Cynthia Ann Arledge Beasnett v. Robert Arledge
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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
NO. 2005-CA-00228-COA
CYNTHIA ANN ARLEDGE BEASNETT AND JOY
LYNN ARLEDGE
APPELLANTS
CROSS-APPELLEES
v.
ROBERT ARLEDGE
DATE OF JUDGMENT:
TRIAL JUDGE:
COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED:
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANTS:
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE:
NATURE OF THE CASE:
TRIAL COURT DISPOSITION:
DISPOSITION:
APPELLEE
CROSS-APPELLANT
1/14/2005
HON. KENNIE E. MIDDLETON
WARREN COUNTY CHANCERY COURT
FRANK J. CAMPBELL
LEE DAVIS THAMES
CIVIL - OTHER
CHANCELLOR ORDERED FATHER TO PAY
CHILD SUPPORT ARREARAGE FOR PERIOD
PRIOR TO TERMINATION OF PARENTAL
RIGHTS, BUT NOT AFTER.
AFFIRMED AS TO DIRECT AND CROSSAPPEAL-07/18/2006
MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED:
MANDATE ISSUED:
BEFORE KING, C.J., CHANDLER AND ISHEE, JJ.
ISHEE, J., FOR THE COURT:
¶1.
Cynthia Ann Arledge Beasnett (“Beasnett”) and Joy Arledge (“Joy”) filed a petition for
contempt and for judgment for child support arrearage, interest, and attorney’s fees against Joy’s
father and Beasnett’s ex-husband, Robert Arledge (“Arledge”). The chancellor awarded Joy and
Beasnett $22,963.75 in child support arrearage, representing the amount he failed to pay from
November 1982 through October 1984 plus eight percent interest per annum, plus forty-five cents
per day from July 1, 2003 through June 18, 2004. The chancellor did not award child support
arrearage after October of 1984, because Arledge’s parental rights were terminated by joint
agreement on October 17, 1984. Aggrieved that the chancellor did not award additional child
support arrearage for the period following the termination of Arledge’s parental rights, Beasnett and
Joy appeal. Arledge cross-appeals, contending that the chancellor erred in awarding eight percent
interest per annum. Finding no error, we affirm the decision of the chancellor.
FACTS
¶2.
Beasnett and Arledge were divorced on November 5, 1982, on the grounds of irreconcilable
differences, and Arledge was ordered to pay $200 per month in child support for their daughter, Joy.
On September 29, 1984 Beasnett and Arledge filed a joint petition to terminate Arledge’s parental
rights. On October 3, 1984, because of the gravity of the petition before the court, Joy was appointed
a guardian ad litem to make sure her interests were being properly served. Arledge’s parental rights
were terminated on October 17, 1984. The order terminating Arledge’s parental rights did not
mention cessation of child support payments. From the time of the divorce decree on November 5,
1982, to the time his parental rights were terminated on October 17, 1984, Arledge did not pay any
child support; nor did he pay any child support thereafter. Approximately eighteen years later, in
December 2002, Beasnett and Joy filed a petition for contempt and for judgment for child support
arrearage, interest, and attorney’s fees. The chancellor held that Arledge owed $22,963.75 in child
support arrearage, representing the amount he failed to pay from November 1982, through October
1984, plus eight percent interest, plus forty-five cents per day from July 1, 2003 through June 18,
2004. The chancellor additionally awarded Joy attorney’s fees and expenses in the amount of
$6,355. Aggrieved that the chancellor did not award additional child support arrearage for the period
following the termination of Arledge’s parental rights, Beasnett and Joy appeal, asserting the
following issues: (1) that the termination of Arledge’s parental rights in 1984 under Mississippi Code
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Annotated Section 93-15-103(3)(a) did not terminate Arledge’s responsibility to pay child support
thereafter; (2) that summary judgment was not appropriate; and (3) that the chancellor erred as a
matter of law by failing to have a contempt hearing and failing to find Arledge in contumacious
contempt for failing to pay child support. Arledge cross-appeals, contending that the chancellor
erred in awarding eight percent interest.
ISSUES AND ANALYSIS
I.
¶3.
Whether the termination of parental rights under Mississippi Code
Annotated Section 93-15-103(3)(a) terminates the father’s responsibility
to pay child support.
In domestic relations cases, this Court’s standard of review is limited. A&L, Inc. v.
Grantham, 747 So. 2d 832, 838 (¶18) (Miss. 1999). We will not disturb the findings of a chancellor
“unless manifestly wrong, clearly erroneous, or if the chancellor applied the wrong legal standard.”
Id. This Court reviews a chancellor’s interpretation of the law under a de novo standard. Isom v.
Jernigan, 840 So. 2d 104, 106 (¶6) (Miss. 2003).
¶4.
