ROBERT H. JACOBVITZ, Bankruptcy Judge.
THIS MATTER is before the Court on cross-motions for summary judgment.
Defendant concedes that the debt is non-dischargeable under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(15), but asserts that the debt is not in the nature of support as a matter of law and requests the Court to enter summary judgment determining that the debt does not fall under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(5). Plaintiff asserts that because she will, in fact, use the money represented by the debt in this adversary proceeding to cover her living expenses, the obligation functions as support. Plaintiff requests the Court to grant summary judgment finding that the debt constitutes a non-dischargeable domestic support obligation under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(5).
After considering Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, Plaintiff's Response to Motion for Summary Judgment and Cross Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 6), and Defendants' Response to Plaintiff's Cross Motion for Summary Judgment, the Affidavit of Kenneth Daryle Rodriguez, and the Affidavit of Denise Comstock, the Court finds that there exist genuine issues of material fact regarding the intent of the parties at the time of the divorce and the purpose the debt was intended to serve. These genuine issues of fact prevent the Court from granting summary judgment in favor of either party.
Summary judgment is appropriate when the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), made applicable to adversary proceedings by Fed.R.Bankr.P. 7056. In considering a motion for summary judgment, the Court must "`examine the factual record and reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment.'" Wolf v. Prudential Ins. Co. of
Plaintiff filed a Complaint to Determine Dischargeability of Debt ("Complaint") on December 13, 2010. The Complaint alleges, among other things, that: 1) the parties have participated in contentious divorce proceedings in the Second Judicial District Court for the State of New Mexico for the past six years; 2) the state court found Defendant in contempt of court and entered a judgment against Defendant on July 12, 2010 in the amount of $50,454.75, plus interest ("Judgment") based on Defendant's use of funds in a joint retirement account to the detriment of Plaintiff; 3) Plaintiff incurred costs and attorneys' fees in defending her right to receive funds from Defendant; and 4) "[a]ll obligations running from Defendant to Plaintiff related in any way to their divorce are not dischargeable" in Defendant's bankruptcy proceeding under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(5) and (a)(15). See Complaint, ¶¶ 6, 7, 8, 12, and 13. Defendant filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code on September 13, 2010.
Plaintiff's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment asserts that there are four components to her claim: 1) the unpaid amount currently owed under the Judgment in the amount of $53,488.74; 2) an award of alimony in the amount of $2,632.00; 3) tuition for private school owed by Defendant directly to the Albuquerque Academy in the approximate current amount of $20,000.00; and 4) attorney's fees incurred in establishing and attempting to collect the first three components. See Plaintiff's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment, p. 2, ¶ 1. Plaintiff did not include specific factual allegations concerning the award of alimony and the debt for tuition in her Complaint, nor did Plaintiff file a motion to amend the Complaint to include these additional components of her claim. In considering a motion for summary judgment, the Court "may evaluate the pleadings both in terms of their content at the time of their submission and as they might be amended at some later date." 10A Wright, Miller and Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 2722 at 368 (1998).
In support of Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, Defendant submitted copies of the Partial Marital Settlement Agreement ("MSA"), the Final Decree of Dissolution of Marriage with Reservation of Jurisdiction ("Final Decree"), an Order entered in the parties' state court action on December 21, 2009 determining that Defendant cashed in various retirement accounts that were owned one-half by Plaintiff, Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law entered by the state court in the parties' state court action on July 19, 2007, and Alimony Guidelines and Commentaries (Revised) issued by the Statewide Alimony Guideline Committee.
The MSA, Final Decree, Order and Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law attached to Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment are not certified copies. Nor were the documents from the state
Debts that constitute domestic support obligations
Whether a debt is in the nature of support is made according to federal
Even when considering the parties' future prospects for financial support, the relevant time period for determining whether a particular obligation constitutes a non-dischargeable domestic support obligation is the time that the obligation arose.
Denise Comstock submitted an affidavit in support of Plaintiff's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment. Kenneth Rodriguez submitted an affidavit in response to Plaintiff's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment. Ms. Comstock's affidavit includes averments that she is currently a student teacher, that she expects to continue in that position until June 2011, that she hopes to obtain a permanent teaching position in the fall of 2011 when she becomes a fully certified teacher, that she will use any funds she can recover from the Defendant to pay her debts and living expenses, and that she does not have the financial ability to maintain any recovery as retirement funds. See Comstock Affidavit, ¶¶ 14, 15, and 16. Mr. Rodriguez's affidavit avers, in part, that the division of the retirement funds was addressed through a settlement conference with Peter Johnstone in December of 2005, that there was never any intent on the part of either party to treat the retirement accounts as support, that there was a separate trial in the state court on the issue of support which gave Ms. Comstock three years to finish her schooling and begin a new career, and that they never discussed using the retirement funds as support. See Affidavit of Kenneth Rodriguez, ¶¶ 4 and 9.
The evidence now before the Court is insufficient to ascertain the mutual intent of the parties regarding the function the debt would serve as of the time the obligation arose. Ms. Comstock's statement that she intends to use any recovery to cover her living expenses fails to focus on the relevant time period for purposes of determining dischargeability. And while Mr. Rodriguez's affidavit states that there was no intent at the time the parties entered into the Marital Settlement Agreement for the obligation to serve as anything other than a property settlement, it gives little insight into the shared intent of the parties. Because none of the documents Defendant offered in support of his Motion were properly authenticated, the Court cannot rely on the contents of the documents as evidence of the parties' shared intent. Likewise, Plaintiff's claim that the costs and attorney's fees she incurred in defending her
Based on the foregoing, the Court concludes that neither party is entitled to summary judgment determining whether the debt at issue constitutes a non-dischargeable domestic support obligation under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(5). Fact issues relevant to the shared intent of the parties at the time the obligation arose remain. The Court will enter separate orders consistent with this Memorandum Opinion.