Taylor v. Taylor (In re Taylor)
Opinion of the Court
A debt owed by a divorced debtor to her former spouse that is either incurred for spousal support or incurred “in connection with a divorce decree” is excepted from the debtor’s Chapter 7 discharge by 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(5) or (a)(15)
I. Factual Background
Matthew and Eloísa Taylor divorced in Virginia in 2005. The parties entered into an extensive Marital Settlement Agreement. In that agreement, they agreed to submit the matter of spousal support to the domestic court. That court ordered Matthew to pay Eloísa spousal support for 10 years or until she remarried.
Eloisa moved to dismiss all three of Matthew’s claims, but the bankruptcy court only dismissed the § 523(a)(2) fraud count and the § 523(a)(5) DSO count.
Eloísa appeals from the summary judgment order against her, and Matthew appeals from the dismissal of the § 523(a)(5) count and the bankruptcy court’s failure to grant him attorneys’ fees in connection with the summary judgment motion.
II. Appellate Jurisdiction and Standard of Review
We have jurisdiction of these appeals. Eloísa filed a timely notice of appeal from the summary judgment order, and Matthew filed a timely cross-appeal of the order dismissing his (a)(5) claim and the summary judgment order.
We review the bankruptcy court’s dismissal of a claim for failure to state a claim de novo.
III. Discussion
A. The overpayment debt is not support and is not protected by § 523(a)(5).
Because § 528(a)(15) excepts from discharge certain debts “not of the kind described in [§ 523(a)(5)],” and because Matthew appealed from the bankruptcy court’s order dismissing his § 523(a)(5) count, we should first determine whether Eloisa’s debt to Matthew is in the nature of domestic support. On cross-appeal, Matthew argues that the bankruptcy court erroneously held that “[Mr. Taylor] cannot solely rely on the original character of the debt owed by him to his former spouse to state a claim that a debt owed to him by his former spouse for overpayment of spousal support is nondischargeable [under § 523(a)(5)].”
Matthew argues instead that debts arising from the overpayment of support retain their character as support whether or not the beneficiaries of those debts need support. He relies on two bankruptcy court cases from other circuits, Ratliff and Baker.
Neither does Baker. There, the bankruptcy court for the Northern District of Ohio followed Sixth Circuit authority and Ohio law to find that a creditor-father’s overpayments of support to the debtor-mother that resulted from an erroneous administrative garnishment of his wages were support when they were made and that equitable principles rendered the obligation to repay them not dischargeable
The bankruptcy court’s decision is well-reasoned and consistent with Tenth Circuit law. Section 523(a)(5) provides that debts for domestic support obligations are nondischargeable in bankruptcy. Section 101(14A) defines “domestic support obligation” as
a debt that accrues before, on, or after the date of the order for relief in a case under this title, including interest that accrues on that debt as provided under applicable nonbankruptcy law notwithstanding any other provision of this title, that is—
(A) owed to or recoverable by—
(i) a spouse, former spouse, or child of the debtor or such child’s parent, legal guardian, or responsible relative; or
(ii) a governmental unit;
(B) in the nature of alimony, maintenance, or support (including assistance provided by a governmental unit) of such spouse, former spouse, or child of the debtor or such child’s parent, without regard to whether such debt is expressly so designated;
(C) established or subject to establishment before, on, or after the date of the order for relief in a case under this title, by reason of applicable provisions of—
(i) a separation agreement, divorce decree, or property settlement agreement;
(ii) an order of a court of record; or
(iii) a determination made in accordance with applicable nonbankrupt-cy law by a governmental unit; and
(D) not assigned to a nongovernmental entity, unless that obligation is assigned voluntarily by the spouse, former spouse, child of the debtor, or such child’s parent, legal guardian or responsible relative for the purpose of collecting the debt.20
The distilled essence of § 101(14A) defines a domestic support obligation as “a debt [ ] that is in the nature of [ ] support [ ] of such [ ] former spouse [ ].” In other words, as the bankruptcy court held, the Debt must be in the nature of support for Matthew to be excepted from Eloisa’s discharge under § 523(a)(5).
In In re Sampson,
*426 [W]hether an obligation is nondis-chargeable under § 523(a)(5) is a dual inquiry into both the parties’s [sic] intent and the substance of the obligation. The party seeking to hold the debt nondischargeable has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the parties intended the obligation as support and that the obligation was, in substance, support. See Grogan v. Garner, 498 U.S. 279, 290, 111 S.Ct. 654, 661, 112 L.Ed.2d 755 (1991).
