Court Opinion

ID: 9523370
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:40:50.759019+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:05:10.812573
License: Public Domain

Reardon, J.
(dissenting, with whom Quirico and Brau-cher, JJ., join). The Fernandez case became moot in September, 1973. The Fiorentino case will become moot on April 1, 1974. Nevertheless, as the cases were properly brought before the two-year residence requirement ex*27pired, we would ordinárily agree with the majority that we should declare the rights of the parties. See Karchmar v. Worcester, 364 Mass. 124, 136 (1973). In this case, however, we are adjudicating a difficult and important Federal constitutional question on which other courts have divided and which the Supreme Court of the United States will doubtless soon resolve (see fh. 2 to the majority opinion). In such a situation we should not rush to make a constitutional decision which cannot finally resolve the question. See First Natl. Bank v. Attorney Gen. 362 Mass. 570, 596 (1972) (concurring opinion of Quirico, J.).
In the Fernandez case the judge did not decide the question of jurisdiction, but, “acting under the provisions of G. L. c. 215, § 13,” reserved and reported the entire case. The power to reserve and report under that section is limited to cases in which interlocutory decrees have been made and cases that have been heard for final determination. It does not appear that this case is one in either class, and it is therefore not properly here on report. Second Bank-State St. Trust Co. v. Linsley, 341 Mass. 113, 116 (1960). Compare Bennett v. Florence, 347 Mass. 707, 709 (1964).
In the Fiorentino case the Probate Court refused to accept the libel for filing, and the libellant filed a petition for mandamus to compel acceptance of the libel. A similar situation arose in Peace v. Peace, 362 Mass. 536,538 (1972), where we said that “such an ex parte presentation without the issuance of process for service on the libellee and an attempt to bring him within the jurisdiction of the Probate Court is not a satisfactory basis upon which to require our decision of such an important constitutional question.” On the authority of that case, the present case should be returned to the Probate Court with a direction to allow the filing of the libel. After service of appropriate process on the libellee, the case should proceed in due course. Meanwhile, we should make no decision and intimate no opinion on the constitutionality of G.L. c. 208, §§ 4 and 5.
Since this court nevertheless decides the constitutional question, we express our views on it. We believe that it is *28constitutionally permissible for the Legislature to determine that the durational residence requirement imposed on the libellants in these cases by G. L. c. 208, §§ 4 and 5, is necessary to protect State interests of the most compelling nature. Therefore we must respectfully dissent from the decision and opinion of the court.
The majority opinion correctly delineates the equal protection issues raised by these cases.1 There is no question that this residence requirement does place some burden on some new residents of the Commonwealth by requiring them to wait for a specified period before they may properly bring a libel to dissolve a marriage which has no connection with Massachusetts beyond the asserted domicil of the libellant. Furthermore, because the burden imposed impinges on the critical personal right of access to divorce courts, Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U. S. 371, 376 (1971), it may “penalize” the exercise of the right to interstate travel. See Memorial Hosp. v. Maricopa County, *29415 U. S. 250, 258-259 (1974). But in our view this does not end the inquiry. The Supreme Court has clearly held that durational residence requirements need not be offensive to the Constitution in every case. Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U. S. 618, 638, n. 21 (1969). Starns v. Malkerson, 401 U. S. 985 (1971), affg. without opinion 326 F. Supp. 234 (D. Miss. 1970). Vlandis v. Kline, 412 U. S. 441, 452-453, n. 9 (1973). Sturgis v. Washington, 414 U. S. 1057 (1973), affg. without opinion 368 F. Supp. 38 (W. D. Wash. 1973). Memorial Hosp. v. Maricopa County, 415 U. S. 250, 256 (1974). Although it is not clear in these cases whether or not the court found a significant “penalty” inherent in the restriction, Memorial Hosp. v. Maricopa County, supra at 257-259, the court has made it plain that even such a penalty may be permissible if necessary to promote a compelling State interest. See, e.g., id. at 258; Shapiro v. Thompson, supra, at 634; Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U. S. 330, 341-343 (1972).
