Terry Annette Hopkins v. Charles David Hopkins

In the
Missouri Court of Appeals
Western District
TERRY ANNETTE HOPKINS, )
)
Respondent, ) WD77267
)
v. ) OPINION FILED:
) November 25, 2014
CHARLES DAVID HOPKINS, )
)
Appellant. )
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Pettis County, Missouri
The Honorable Paul Beard II, Judge
Before Division Three: Karen King Mitchell, Presiding Judge, Cynthia L. Martin, Judge
and Gary D. Witt, Judge
Charles David Hopkins ("Husband") appeals a trial court judgment denying his
motion to terminate his maintenance obligation to Terry Annette Hopkins ("Wife").
Husband argues that the trial court erred (1) by declining to terminate maintenance even
though it found that Wife and Robert Naylor ("Naylor") were in a permanent relationship;
(2) by failing to terminate maintenance even though Wife was assisting the four people
living with her with some of their minor needs; and (3) because the trial court's judgment
was against the weight of the evidence and not supported by substantial evidence.
Finding no error in the trial court's judgment, we affirm.
Factual and Procedural History1
Husband and Wife were divorced on December 21, 1998. The divorce decree
ordered Husband to pay $1,000 in maintenance to Wife. On June 29, 2001, maintenance
was reduced to $489 a month following Husband's motion to terminate his maintenance
obligation. On July 12, 2013, Husband filed a second motion to terminate his
maintenance obligation. Wife filed a counter motion to modify maintenance, seeking to
increase in maintenance to $800 a month.
Wife lives with four other people in the house she received as part of the divorce
decree: her 30-year-old daughter, her 9-year-old grandson, her daughter's girlfriend, and
Naylor. Along with the maintenance payment from Husband, Wife receives $578 a
month in Social Security Disability payments. Her total monthly income is $1,067. Wife
does not work on account of her disability. She has $1,155 in monthly expenses, which
includes $104 a month that Wife pays toward her daughter's dental bill. Wife does not
contribute to Naylor's expenses. Naylor and the other three residents in Wife's home live
there rent free. The trial court concluded that at worst this resulted in some additional
electrical consumption paid by Wife. Wife's daughter's girlfriend and Naylor each pay
their share of Wife's water bill, cable bill, and cell phone bill. No other financial
contributions are made to the household expenses. In all other respects, the trial court
found that the residents in Wife's home provide for their own support.
1
"We accept as true the evidence and all inferences therefrom that are favorable to the trial court's judgment
and disregard all contrary evidence." Haynes v. Almuttar, 25 S.W.3d 667, 671 (Mo. App. W.D. 2000) (internal
citation omitted).
2
Naylor has been living with Wife in the house for about six years. Each said that
they "guess" they are living as husband and wife, but the trial court found that their
relationship is more akin to roommates who have agreed to have sex. The two do not
share a bedroom, do not commingle their finances, share no bank accounts or credit card
accounts, and have no present intent to get married. The two had discussed marriage a
couple of times but Naylor does not believe in marriage. The trial court found that
cohabitation with Naylor "provides [Wife] emotional support but no financial support."
Other than Naylor's payment of his share of the water, cable and cell phone bills, Naylor
has not contributed financially to Wife. There was no evidence that Wife or Naylor have
provided for each other in their respective wills or named each other on any insurance
policies.
Naylor works as a mechanic for a local business. Payroll records show that in 10
months in 2013, Naylor received $23,173.82 in net income. Naylor said he has monthly
expenses of $1,629.29, which includes roughly $400 in medical and prescription drug
costs. Naylor also has had recurring back problems that could affect his ability to work
in the future.
Husband works as a maintenance man for a local company. Husband submitted
that he makes $2,000 a month in net income, his wife receives $1,891 a month in Social
Security Disability payments, and he has $4,404 in average monthly expenses. Husband
said he wanted to eliminate his maintenance obligation both to make repairs to his home
and to save money so he can retire.
3
Following a hearing, the trial court entered a judgment denying Husband's motion
to terminate his maintenance obligation and Wife's cross-motion seeking to increase
maintenance ("Judgment").2
Husband appealed, alleging three points of error.
Standard of Review
"Our review of a ruling on a motion to modify maintenance is governed by
Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo. banc 1976)." Almuttar, 25 S.W.3d at 671.
