Losing one the hard way

By By Susanne Monk / managing editor
October 26, 2003
If you're the ex-wife of a deadbeat dad, the straightforward way to get the child support you're owed is to file a complaint with the same chancery court that granted your divorce and which set out its conditions.
And, there's an oblique way.
You could try filing your contempt motion in some other county with some other chancery judge. This method is so out-of-the-ordinary that it's going to force your attorneys to argue hard to justify their position. And yours.
In the divorce I'm going to be talking about in this column, the ex-wife chose the second option. She filed a complaint against her former husband in Lauderdale County Chancery Court even though she was divorced in Lamar County.
Surprisingly, it worked, but not for long.
Contempt hearing
The ex-wife lives in Lauderdale County now and hired Meridian attorneys Justin Cobb and Leonard Cobb to handle her child support complaint. I asked Justin Cobb why he filed it in Lauderdale County.
His polite non-answer: "Because that's what my client wanted."
At any rate, what you apparently have at the beginning of the contempt action is a client who wants to do it sideways, lawyers willing to give it a try and a judge who is there to interpret the law.
Chancery Judge Sarah Springer decided that she had the authority to preside at the hearing.
At that time, May 2002, Judge Springer determined that the ex-husband owed more than $50,000 in child support to his daughter. She found that he was gainfully employed and able to pay the $450 a month ordered by a Lamar County chancery judge but hadn't.
Judge Springer ordered him incarcerated in the Lauderdale County jail until he corrected the situation. It was only then, after the hearing, that the ex-husband hired a lawyer, Leslie Gates of Meridian.
Gates appealed and won.
Black letter' law
Gates' point was simple: If there are later developments in a divorce, the original trial court retains jurisdiction unless it's officially transferred from one court to another.
It's a concept so universally understood that it's referred to as "black letter" law.
The ex-wife's complaint, Gates said, should have been filed in Lamar County.
Justin and Leonard Cobb pointed out that the ex-husband, who represented himself during the hearing, raised no objection at that time. And, they argued a state law governing chancery courts could be interpreted to mean that, because their client had lived in Lauderdale County for several years, her complaint could be filed here.
The Mississippi Court of Appeals didn't agree.
In a unanimous decision issued earlier this month, the COA said it doesn't matter when the ex-husband challenged jurisdiction, and cited the Mississippi Supreme Court's reasoning on why the court that initially hears a case should retain jurisdiction later:
To prevent "forum shopping," which is looking for a friendly court where you think you have a better chance of winning;
To eliminate the possibility of conflicting orders issued by judges dealing with the same issues; and
To promote "judicial economy" by bringing later actions before a court already familiar with the circumstances.
The COA reversed Judge Springer and sent the case back to Lamar County where, the court said, it should have been in the first place.
What's next?
What the decision of the Court of Appeals judges boils down to is that they don't think Judge Springer should have interfered in Lamar County Chancery Court's business.
Did the ex-husband deserve to be held in contempt? Sounds like it on the surface. Thrown in jail? Well, OK, but I don't know how he'd earn money to pay child support there.
Perhaps the right actions were taken, but by the wrong judge.
So, 18 months of legal gymnastics, three lawyers, one chancery judge and 10 appeals judges later, here we are back at the beginning and the little girl still doesn't have her child support.
Does it really have to be this hard?