It is true that Chief Justice Burger, commenting on this “strict scrutiny” standard of review in his dissent in Dunn v. Blumstein, supra, noted: “So far as I am aware, no state law has ever satisfied this seemingly insurmountable standard, and I doubt one ever will, for it demands nothing less than perfection.” 405 U. S. at 363-364. It has been suggested that the use of the “active” standard of review is a mere camouflage for striking down classifications which are unsatisfactory for other unspoken reasons, see Note, 58 Va. L. Rev. 1489, 1495-1496 (1972), and that this standard provided review which was “ ‘strict’ in theory and fatal in fact.” Gunther, Foreword: In Search of Evolving Doctrine on a Changing Court: A Model for a Newer Equal Protection, 86 Harv. L. Rev. 1, 8 (1972). We cannot take so cynical a view of the language of the Supreme Court. If that court had determined that certain classifications were per se unconstitutional irrespective of claimed State justification, language was at its disposal to say just that. It has not done so. It has stated only that such classifications cannot *30be sustained “unless the State can demonstrate that such laws are ‘necessary to promote a compelling governmental interest.’ ” Dunn v. Blumstein, supra, at 342. Taking the court at its word and finding such a necessity here, we would uphold the statute. See Shiffman v. Askew, 359 F. Supp. 1225, 1229 (M. D. Fla. 1973).
As the majority recognize, the challenged statutes are jurisdictional in nature. Old Colony Trust Co. v. Porter, 324 Mass. 581, 586 (1949). Thus the interest they serve is the interest of a State in putting some limits on the kinds of causes and parties which come before its courts. The ability so to limit causes and parties is not only inherent in the concept of sovereignty of a State but is an essential element of that comity which makes our Federal union possible. That Federal system relies upon State court restraint with respect to causes having only minimal ties to the respective States as well as upon that full faith and credit afforded to the judgments of courts of sister States mandated by art. 4, § 1, of the United States Constitution. See Hazard, A General Theory of State-Court Jurisdiction, 1965 Sup. Ct. Rev. 241, 246-247. Compare Hanover v. Turner, 14 Mass. 227 (1817); Galpin v. Page, 18 Wall. 350 (1873); Story, Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws, § 20. II (8th ed. 1883). The failure of States so to confine their jurisdiction would play havoc with the delicate balance of comity. See von Mehren & Trautman, Jurisdiction to Adjudicate: A Suggested Analysis, 79 Harv. L. Rev. 1121, 1126 (1966). The interest of the Commonwealth in maintaining that balance may certainly be deemed not only “overriding” or “compelling” but indeed fundamental to the very nature of its existence as a component of the Federal union.
The majority further recognize that the interest of the State in maintaining the jurisdictional integrity of its divorce courts presents a particularly difficult task because, unlike jurisdiction in other actions, divorce jurisdiction may constitutionally be founded on the mere domicil of one party. It is appropriate for States to supplement this slender jurisdictional base with a strict and objective test *31such as that provided by G. L. c. 208, §§ 4 and 5. These sections effectively reinforce the critical State objective of restricting the Massachusetts Probate Courts to divorce by bona fide domiciliarles. See Shiffman v. Askew, supra, at 1231-1232. By so doing, they manifest the Commonwealth’s concern for comity by refusing to adjudicate matters which are more properly left to the law of other jurisdictions. They also make it more certain that Massachusetts decrees will be respected in other jurisdictions which could refuse them effect on the basis of improper domicil. Williams v. North Carolina, 325 U. S. 226, 239 (1945).
Although they acknowledge the compelling character of this interest, and also concede that the statute struck down today protects that interest, the majority hold that there exists a less restrictive means of achieving the interest, namely, a case by case examination of each potential libellant to determine whether he or she possesses the requisite domiciliary intent to establish jurisdiction. The majority thus adopt the reasoning of the Supreme Court in striking down durational residence requirements for voting in Dunn v. Blumstein, supra. As in the opinion in the Dunn case, the majority cite a list of other objective criteria for determining domicil without resort to durational residence requirements. This method may well be effective as a way of detecting bona fide residents for voting purposes. But the mechanical application of that approach to the problem of determining domicil for divorce jurisdiction reveals an unwillingness to come to grips with the special characteristics of the litigants and proceedings involved in divorce.