The trial court's judgment will be affirmed "unless it is not supported by substantial
evidence, it is against the weight of the evidence, or it erroneously declares or applies the
law." Id. "We give deference to the trial court's greater opportunity to judge the
credibility of witnesses and the weight given opinion evidence." Id. The trial court "may
believe or disbelieve all, part, or none of the testimony of any witness." Butts v. Butts,
906 S.W.2d 859, 861 (Mo. App. S.D. 1995). "The trial court is given considerable
discretion as to the allowance and the amount of maintenance payments, and it is the
appellant's burden on appeal to demonstrate an abuse of that discretion." Almuttar, 25
S.W.3d at 671. "We will defer to the trial court even if the evidence could support a
different conclusion." Sprouse v. Sprouse, 969 S.W.2d 836, 838 (Mo. App. W.D. 1998).
Point One
In his first point on appeal, Husband argues that the trial court erred in denying his
motion to terminate maintenance because Wife and Naylor are in a permanent
2
For reasons not explained by the record, the Judgment is titled "Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage."
Plainly, the Judgment does not dissolve the parties' marriage, but instead ruled on the parties' competing motions to
modify maintenance.
4
relationship requiring the termination of maintenance as a matter of law without regard to
the financial support Naylor actually provides Wife.
"Section 452.370.1 authorizes a court to modify maintenance upon a showing of
changed circumstances so substantial and continuing as to make the terms of the original
decree unreasonable." Brooks v. Brooks, 957 S.W.2d 783, 786 (Mo. App. W.D. 1997).
Section 452.370.13 provides in pertinent part:
In a proceeding for modification of any child support or maintenance
judgment, the court, in determining whether or not a substantial change in
circumstances has occurred, shall consider all financial resources of both
parties, including the extent to which the reasonable expenses of either
party are, or should be, shared by a spouse or other person with whom he or
she cohabits . . . .
"As the party seeking modification, [Husband] bears the burden of proving the changed
circumstances." C.K. v. B.K., 325 S.W.3d 431, 434 (Mo. App. E.D. 2010).
Here, the trial court's Judgment characterized Wife's relationship with Naylor as
"permanent," and acknowledged that the cohabitation relationship had "taken on the
permanence of marriage." The trial court concluded, however, that it was nonetheless
required by law to consider the economic implications of cohabitation before it could find
that a substantial change in circumstances had occurred warranting modification of
Husband's maintenance obligation. The trial court found although Wife "is cohabitating,
. . . the relationship lacks a commitment or agreement to support each other financially,
which is an obligation of marriage." The trial court expressly found that the cohabitation
provides Wife "no financial support." The trial court thus found that "[Wife] is in need of
3
All statutory references are to RSMo 2000 as supplemented unless otherwise indicated.
5
maintenance and [Husband] continues to have the ability to pay maintenance." In effect,
the trial court found that Husband did not sustain his burden to establish a substantial
change in circumstances requiring the modification of his maintenance obligation.
Husband argues that this conclusion was in error as a matter of law, and that once
the trial court found Wife and Naylor to be in a permanent relationship, it was bound to
terminate maintenance, irrespective of financial support received by Wife as a result of
the permanent relationship. Husband relies on Herzog v. Herzog, 761 S.W.2d 267 (Mo.
App. E.D. 1988), in support of this proposition. Herzog provides in pertinent part:
Where the relationship has achieved a permanence sufficient for the trial
court to conclude that it has become a substitute for marriage, equitable
principles warrant a conclusion that the spouse has abandoned his or her
rights to support from the prior marriage and is looking to the new
relationship in that regard. Permanence may be found from either the time
involved or the intentions of the persons involved. . . . Where a permanent
relationship exists . . . the level of support obtained therefrom is, as with
remarriage, irrelevant.
Id. at 268-69.
Husband's reading of Herzog is mistaken. To find a substantial change in
circumstances warranting modification of maintenance based on cohabitation, Herzog
requires the evidence to support the conclusion that the relationship is of a nature that it
substitutes as a marriage. Though Herzog acknowledges that evidence regarding the
amount of time parties have cohabited and their future intentions will be relevant to this
inquiry, Herzog does not hold that the extent of financial support provided is irrelevant to
this inquiry. In fact, Herzog directs that rules and principles of equity must be followed
to determine the rights and obligations of the parties, which in turn requires an evaluation
6
of "the new relationship created by the spouse receiving maintenance to determine
whether equity justifies termination or modification of maintenance . . . ." Id. at 268.
Only where the evidence establishes that a cohabitation relationship substitutes as a
marriage does Herzog direct that the level of financial support becomes immaterial to the
decision to terminate maintenance.