The case and statutory law in Mississippi is sparse regarding whether a parent’s obligation
to pay child support terminates when his parental rights are voluntarily terminated. Mississippi Code
Annotated Section 93-15-103(2) provides:
The rights of a parent with reference to a child, including parental rights to
control or withhold consent to an adoption, and the right to receive notice of a
hearing on a petition for adoption, may be relinquished and the relationship of the
parent and child terminated by the execution of a written voluntary release, signed
by the parent, regardless of the age of the parent.
Miss. Code Ann. § 93-15-103(2) (Rev. 2004) (emphasis added). In McCracking v. Champaigne, 805
So. 2d 586 (Miss. Ct. App. 2002), this Court reviewed a chancellor’s decision which held that “while
McCracking’s relationship with his eldest daughter had deteriorated, that did not relieve him of the
responsibility to pay child support.” McCracking, 805 So. 2d at 590 (¶12). In so holding, the
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chancery court stated that “the public policy of this State does not countenance the voluntary
termination of parental rights for the sole purpose of avoiding child support.” Id. at (¶13) (emphasis
added). This Court stated that the record supported the chancellor’s findings and found no abuse of
the chancellor’s discretion. Id. at (¶14). While not a direct holding by this Court, our support of the
above quoted language in McCracking indicates what seems an obvious conclusion: that it is
inherent in the voluntary termination of parental rights that the obligation to pay child support ends.
Further, as is clear from Mississippi Code Annotated Section 93-15-103(2), the voluntary
termination of parental rights completely and utterly extinguishes the parent-child relationship.
When the parent-child relationship terminates, not only are the rights of the parent with regard to the
child terminated, but the reverse is also true, so long as such termination is not sought simply to
evade the obligation to pay child support.
¶5.
It would be against public policy to allow voluntary termination of parental rights as a mere
proxy for avoiding the responsibility to pay child support, but there is no evidence that this is the
situation in the case sub judice. The order terminating Arledge’s parental rights was approved by
both Beasnett and Joy’s guardian ad litem. The chancellor sub judice found that the chancellor who
originally granted the termination of Arledge’s parental rights did so only after considering the issue
of future child support. In the parental rights termination proceedings, Joy’s guardian ad litem
stated:
the Plaintiff, Cynthia Ann Arledge [Beasnett], has provided and continues to provide
a stable and nuturing [sic] home environment, [and] has sufficient income to support
[Joy] and provide for all [her] needs . . . in a satisfactory manner and thus the
termination of the parental rights of Robert Charles Arledge has no detrimental affect
[sic] whatsoever on the well being of the child.
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As the chancellor sub judice stated, “It is clear that the expectation of [the chancellor granting the
termination of parental rights] was that there would be no obligation on the part of the father to pay
child support after the termination of his parental rights.”
¶6.
Additional support for the view that termination of parental rights terminates the obligation
to pay child support appears in Mississippi Code Annotated Section 43-15-17(1) (Rev. 2004), which
states:
Upon court order, the parent(s) shall be responsible for reimbursing [Mississippi
Department of Human Services] for any foster care payments made on behalf of his
or her child, based upon financial ability to pay, until such time as there is a
termination of parental rights regarding the child, or the child is adopted.
Here, the legislature appears to list two clear events that terminate the obligation to pay child support
(although the application of this particular section of the Mississippi Code is narrow): (1) adoption
of the child; and (2) the termination of parental rights.
¶7.
Furthermore, there is scholarly support for the view that termination of parental rights
terminates the responsibility to pay child support. See Deborah Bell, Child Support Orders: The
Common Law Framework--Part II, 69 MISS. L.J. 1063, 1079 (2003) (“A parent's support obligation
ceases when parental rights are terminated either by consent or as a result of a termination action”).
This is also the view of our sister state of Colorado, as the Mississippi Supreme Court notes (quoting
the United States Supreme Court) in the following excerpt:
“In Colorado, for example, it has been noted: ‘[Upon termination of parental rights,
t]he child loses the right of support and maintenance, for which he may thereafter be
dependent on society; the right to inherit; and all other rights inherent in the legal
parent-child relationship, not just for [a limited] period . . . , but forever.’”
Natural Father v. United Methodist Children’s Home, 418 So. 2d 807, 810 (Miss. 1982) (quoting
Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 760 n.11 (1982) (quoting In re K.S., 515 P.2d 130, 133 (Colo.
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Ct. App. 1973))). Also illustrative of this view is Virginia v. Fletcher, 562 S.E.2d 327 (Va. Ct. App.
2002), in which the court noted the view of the Virginia Supreme Court on the matter:
In defining the effect of termination of parental rights upon the legal
relationship between a parent and child, the Virginia Supreme Court has held “[t]he
termination of parental rights is a grave, drastic, and irreversible action. When a
court orders termination of parental rights, the ties between the parent and child are
severed forever, and the parent becomes a ‘legal stranger to the child.’”
Fletcher, 562 S.E.2d at 329 (citations omitted); see also Roelfs v. Wallingford, Inc., 486 P.2d 1371,
1376 (1971) (holding that when parent is permanently deprived of parental rights, “there remains no
legal obligation of support”); Coffey v. Vasquez, 350 S.E.2d 396, 398 (S.C. Ct. App. 1986) (“[A]
parent’s obligation to feed, clothe and otherwise support a child, being correlative to the parent’s
rights in and to the child, does not exist where the parent’s reciprocal rights in and to the child have
been terminated”).