The majority have, in fact, completely ignored the universally unhappy experience of divorce courts when relying on anything other than strict objective tests. Perhaps no other sector of the judicial process has been so fraught with sham and deception as that dispensing divorce. The sense of urgency which parties bring to a divorce action, when it comes up against the barriers erected by State law in pursuance of important policies of either a jurisdictional or a substantive nature, has frequently over*32come what might normally be an extreme reluctance to lie to a court. Such fraud has often been used to evade stringent grounds for divorce. In the period when the sole ground for divorce in the State of New York was adultery, one State commission found “widespread fraud, perjury, collusion and connivance in matrimonial actions of every type.” Note, New York’s New Divorce Law: Beyond the Sixth Commandment, 5 Col. J. of Law and Social Problems, 1, 2, n. 12 (No. 2, 1969). See Hawke, Divorce Procedure: A Fraud on Children, Spouses and Society, 32 Texas Bar J. 163 (1969); Westman, The Myth of the Uncontested Divorce, 41 Fla. Bar J. 304 (1967). Perjury “has sadly become a matter of course in many states” when it comes to the needed allegations of domicil. Ehrenzweig & Louisell, Jurisdiction State and Federal In A Nutshell, § 10 (3d ed. 1973). Not only is perjury a danger in obtaining jurisdiction for divorce, but parties are willing (in a way they would be unlikely to be in the case of voter fraud) to acquire the indicia of domicil so heavily relied upon by the majority as the subject of an individualized inquiry. The acquisition of a divorce decree is regarded as such an unusual occurrence in individual lives and of such paramount importance that it is understandable why many will “manufacture” a domicil which they have no intention of retaining. See Ehrenzweig, Conflict of Laws, § 72 (1959). Commenting on this phenomenon in the State of Nevada, one observer noted: “All the while they contemplated returning to their home states immediately after their divorces were secured, yet they all swore falsely that they intended to make Nevada their permanent home, having been warned by local counsel that, unless they did so, they would be out of court. On advice of counsel they also took steps which would be accepted by the Nevada courts as corroborating their sworn statement but were actually nothing more than sham and camouflage.” Lorenzen, Extraterritorial Divorce — Williams v. North Carolina II, 54 Yale L. J. 799, 801 (1945), quoted in Whitehead v. Whitehead, 53 Hawaii 302, 308, fn. 3 (1972). It seems *33apparent that the extensive litany of factors bearing on domicil which the majority would have probate judges investigate is utterly inadequate to deter or discover the possible fraud of those who perceive so much at stake in a unique episode in their lives.
The issue is not as stated by the majority whether “the problem of fraudulent domicil claims in divorce cases . . . [is] so serious as to outweigh any harm caused to legitimate domiciliaries who are barred from divorce courts.” Having admitted that the State interest in the jurisdiction of its courts is a compelling one, the only question is whether the Legislature may properly determine that no test of domicil other than a durational residence requirement adequately protects that critical State interest in the context of divorce. If, as in Massachusetts, it has concluded that no other tests can be effective, it is not for this court to balance the relative injuries incurred by individuals in preserving that interest.
