Title: Supreme Court of Maine Affirms Ruling Enforcing Child Support Provisions of 1992 Divorce Judgment
The Supreme Court of Maine affirmed the earlier judgment of a District Court in Cloutier v. Turner, 2012 ME 4 that the child support provisions of a 1992 divorce judgment would stand. Robin M. Turner had filed the motion seeking the enforcement. Raymond Coultier appealed on the grounds that (1) Turner lacks standing to bring the motion to enforce because she filed it after the children became adults; (2) the limitations period on a claim of overdue child support is six years; (3) the court’s failure to apply the six-year statute of limitations deprived Cloutier of his constitutional right of equal protection; and (4) laches should apply due to Turner’s delay in bringing the motion to enforce.
Cloutier and Turner were married in 1983 and divorced in 1987. An amended divorce judgment was entered in 1992. The amended judgment gave Turner primary custody of their two daughters and required Cloutier to pay $40.00 per week, effective October 2, 1992, as the total child support for both children. The 1992 order also required Cloutier to provide health insurance for the children, and to pay thirty-seven percent of any uninsured medical expenses.
On September 1, 2010, Turner filed a motion to enforce the judgment, seeking unpaid child support and Cloutier's portion of the uninsured medical expenses she had paid for the children. The court held a hearing on December 10, 2010 and ruled in her favor three days later.
Coultier appealed to the Maine Supreme Court on the above stated ground, and ultimately was unsuccessful in his attempts to avoid his legal obligations.
No comments:
Post a Comment