The parties’ intent is the “initial inquiry” to determine whether a debtor’s obligation to his or her former spouse is actually in the nature of alimony, maintenance or support. [In re ] Yeates, 807 F.2d [874] at 878 [(10th Cir. 1986)]. This inquiry, however, does not turn on one party’s post hoc explanation as to his or her state of mind at the time of the agreement, even if uncontradicted. See Matter ofBenich, 811 F.2d 943, 945 (5th Cir. 1987). Rather, the critical inquiry is the shared intent of the parties at the time the obligation arose. Tilley v. Jessee, 789 F.2d 1074, 1078 (4th Cir. 1986).22
The obligation for the Debt arose when the dissolution court entered the overpayment judgment against Eloísa in response to Matthew’s request to terminate his spousal support obligation and to be reimbursed “for any and all spousal support payments which [Matthew] is required to make between the filing of [the Motion to Terminate Spousal Support] and the date of the resolution of [his] Motion, with interest.”
Finally, we agree with the bankruptcy court’s assessment that Matthew’s complaint contained no facts from which to determine that the Debt was in the nature of support for Matthew when the obligation rose. Matthew counters that he alleged facts in his complaint that the state judgment resulted in a retroactive judgment and that Eloisa’s companion made significant financial contributions to her.
The bankruptcy court’s decision is consistent with Tenth Circuit law that the nature of the debt at the time it arose controls § 523(a)(5)’s applicability. That the debt is based on Matthew’s overpayment of spousal support to Eloísa does not make it support for Matthew. Because it is not support, it is not protected by § 523(a)(5).
B. Section 523(a)(15) excepts Eloisa’s overpayment obligation from her discharge.
Eloísa argues that the bankruptcy court erred in applying § 523(a)(15) to except the Debt from her discharge. She says that this holding ignores Congressional in
We concur with the bankruptcy court’s analysis that: (1) exceptions to discharge under § 523(a)(15) are construed more liberally than other provisions of § 523;
The Supreme Court has stated that a court’s function in interpreting a statute is to construe the language so as to give effect to the intent of Congress.
The starting point in analyzing this issue must be the language of the statute. If the language is clear and unambiguous, judicial inquiry is at an end in all but the most extraordinary circumstances. Unless the plain language of the statute would produce a result demonstrably at odds with the intention of its drafters, the court must give effect to the clear meaning of the statute as written.30
Section 523(a)(15) provides in relevant part:
A discharge under section 727 ... of this title does not discharge an individual debtor from any debt—
(15) to a spouse, former spouse, or child of the debtor and not of the kind described in paragraph (5) that is incurred by the debtor in the course of a divorce or separation or in connection with a separation agreement, divorce decree or other order of a court of record, or a determination made in accordance with State or territorial law by a governmental unit[.]
This language contains no reference to a “dependent” spouse.
Even if resort to Congressional intent were necessary here, the bankruptcy court’s application of the statute is entirely consistent with it. Congress first made marital debt that was not support nondis-chargeable when it enacted former § 523(a)(15) in 1994.
not of the kind described in paragraph (5) that is incurred by the debtor in the course of a divorce or separation or in connection with a separation agreement, divorce decree or other order of a court of record, a determination made in accordance with State or territorial law by a governmental unit unless—
(A) the debtor does not have the ability to pay such debt from income or property of the debtor not reasonably necessary to be expended for the maintenance or support of the debtor or a dependent of the debtor and, if the debtor is engaged in a business, for the payment of expenditures necessary for the continuation, preservation, and operation of such business; or
(B) discharging such debt would result in a benefit to the debtor that outweighs the detrimental consequences to a spouse, former spouse, or child of the debtor[.]35
Courts applying this rule first determined whether the debtor had the present ability to pay the debt from income and assets not needed for family support or business expenses. Then, the courts applied a balancing test to determine whether the benefit of a discharge to the debtor outweighed the detrimental effects of the discharge on the creditor spouse.
In 2005, Congress amended § 523(a)(15) by striking the balancing tests contained in subparts (A) and (B). That courts no longer need to balance the ability to pay with the need for support suggests that Congress sought to broaden the scope of nondischargeable marital debt by abandoning a need-driven analysis of the dis-chargeability of non-support marital debt.
Essentially, the combination of amended § 523(a)(5) and (15) [ ] exclude from discharge all marital and domestic relations obligations, whether support in nature, property division, or hold-harmless, provided that they were incurred in the course of a divorce or separation or es*429 tablished in connection with a separation agreement, divorce decree, or other order of a court of record or a determination made in accordance with state or territorial law by a governmental unit.37
The result in this case is entirely consistent with Congressional intent as expressed in the current version of § 523(a)(15).
Finally, Eloisa argues that § 523(a)(15) should not be indiscriminately applied to any debt that is merely identified with the divorce proceedings. Instead, she claims that the Debt is a new obligation that did not exist at the time of the divorce and was not contemplated by the parties at that time. But the Divorce Decree provided for the termination of spousal support in the event of Eloisa’s subsequent marriage or cohabitation.
