LINDA HERMAN, N/K/A LINDA SCHADER, APPELLANT,
v.
RICHARD M. HERMAN, APPELLEE
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A former wife sought to enforce a New Jersey child support decree in Florida after relocating there. The trial court denied enforcement, ruling that a prior URESA action that modified the support amount created a res judicata bar. The appellate court reversed, holding that a subsequent URESA enforcement action cannot serve as res judicata to nullify an underlying final judgment of support.
The court held that a URESA action is merely an enforcement vehicle and cannot serve as res judicata to bar enforcement of the underlying final judgment. URESA remedies operate in addition to, not in substitution for, other remedies, and domestication of a decree gives it full force and effect, allowing it to be enforced independently of prior URESA proceedings.
[1] A subsequent Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement Support Act (URESA) action may not nullify an underlying final order of support.
[2] A URESA action is an enforcement vehicle and does not modify the original order of support from the initiating state.
Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the outcome of a subsequent URESA action may not serve to nullify the underlying final order of support”
The core holding of the case, establishing that URESA proceedings cannot create a res judicata bar to enforcement of the original decree.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe former wife, while living in New Jersey, brought a URESA action in Florida to enforce a New Jersey child support decree. The trial court in that U…
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STEVENSON, Judge.
This is an appeal from an order denying the former wife’s motion to enforce a New Jersey Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage. Because we agree with the former wife that the outcome of a subsequent URESA action may not serve to nullify the underlying final order of support, we reverse.
While living in New Jersey, the former wife brought an action in Florida under the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement Support Act (URESA) (Chapter 88, Florida Statutes) to enforce the former husband’s child support obligations arising from a New Jersey decree. In ruling on the URESA petition, the trial court modified the child support amount as well as the age of emancipation for the children of the parties from that which was contained in the New Jersey decree. The former wife did not appeal the URESA order. The former wife subsequently brought these proceedings to enforce the terms of the original New Jersey judgment. Because the former wife had relocated to Florida, the parties agreed to an order by the trial court domesticating the New Jersey decree. The agreed upon order provided in pertinent part that:
[T]he Final Judgment of Divorce entered into on November 15,1990, by the Superi-or Court of New Jersey, ... is hereby domesticated and is made an Order of this Court. Said Final Judgment, and the Settlement Agreement incorporated therein shall have the same force and effect as a Final Judgment originally entered by this Court.
In ruling on the former wife’s motion to enforce the original divorce decree, the trial court ruled that the matters previously addressed in the URESA action (child support amount and the age of emancipation) were “res judicata’’ barred. It therefore denied the former wife’s motion.
We find that this ruling was error.
First, the former wife is entitled to bring her motion to enforce the final judgment in the courts of Florida if for no other reason than the broad language employed by the trial court in the agreed order domesticating the final judgment. Both the former husband and former wife now reside in Florida and agreed that the New Jersey decree would have the same force and effect as a judgment originally entered by the courts of this state.
Therefore, it stands to reason that the outcome of the URESA action cannot serve as a res judicata bar to the enforcement of the terms of the original decree in a Florida court anymore than it would serve as res judicata in a New Jersey court. See Department of Health and Rehabilitative Servs. v. Franklin, 630 So. 2d 661 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994) (holding that a subsequent child support order from a responding state in a URESA action does not modify the original order of support from the initiating state, as URESA is an enforcement vehicle only).
Secondly, res judicata does not apply for the fundamental reason that an action under URESA seeking collection is simply not the same cause of action as a suit to enforce the underlying judgment in a court of competent jurisdiction. Moreover, we believe that the result we reach is further compelled because URESA remedies are designed to operate “in addition to and not in substitution for any other remedies.” § 88.041, Fla.Stat. (1993).
Accordingly, the order denying the motion to enforce the original New Jersey decree is reversed and this cause remanded for further proceedings consistent herewith.
POLEN, J., and SCHAPIRO, SHELDON, M., Associate Judge, concur.
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Fazzini v. Davis, 98 So. 3d 98 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012)…iction over the complaining party, a Florida court is “generally obliged to give full faith and credit to [that] foreign state’s judgment”). When a foreign judgment is domesticated, it becomes enforceable as a Florida judgment. See Herman v. Herman, 658 So. 2d 1182, 1182-83 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995) (holding that a New Jersey judgment, domesticated by order in Florida, “would have the same force and effect as a judgment originally entered by the courts of this state”). Thus the trial court did not err in finding tha…
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Joanne S. Hedge & the State of Fla. Dep't of Revenue v. Hedge, 816 So. 2d 241 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002)…that would trigger Rule 1.420(a)(2). Even if the trial court had properly ruled on the merits of enforcing the ar-rearage, that determination would not have been a res judicata bar to enforcement of the original Texas decree. See Herman v. Herman, 658 So. 2d 1182, 1183 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995) (holding that the outcome of a URESA action may not serve as a res judicata bar to the enforcement of the original decree because URESA is designed to be an enforcement vehicle only). In conclusion, we reverse and remand w…
Authorities Cited
- State v. Franklin, 630 So. 2d 661 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994)