Nor is the question here one of the competence of judges in “performing the functions of their offices.” It is not the qualities of the judges but the incentives of the parties which are relevant and which set the area of divorce apart from other court proceedings. Even the most perspicacious judge cannot separate the new but legitimate domiciliary from the dissembling transient if the latter is both willing and able to acquire the evidence which the majority indicate would be sufficient to satisfy an individualized test.2
It is certainly true, as the majority point out, that the parties may lie about two years of residence as well as about *34domiciliary intent. What the majority do not consider, however, is that the risk of such deceit is considerably reduced in the former cases. There is no doubt a greater reluctance to swear falsely to facts which are already false than to some uncertain future intent or state of mind. Moreover, in doubtful cases the fact of continuous residence for the required period may more eásily be proved or disproved than the domiciliary intent evidenced only by sworn statements and easily acquired “objective” indicia. By requiring two years of residence in addition, the Legislature has adopted a test which most effectively secures the Commonwealth’s interest in granting divorces only to bona fide domiciliaries. The statute does not, and cannot, operate with complete perfection, including all legitimate domiciliaries and excluding only those seeking migratory divorces. But no classification can sustain that burden, and this should not automatically disqualify it under the strict constitutional test applied. That test does “not have the precision of mathematical formulas” but “emphasize[s] a matter of degree.” Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U. S. 330, 342-343 (1972). It is for the Legislature to determine the least restrictive means which are reasonably adapted to the protection of the vital State interest involved.
We also dispute the majority’s contention that stringent safeguards on the jurisdiction of our Probate Courts are unnecessary because of the strict limitations on the substantive grounds for divorce in Massachusetts. “Cruel and abusive treatment” maybe established by mere words, and the granting of a divorce is not discretionary. Brown v. Brown, 323 Mass. 332, 334 (1948). La Raia v. La Raia, 329 Mass. 92 (1952). Even if the present substantive grounds are regarded as strictly limited, they can and do experience *35change.3 Many States are currently undergoing a reexamination of their substantive divorce laws and a number have adopted the concept of “no-fault” divorce. See, e.g., Fla. Sts. § 61.052 added by Laws 1971, c. 71-241, § 7; Iowa Code (1966) § 598.5, added by Acts of 1970, c. 1266, §6. The majority would have Massachusetts protect its compelling interest in assuring the proper domicil of parties in divorce actions by assuming that its substantive law of divorce cannot be liberalized. It is competent, however, for the Legislature to determine that the current mechanism of requiring continued residence in specified cases is far more appropriate and that it is compatible with any grounds for divorce the Legislature may hereafter formulate.
In short it seems clear that the danger to the jurisdictional integrity of Massachusetts divorce courts is a significant one. By hedging about the requirement of domicil in those cases where that alone provides the nexus between the Commonwealth and the marriage which is the subject of the libel, the Legislature has chosen a means carefully suited to the end sought. The history and experience of divorce courts show clearly that nothing less will do. The loss of that protection opens the door to possible fraud and abuse which mock the very judicial process which is being invoked.
The present application of the statute also serves the distinct State interest in assuring justice to litigants. These cases suggest the hardship and possible injustice which may result from an exercise of divorce jurisdiction on the basis of domicil without other safeguards. In the Fiorentino case the libellee wife continues to reside in New York with the two children of the parties, and the husband has been ordered to pay $50 a week for their support. The record discloses no personal service on the wife, no actual notice to her, no appearance on her behalf in the present proceeding, and only notice “by certified mail return receipt requested” *36in the prior separate support proceeding. In the Fernandez case the record shows that the libellee husband, a resident of Puerto Rico, was served by “publication and registered mail,” and a return receipt indicates that he had actual notice. In neither case is there any showing that the libellee has the means to participate in judicial proceedings in Massachusetts.
It is constitutional for our courts to exercise divorce jurisdiction without jurisdiction of the person of the libel-lee, even though the libellee has never had any significant contact with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In such cases a finding of domicil could be relitigated in another forum, and our courts have no power to bind the absent spouse personally by an adjudication with respect to support or property rights. Our Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act provides an effective procedure for an absent wife to enforce her right to support against her husband in Massachusetts. G. L. c. 273A. See M- v. W-, 352 Mass. 704, 708 (1967). But an effective divorce decree, obtained ex parte, might terminate her right to support. See Madden v. Madden, 359 Mass. 356, 365 (1971), and cases cited.