We conclude the bankruptcy court correctly determined that the plain language of § 523(a)(15) was broad enough to encompass the Debt. We affirm the bankruptcy court’s conclusion that Eloisa’s debt to Matthew is excepted from her discharge by § 523(a)(15).
C. The fee-shifting provisions of the Marital Settlement Agreement (“MSA”) do not support Matthew’s request for attorneys’ fees from this court or the bankruptcy court.
Matthew contends that he should receive attorneys’ fees and costs for prosecuting the adversary proceeding below as well as this appeal, and that those fees and costs should be excepted from discharge because the MSA provided for attorneys’ fees in connection with the successful enforcement of any provision in it.
We have previously held that where state law or a fee-shifting agreement so provides, the party in a § 523(a)(5) or § 523(a)(15) action who succeeds in proving an exception to discharge may be awarded his or her fees by the bankruptcy court.
The MSA contains three separate fee-shifting provisions. Paragraph 25 is entitled “Legal Fees and Costs.” Paragraph 25(a) makes each party responsible for their own fees incurred in entering into the agreement and in the divorce case, except as expressly provided. Paragraph 25(b) provides that the court that incorporates the agreement into a court order “shall retain all jurisdiction and authority it would otherwise have to award attorneys’ fees and costs in any proceeding initiated after the entry of the parties’ Final Decree of Divorce ■ (e.g. support modification proceedings).”
Paragraph 26, “Enforcement,” says that if one party incurs expenses in successfully enforcing “any of the provisions of this Agreement,” the counter-party will pay all reasonable fees and expenses that the enforcing party incurs.
Finally, in paragraph 45, “Bankruptcy,” the parties attempted to inoculate their respective obligations against being discharged in bankruptcy by stipulating that each of those obligations were “in the nature of alimony and/or support.” They also attempted to characterize any obligation that was not support as a non-dischargeable property settlement under then § 523(a)(15). In a separate paragraph, they agreed that “[i]n the event a party to this Agreement files for bankruptcy, the creditor spouse shall be entitled to his or her reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred in protections [sic] his or her rights as provided by this Agreement.”
But the payment and repayment of spousal support is not provided for in the MSA. The only reference to spousal support in the MSA is found in paragraph 6, “Spousal Support and Maintenance,” which states, “[t]he issue of spousal support and maintenance shall be presented to the Fairfax County Circuit Court for adjudication on Tuesday, July 12, 2005 ... and the jurisdiction of the Court to hear and determine this issue is hereby reserved.”
IV. Conclusion
We conclude that the bankruptcy court correctly determined that § 523(a)(5) requires that the debt be in the nature of support with respect to the party seeking to have the debt excepted from discharge. Likewise, the bankruptcy court correctly interpreted § 523(a)(15) as not requiring the creditor-spouse to be the dependent spouse. Finally, we conclude that the fee-shifting provisions in the MSA provide no basis for us or the bankruptcy court to award Matthew attorneys’ fees incurred in the prosecution of the adversary proceeding from which this appeal arises or on appeal. Accordingly, we AFFIRM both the bankruptcy court’s dismissal of Matthew’s § 523(a)(5) claim and its determination that the Debt is excepted from Eloi-sa’s discharge by § 523(a)(15).
. All subsequent statutory references are to Title 11 of the United States Code, unless otherwise noted.
. Final Decree of Divorce (“Divorce Decree”) at 3, in Appellant’s Appendix ("App.”) at 62.
. Virginia law provides that upon “order of the court based upon clear and convincing evidence that the spouse receiving support has been habitually cohabiting with another person in a relationship analogous to a marriage for one year,” that spouse’s right to receive support may be terminated. See Va. Code Ann. § 20-109(A) (2001).
.Matthew did not appeal the bankruptcy court’s dismissal of his § 523(a)(2) claim.
. Fed. R. Bankr.P. 8002(a).
. 28 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1); Ford v. West, 222 F.3d 767, 770 n. 1 (10th Cir. 2000) (order dismissing claim became final not when it was entered but when final judgment was subsequently issued disposing of all claims); Holaday v. Seay (In re Seay), 215 B.R. 780, 785 (10th Cir. BAP 1997) (bankruptcy court's summary judgment order on nondischarge-ability claim under fraud exception, combined with judgment for debtor from trial of claims seeking denial of discharge, disposed of entire complaint, and orders thus were final and appealable). See also Loper v. Loper (In re Loper), 329 B.R. 704, 705 (10th Cir. BAP 2005) (treating summary judgment nondis-chargeability order as final).