¶8.
Thus, while there is very little statutory or case law on this matter in Mississippi, we find that
it is an inherent aspect of voluntary termination of parental rights that, just as the entire parent-child
relationship terminates, so too does the responsibility to pay child support, so long as the best
interests of the child are preserved.1 Accordingly, we hold that the chancery court was not in error
in holding that Arledge’s obligation to pay child support ceased when his parental rights were
terminated.
II.
¶9.
Whether summary judgment was appropriate.
This Court reviews de novo a trial court’s grant of summary judgment. Owens v. Thomae,
904 So. 2d 207, 208 (¶7) (Miss. Ct. App. 2005). Summary judgment is proper if no genuine issue
1
We reiterate, however, that the termination of parental rights may not simply be used as
a mechanism for one parent to avoid paying child support. In the case sub judice, however, it is
clear that this is not the case, as evidence by the fact that both Beasnett and Joy’s guardian ad
litem agreed to the termination of Arledge’s parental rights. The best interests of the child must
be preserved in any case.
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of material fact exists, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Mozingo v.
Scharf, 828 So. 2d 1246, 1249 (¶5) (Miss. 2002). If, however, any genuine issue of material fact
exists, the grant of summary judgment is improper and this Court will reverse. Id. at 1249-50 (¶5).
¶10.
Beasnett has presented to us no issue of genuine material fact as to make the chancellor’s
grant of summary judgment on the issue of child support arrearage improper. Even viewing the
evidence in the light most favorable to Beasnett, the dispute in this case concerns only the law as to
whether the voluntary termination of parental rights terminates the responsibility to pay child
support. Because we have adjudication that issue in favor of Arledge, we cannot say that summary
judgment was improper. This assignment of error is thus without merit.
III.
¶11.
Whether the chancellor erred as a matter of law by failing to have a
contempt hearing and failing to find Arledge in contumacious contempt
for failing to pay any child support.
A chancellor’s finding of civil contempt is subject to review under a manifest error standard.
Dennis v. Dennis, 824 So. 2d 604, 608 (¶7) (Miss. 2004). The chancellor sub judice stated,
Although [Arledge] was, at the very least, apparently in contempt for his failure to
make child support payments prior to the termination of his parental rights, under the
facts of this case, [he] may have reasonably believed that all child support
obligations, both past and future, were eliminated by the order terminating his
parental rights. Therefore, the Court cannot at this point in time find that Robert
Arledge is in willful or contumacious contempt for failing to pay the child support
arrearage which accrued up to the date of the termination of his parental rights.
However, as previously stated, [Arledge] does owe the vested child support and
interest thereon.
We see no manifest error in the chancery court’s decision and will not substitute our own judgment
for that of the chancellor. Beasnett presents to us no authority persuasively suggesting that the
chancellor manifestly erred. This assignment of error is therefore without merit.
IV.
Whether the chancellor erred in awarding Joy and Beasnett eight
percent per annum interest on the child support arrearage.
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¶12.
Arledge asserts on cross-appeal that he does not owe child support from November 5, 1982
through October 17, 1984. He contends that one of the very reasons his parental rights were
terminated was his failure to pay child support. Further, he argues that Beasnett’s failure to seek
such arrearage for over eighteen years caused the amount he allegedly owed to increase by
approximately five times due to accrued interest (from $4,800 to $22,963.75). He argues, citing
Mississippi Code Annotated Section 75-17-7 (Supp. 2000), that the court is not required to use eight
percent interest per annum, but rather only a “fair interest rate.” Mississippi Code Annotated Section
75-17-7 states, in relevant part: “All other judgments or decrees shall bear interest at a per annum
rate set by the judge hearing the complaint from a date determined by such judge to be fair, but in
no event prior to the filing of the complaint.” The language in this statute is fairly deferential to the
trial court. We see no manifest error in the chancellor’s application of eight percent per annum
interest on the child support arrearage. See, e.g., Howard v. Howard, 913 So. 2d 1030, 1036 (¶12)
(Miss. Ct. App. 2005) (affirming chancellor’s award of child support arrearage with eight percent
per annum interest). We therefore affirm the decision of the chancery court as to this issue.
¶13. THE JUDGMENT OF THE CHANCERY COURT OF WARREN COUNTY IS
AFFIRMED ON DIRECT AND CROSS APPEAL. ALL COSTS OF THIS APPEAL ARE
ASSESSED IN EQUAL PARTS TO THE APPELLANTS/CROSS-APPELLEES AND
APPELLEE/CROSS-APPELLANT.
KING, C.J., LEE AND MYERS, P.JJ., SOUTHWICK, IRVING, CHANDLER,
GRIFFIS, BARNES, AND ROBERTS, JJ., CONCUR.
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