This construction of Herzog is verified by the result reached in that case. Herzog
declined to find a permanent relationship that was a substitute for marriage, and thus
declined to modify maintenance, even though the spouse receiving maintenance admitted
to cohabitating for a year with a man who earned a respectable wage but contributed
nothing financially to the household. 761 S.W.2d at 268-69. The Eastern District
pointed to the short duration of the relationship, to that fact that neither the wife nor
cohabitant viewed the relationship as permanent, to the fact that no evidence showed the
wife had incurred additional expenses due to the cohabitation or that she spent any of her
money on behalf of the cohabitant, and to undisputed evidence that the cohabitant did not
provide the wife with financial support. Id. at 269. Plainly, in addressing the threshold
question of whether cohabitation constituted a substantial change in circumstances
because the relationship substituted for marriage, Herzog relied on evidence involving the
financial support provided between the cohabitants.
Our construction of Herzog is also verified by later decisions addressing whether
cohabitation warrants a modification of maintenance. In Lombardo v. Lombardo, 992
S.W.2d 919 (Mo. App. W.D. 1999), (the case cited and relied on by the trial court in its
Judgment), we held that "[r]ather than focusing solely on cohabitation itself, it seems the
7
best way of formulating rules that [deal] with cohabitation, is to embrace the rule that the
economic implications of cohabitation for the spouse receiving maintenance must be
addressed before the maintenance award may be modified, suspended or terminated." Id.
at 923. "This approach still allows the trial court to 'evaluate the new relationship created
by the spouse receiving maintenance to determine whether equity justifies termination or
modification of maintenance on the basis of that changed condition.'" Id. (quoting
Herzog, 761 S.W.2d at 268).
Later cases have similarly applied Herzog to find that cohabitation, in and of itself,
did not warrant a modification of maintenance.4
Although the trial court characterized the relationship between Wife and Naylor as
"permanent," it also effectively found that the relationship was not a substitute for
marriage. The trial court found that "the relationship lacks a commitment or agreement
to support each other financially, which is an obligation of marriage." The trial court did
not misapply the law when, based on this finding, it held that Husband was not entitled to
terminate his maintenance obligation.
4
See Weston v. Weston, 882 S.W.2d 337 (Mo. App. S.D. 1994) (finding no permanent relationship despite
recipient and cohabitant living together for three years, sharing the same bed, having an exclusive sexual
relationship, and cohabitant paying some of the household expenses because cohabitant had no intention of marrying
recipient, recipient had not provided for cohabitant in her will, and neither the cohabitant nor the recipient made a
commitment to the other); Butts v. Butts, 906 S.W.2d 859 (Mo. App. S.D. 1995) (finding no permanent relationship
existed because even though recipient and cohabitant lived in same house for two to three years, had been sexually
intimate, and cohabitant made a commitment to recipient for rest of his life, the two never helped each other
financially except for sharing living expenses, did not commingle their funds, did not provide for each other in the
event of either's death, and no evidence was elicited regarding the recipient spouse's intentions to the relationship
with the cohabitant); C.K. v. B.K., 325 S.W.3d 431 (Mo. App. E.D. 2010) (finding permanent relationship not a
substitute for marriage under Herzog despite recipient and cohabitant having a child together and intending to
remain in the permanent relationship because the two did not hold themselves out as married, had no present intent
to get married, and did not commingle finances or hold any joint bank accounts or credit cards).
8
Husband additionally argues that section 452.370.1 was amended after the
decision in Herzog, requiring evaluation not just of the actual contributions made by a
cohabitant, but also the amounts that "should be, shared by a spouse or other person with
whom he or she cohabits." Husband thus argues that even presuming the determination
of permanence permits exploration of financial support afforded between cohabiting
parties, the trial court erred in requiring proof of actual financial support. We disagree.
The trial court found that the only potential cost being incurred by Wife
attributable to Naylor's (and other cohabitants') residing at her home that was not being
reimbursed was an increase in electrical consumption. The trial court also found that:
[Wife] is deliberately sacrificing minor comforts that would be appropriate
under a minimum standard of living to assist her four cohabitants with
some of their minor needs. However, these offerings on her part do not
merit a termination of the maintenance order. A person receiving
maintenance may help others within reason without risking termination of
the maintenance on the argument that the person paying maintenance is
being forced to support others.
In addition, the trial court found that although Wife could charge rent, "there is no
obligation that a person receiving maintenance rent out the rooms of her/his house in
order to avoid termination of the maintenance." The trial court plainly did consider,
therefore, whether there were reasonable expenses that Wife's cohabitants "should" be
paying, and determined that there were none warranting modification of maintenance.
Husband does not challenge these findings. His argument that the trial court erroneously
failed to consider reasonable expenses that "should" be paid by a cohabitant is plainly
without merit.
