Domestic Relations – Absolute Divorce – Alimony – Subject-Matter Jurisdiction

Magaro v. Magaro. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-16-0895, 5 pp.) (Rick Elmore, J.) Appealed from Pasquotank County District Court (Eula Reid, J.) N.C. App. Unpub.

Holding: In a case where an absolute divorce judgment was granted with no provisions for alimony, a trial court lacks subject-matter authority to modify part of that judgment to include alimony.

Plaintiff was granted an absolute divorce from defendant in 2006. Within the court’s findings was plaintiff’s assertion that “there are no pending claims for alimony or equitable distribution.”

Three months later, plaintiff filed a motion for relief asking that the court modify the divorce agreement to include a provision on alimony. Plaintiff stated that at the time of the earlier judgment, the parties didn’t realize that it was necessary to incorporate the terms of their agreement into the divorce judgment and stated that both parties were willing to enter into a consent judgment relative to support. The court entered the consent order as a modification to the divorce judgment.

In 2009, defendant filed a motion for relief, arguing that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to modify the divorce judgment. Defendant appeals the denial of the motion.

We agree with defendant. The trial court had neither the jurisdiction over the subject matter nor the authority to render a judgment modifying the divorce judgment.

Per statute, modification is not an available remedy in an absolute-divorce judgment when alimony has not been requested prior to the granting of that judgment. Jurisdiction over the subject matter in divorce matters is authorized only by statute; therefore the court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction.

The trial court’s modification was also outside the bounds of its legal authority; we have held that a court may not leave intact a divorce judgment yet order that one of its legal effects may be avoided.

We reverse the trial court’s ruling and remand for proceedings in light of this holding.