children. Defendant's bankruptcy does not affect the exemption because the federal Bankruptcy Reform Act specifically allows a state homestead exemption: “[A]n individual debtor may exempt from property of the estate ... any property that is exempt under Federal law, ... or State or local law that is applicable on the date of the filing of the petition....” 11 U.S.C.A. § 522(b)(2)(A) (1979). Defendant’s trustee in bankruptcy has indicated that she will make no distribution of funds until resolution of this appeal. Furthermore, any act of defendant waiving the exemption would have no effect as to plaintiff; Utah Code Ann. § 78-23-11 (Supp.1986) states: “A waiver of exemptions executed in favor of an unsecured creditor before levy on an individual's property is unenforceable.”
The trial court, in its final order of March 16, 1983, ruled that the issue of plaintiff’s homestead exemption had been previously decided and specifically held that plaintiff could not obtain a homestead exemption. The factual basis for this ruling does not appear in the record, and the court made no finding of fact which would support the ruling. Nothing in the record indicates that any previous order had addressed the homestead issue. The court did not state the legal basis for this decision and failed to consider the controlling constitutional, statutory, and case law. For the reasons stated above, I would reverse and remand with instructions to award plaintiff her homestead exemption.
III. CONTEMPT
The majority opinion also erroneously upholds plaintiff’s contempt conviction. The opinion ignores the trial court’s failure to comply with procedures established by both statute and case law.
Our judicial code states that “[djisobedience of any lawful judgment, order or process of the court” is a contempt of the authority of that court. Utah Code Ann. § 78-32-1(5) (1977). In imposing a judgment of contempt, however, the trial court must follow certain statutory procedures. The Utah Rules of Civil Procedure require written findings of fact and conclusions of law in support of any judgment “[i]n all actions tried upon the facts without a jury.” Utah R.Civ.P. 52(a).
The legislature has particularly emphasized the need for complying with procedural requirements governing contempt orders:
When a contempt is committed in the immediate view and presence of the court, or judge at chambers, it may be punished summarily, for which an order must be made, reciting the facts as occurring in such immediate view and presence, adjudging that the person proceeded against is thereby guilty of a contempt. ... When the contempt is not committed in the immediate view and presence of the court or judge at chambers, an affidavit shall be presented to the court or judge of the facts constituting the contempt....
Utah Code Ann. § 78-32-3 (1977). To support a judgment of contempt for acts committed out of court, the law requires not only that the court make written findings of fact and conclusions of law after a hearing, but also that a written affidavit or statement of facts be submitted to a fact finder before the hearing. An order of contempt unsupported by findings of fact and conclusions of law fails to comply with the requirements of section 78-32-3 and Rule 52(a).
In Thomas v. Thomas, 569 P.2d 1119 (Utah 1977), this Court also established explicit requirements for imposing an order *259of contempt. We stated that because a contempt sentence is quasi-criminal, it cannot be imposed unless it appears by clear and convincing evidence: (1) that the party knew what was required of him; (2) that he had the ability to comply; and (3) that he willfully and knowingly failed and refused to do so. Thomas, 569 P.2d at 1121. A primary purpose of written findings of fact is to preserve for the record the reasons for the trial court’s judgment. Without such written findings, nothing exists to show on what evidence the court relied, and review of whether there was clear and convincing evidence of contempt becomes impossible.
The trial court held plaintiff in contempt of court for “wilful failure to obey court orders.” Because no written findings of fact or conclusions of law supported the order, as required by section 78-32-3 and Rule 52(a), this Court cannot determine the basis for the contempt ruling. Several motions for contempt were filed, yet only one was supported by affidavit as required by law, and that affidavit alleged only a single act of contempt. Clear and convincing evidence of this act would justify a judgment of contempt, but without the necessary findings, we have no way of evaluating whether the kind of evidence required under Thomas was presented to the court. The affidavit in itself was insufficient.
Because the contempt order failed to comply with the formal requirements established by statute and case law, I would reverse it.
ZIMMERMAN, J., concurs in the concurring and dissenting opinion of DURHAM, J.