9
The trial court did not abuse its discretion and did not erroneously determine or
apply the law by declining to terminate Husband's maintenance obligation.5
Point one is denied.
Point Two
In his second point on appeal, Husband argues that the trial court erred in denying
his motion to terminate maintenance even though it declared that Wife was assisting her
four cohabitants with some of their minor needs. Specifically, Husband argues that
termination of his maintenance obligation was required because Wife cannot use
maintenance to provide any support to her cohabitants.
As stated above, Husband, as the party seeking modification of a maintenance
award, bears the burden to demonstrate changed circumstances "so substantial and
continuing as to make the terms of the original [maintenance] decree unreasonable."
Brooks, 957 S.W.2d at 786; section 452.370.1. "As a general rule, a substantial and
continuing change in circumstances is one that renders the obligor unable to pay
maintenance at the assigned rate or one that allows the recipient to meet his or her
reasonable needs with less maintenance." Lee v. Gornbein, 124 S.W.3d 52, 56 (Mo. App.
W.D. 2004).
5
We do acknowledge that the court in Lombardo suggested to the legislature that: "The effect of
cohabitation on a maintenance award is an area the legislature may choose to examine further. Without unduly
lengthening this opinion, suffice it to say that the General Assembly may do as several states have done and declare
cohabitation sufficient to bar receipt of future maintenance." 992 S.W.2d at 923. Consistent with this refrain, the
trial court in its Judgment called "upon the legislature to re-evaluate the state's maintenance laws to address the
current realities of family formation and define clearly when co-habitation should result in a termination of
maintenance and when it should not." Both Lombardo and the trial court recognize that such a decision is within the
province of the legislature and not the courts. Unless and until the legislature heeds these calls, we are bound to
apply the law as written, notwithstanding Husband's effort in this case to recast prior appellate determinations to
require termination of maintenance based solely on cohabitation.
10
Husband argues that the trial court erred by ruling that Wife could use some of the
maintenance payment she receives each month to support the other people living in her
house. To support this argument, Husband cites Nichols v. Nichols, 14 S.W.3d 630, 636-
37 (Mo. App. E.D. 2000) (finding that expenses to support emancipated children or
grandchildren are not properly includable in determining maintenance) and Gerecke v.
Gerecke, 954 S.W.2d 665, 669 (Mo. App. S.D. 1997) (finding maintenance payments
must be limited to the needs of the party requesting support) (emphasis added).
Husband's reliance on these principles is misplaced because the rules outlined Nichols
and Gerecke apply when a trial court is deciding whether to order maintenance upon
dissolution of marriage, not when a trial court is deciding whether to terminate an
existing maintenance order.
When an initial request for maintenance is made in a dissolution proceeding, a trial
court is required to weigh the factors outlined in section 452.335, which "speaks solely in
terms of whether the requesting party lacks sufficient property to meet 'his' reasonable
needs, and whether that party is able to support 'himself' through appropriate
employment." Nichols, 14 S.W.3d at 637. When a request for modification occurs, a
trial court is only required to consider whether there has been a change of circumstances
"so substantial and continuing as to make the terms of the original [maintenance] decree
unreasonable." Brooks, 957 S.W.2d at 786. "In determining the amount to award for
maintenance in a modification proceeding under section 452.370, the trial court may, but
is not required to, consider the factors found in section 452.335, just as if the trial court
was determining an original maintenance award." Id. As such, the trial court here was
11
free, but not required, to consider whether any financial support given by Wife to the
other people living with her constituted such a substantial and continuing change as to
warrant Husband's current maintenance obligation unreasonable.
The only direct evidence of Wife providing financial support to any of the people
living in her house was her acknowledgment that she pays $104 a month toward her
Daughter's dental bills. Beyond the dental payments, the court found only that Wife was
sacrificing her own minor comforts to "assist her four cohabitants with some of their
minor needs," and that Wife had no obligation to rent out rooms in her home to avoid
termination of maintenance. We cannot say that Wife's decision to assist her cohabitants
with some of their minor needs constituted such a substantial and continuing change of
circumstances that Husband's maintenance obligations should have been terminated.
Point two is denied.
Point Three
In his third point on appeal, Husband argues that the trial court erred in denying
his motion to terminate maintenance because its ruling was against the weight of the
evidence and not supported by substantial evidence. (Emphasis added.) Specifically,
Husband argues that the trial court's ruling to deny termination of maintenance despite
finding a permanent relationship between Wife and Naylor, along with declining to find
that Naylor "should be" helping wife pay her reasonable expenses pursuant to section
452.370.1, was against the weight of the evidence and not supported by substantial
evidence.