In these circumstances we do not think the Constitution compels the Commonwealth to exercise its jurisdiction to grant ex parte divorces. The interest of the Commonwealth in assuring justice to the absent spouse is a compelling one. The delay of two years permits the parties to work out their difficulties either by reconciliation or by a divorce in the State where the absent spouse remains, As time passes, the interest of the absent spouse in the affairs of the refugee in Massachusetts is likely to diminish, and the former.home in New York or Puerto Rico may come to seem less appropriate as a forum for litigation. Meanwhile, the ties of the new resident to Massachusetts are likely to deepen and grow stronger, and the chances that a finding of domicil in Massachusetts can be contested elsewhere are progressively reduced. When the balance swings sufficiently to justify the risk of injustice to the absent spouse is peculiarly *37appropriate for legislative rather than judicial determination. It cannot be said that a two-year period is excessive, much less that it is irrational or invidious. Compare Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U. S. 371, 388-389 (1971) (concurring opinion of Brennan, J.).
The Supreme Court of the United States has not held that durational residence requirements for divorce constitute a “penalty” in the constitutional sense in any circumstances, and certainly has not held them unconstitutional in the present circumstances. Durational residence requirements have been held to be “penalties” in cases involving eligibility for welfare, voting, and medical care, but they have been held valid with respect to tuition charges at State universities. The difference is that educational tuition is neither “a fundamental political right” nor “a basic necessity of life.” Memorial Hosp. v. Maricopa County, 415 U. S. 250, 259 (1974). The same may be said of ex parte divorce.

 Although the majority decline to rest their opinion upon their interpretation of the applicability of the due process clause to this case, their analysis requires at least a brief comment. It is true that a recent flurry of United States Supreme Court cases has held State statutes unconstitutional because they create “irrebuttable presumptions.” Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U. S. 645, 656-658 (1972). Vlandis v. Kline, 412 U. S. 441, 446 (1973). Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. LaFleur, 414 U. S. 632, 647-648 (1974). The wisdom of and the exact limits to which the reasoning of these cases may extend is a matter which only the passage of time will reveal. See Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. LaFleur, supra, at 658-659 (Rehnquist, J., dissenting). The Vlandis case does make clear, however, that not all residence requirements are unacceptable. The majority in that case noted with approval (at 452-453, n. 9) Starns v. Malkerson, 401 U. S. 985 (1971), which upheld a one-year domicil requirement for a lower resident tuition rate at State universities. The distinction drawn there was between presumptions which were permanent and those which were temporary. The present case, of course, is a temporary gresumption since continued residence for two years eliminates the presumption. ontrary to the view taken by the majority, the LaFleur case does not dictate a different rule. The presumption examined there did not concern the continuance in time of any status but rather the physical capacity of pregnant women to perform certain employment duties. A reasonable “temporary” presumption about duration of residence may be acceptable while a faulty presumption about pregnancy will offend even though the pregnancy is temporary.
_ The same distinction with respect to permanence also applies to the majority’s citation of Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U. S. 371 (1971). The barrier to divorce actions by indigents in that case was a potentially permanent one. The restraint imposed on potential libellants who are subject to the residence requirement of G. L. c. 208, §§ 4 and 5, is by its very nature temporary.

 The majority contend that the statutes have already committed individualized determinations of domicil to probate judges by virtue of the requirement in certain cases that the parties have lived together as husband and wife in this Commonwealth which has been interpreted as requiring a previous domicil. That requirement, however, refers to a domicil established before any cause for divorce arose. Thus the incentives to fraud discussed in the text are extremely unlikely to exist. It is considerably easier, of course, to determine the legitimacy of domicil as an historical fact than as a present intention.
The majority opinion, itself, is largely addressed to the propriety of using residence as a test of domicil. Thus the majority do not seriously press their *34suggestion that the two-year residence requirement of G. L. c. 208, § 5, really requires two years of continuous domicil. Even if such were the meaning, and probate judges were required to examine the question of domicil during that period without the benefit of a presumption drawn from residence, they would still have the advantage of an historical rather than a psychological investigation. The following two years of actual continued residence (a necessary component of domicil) would be of significant help in determining whether domicil really existed at the beginning of that period.

 The requirement for the length of time to make desertion an adequate ground for divorce was liberalized in 1967, reducing the requisite period from three to two years. St. 1967, c. 585, §§ l and 2.