12
We note at the outset that "'against-the-weight-of-the-evidence' challenges are not
the same as 'not-supported-by-substantial-evidence' challenges; hence, pursuant to Rule
84.04, these separate and distinct challenges should have been separated into two distinct
points relied on." Sauvain v. Acceptance Indem. Ins. Co., 437 S.W.3d 296, 299 n.1 (Mo.
App. W.D. 2014). "Generally, multifarious points preserve nothing for appellate review
and are ordinarily subject to dismissal." Id. (internal quotation omitted). Even though
Husband's point relied on is defective, we will review the point ex gratia.
"A claim that there is no substantial evidence to support the judgment or that the
judgment is against the weight of the evidence necessarily involves review of the trial
court's factual determinations." Pearson v. Koster, 367 S.W.3d 36, 43 (Mo. banc 2012).
"A court will overturn a trial court's judgment under these fact-based standards of review
only when the court has a firm belief that the judgment is wrong." Id. "In reviewing
questions of fact, the appellate court defers to the trial court's assessment of the evidence
if any facts relevant to an issue are contested." Sauvain, 437 S.W.3d at 303.
An appellant who brings an against-the-weight-of-the-evidence challenge must:
(1) identify a challenged factual proposition necessary to sustain the
judgment; (2) identify all of the favorable evidence supporting that
position; (3) identify contrary evidence, subject to the trial court's
credibility determinations, explicit or implicit; and (4) prove in light of the
whole record that the supporting evidence, when considered along with the
reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, is so lacking in probative value that
the trier of fact could not reasonably believe the proposition.
Id. at 304. This challenge assumes the "existence of substantial evidence supporting a
proposition necessary to sustain a judgment, but, nevertheless, challenges the probative
13
value of that evidence to induce belief in that proposition when viewed in the context of
the entirety of the evidence before the trier of fact." Id. (internal quotation omitted).
Husband has not properly brought an against-the-weight-of-the-evidence
challenge because he has not identified the finding necessary to sustain the judgment.6
Husband only briefly identifies some of the favorable evidence that supports the trial
court's judgment and also does not show, in light of the whole record, that the trial court's
judgment was so lacking in probative value that it was unreasonable. Most of husband's
argument centers on evidence contrary to the trial court's judgment, ignoring that we
defer "to the trial court's assessment of the evidence if any facts relevant to an issue are
contested." Id. at 303. In any event, evidence was presented at trial that supported the
trial court's judgment. Naylor did not provide financial assistance to Wife, Wife did not
provide financial assistance to Naylor, Naylor was barely self-sufficient himself, and
Naylor suffered from physical ailments that could affect his long-term ability to work.
Naylor also had no intention of marrying Wife, the two did not commingle their funds,
and no evidence was elicited from Wife that revealed her intentions as to the permanence
of her relationship with Naylor.
Husband's not-supported-by-substantial-evidence challenge suffers from similar
problems. An appellant who brings a not-supported-by-substantial-evidence challenge
must:
6
This finding is the factual proposition that Wife and Naylor were not in a permanent relationship sufficient
to show that Wife abandoned her right to maintenance and that Naylor did not contribute financially, or have the
financial resources to contribute financially, to Wife.
14
(1) identify a challenged factual proposition necessary to sustain the
judgment; (2) identify all of the favorable evidence supporting that
position; and (3) demonstrate why that supporting evidence, when
considered with the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, is so lacking in
probative value that the trier of fact could not reasonably believe the
proposition.
Id. "Substantial evidence is that which, if true, has probative force upon the issues, and
from which the trier of fact[ ] can reasonably decide the case." Id. (internal quotation
omitted).
Husband has not properly argued a not-supported-by-substantial-evidence
challenge because he only briefly mentions some of the favorable evidence supporting
the trial court's judgment and instead spends substantially all of his argument referencing
contrary evidence. "[A]ny citation to or reliance upon evidence and inferences contrary
to the judgment is irrelevant and immaterial to an appellant's point and argument
challenging a factual proposition necessary to sustain the judgment as being not
supported by substantial evidence." Id. (internal quotation omitted).
While Husband has pointed to evidence that might have supported a conclusion
contrary to the trial court's judgment, the conclusion argued by Husband is not the only
conclusion that the trial court could have reached. "Instead, accepting as true the
foregoing evidence and inferences from it that are favorable to the judgment, we
conclude the trial court's judgment is supported by substantial evidence and is not against
the great weight of the evidence." Id. at 306.
Point three is denied.
15
Conclusion
The trial court's judgment in affirmed.
__________________________________
Cynthia L. Martin, Judge
All concur.
16