. Budinich v. Becton Dickinson & Co., 486 U.S. 196, 201-02, 108 S.Ct. 1717, 100 L.Ed.2d 178 (1988) (promulgating "uniform rule that an unresolved issue of attorney’s fees” under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, regardless of "the characterization of those fees by the statute or decisional law that authorizes them,” does not affect finality of lower court orders); Groetken v. Davis (In re Davis), 35 Fed.Appx. 826, 828 (10th Cir. 2002) (analogizing jurisdictional holding in Budinich to § 158(d) and finding jurisdiction despite outstanding attorneys' fee determination); In re Yates, No. WY-04-036, 2005 WL 50188, at *2-3 (10th Cir. BAP Jan. 11, 2005) (examining various circuit court approaches to Budinich in determining that remand for attorney’s fee determination does not nullify jurisdiction under § 158(d)).
. 28 U.S.C. § 158(b)-(c); Fed. R. Bankr.P. 8001(e).
. ClearOne Commc'ns, Inc. v. Biamp Sys., 653 F.3d 1163, 1171 (10th Cir. 2011) ("Generally speaking, we review de novo a district court’s ruling on a motion to dismiss a complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim.”). See also N.M. State Inv. Council v. Ernst & Young LLP, 641 F.3d 1089, 1094 (9th Cir. 2011).
. In re Short, 232 F.3d 1018, 1022 (9th Cir. 2000) (stating that whether the debtor's obligation was incurred in the course of a divorce or separation is a legal question reviewed de novo). See also Manchester v. Annis (In re Annis), 232 F.3d 749, 751 (10th Cir. 2000) (interpretation of statute reviewed de novo).
. See In re Albrecht, 245 B.R. 666, 669 (10th Cir. BAP), aff'd, 233 F.3d 1258 (10th Cir. 2000) (A bankruptcy court's award of attorneys fees will not be disturbed on appeal absent an abuse of discretion or erroneous application of the law; any statutory interpretation or other legal analysis underlying the trial court's decision concerning attorney's fees, however, is reviewed de novo.).
. Memorandum Opinion at 10, in App. at 43.
. 865 F.2d 1164, 1166 (10th Cir. 1989) (rejecting as a minority approach In re Calhoun, 715 F.2d 1103 (6th Cir. 1983)).
. Wis. Dep't of Workforce Dev. v. Ratliff, 390 B.R. 607 (E.D.Wis. 2008); Allen County Child Support Enforcement Agency v. Baker (In re Baker), 294 B.R. 281 (Bankr.N.D.Ohio 2002).
. Ratliff, 390 B.R. at 614. Ratliff centers on whether the food stamp overpayment claims are entitled to priority under § 507(a)(1)(A) as claims filed by the unit or under (a)(1)(B) as claims that have been assigned to the unit. The court concluded they fell into the latter class.
. Baker, 294 B.R. at 288.
. Id.
. Id. at 287.
. Note, too, that Baker was decided in 2002, before BAPCPA substantially broadened the scope of the DSO definition in § 101(14A).
. 11 U.S.C. § 101(14A).
. Sampson v. Sampson (In re Sampson), 997 F.2d 717 (10th Cir. 1993).
. Id. at 723 (emphasis added).
. Motion to Terminate Spousal Support at 6, in App. at 76.
. Matthew's Brief at 5-6.
. See Lankford v. Drinkard (In re Drinkard), 245 B.R. 91 (Bankr.N.D.Tex. 2000) (debtor-wife’s obligation to reimburse her former husband, the child support obligor, for support that he had overpaid during period when child was living with him was not DSO within plain meaning of (a)(5)); In re Lutzke, 223 B.R. 552 (Bankr.D.Or. 1998) (claim for overpayment of child support not given priority as support given no evidence that the debtor was ordered to pay creditor-spouse support).
. See In re Crosswhite, 148 F.3d 879, 881-82 (7th Cir. 1998) (a § 523(a)(5) exception from discharge is construed more liberally than other § 523 exceptions). Because Congress enacted § 523(a)(15) to broaden the types of marital debts that are nondischargeable beyond those described in § 523(a)(5), by implication a § 523(a)(15) exception from discharge would also be construed more liberally than other § 523 exceptions.
. United States v. Am. Trucking Ass’ns, Inc. 310 U.S. 534, 542-543, 60 S.Ct. 1059, 84 L.Ed. 1345 (1940).
. Id. at 543, 60 S.Ct. 1059.
. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
. Starzynski v. Sequoia Forest Indus., 72 F.3d 816, 820 (10th Cir. 1995).
. Chickasaw Nation v. United States, 534 U.S. 84, 90, 122 S.Ct. 528, 151 L.Ed.2d 474 (2001) (As a general rule of statutory construction, a statute is ambiguous if it is "capable of being understood in two or more possible senses or ways.”); In re Geneva Steel Co., 281 F.3d 1173, 1178 (10th Cir. 2002) (noting
. Eloisa’s Brief at 4-5.
. § 523(a)(15).
. See In re Crosswhite, 148 F.3d 879, 886-7 (7th Cir. 1998).
. 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(15) (1995).
. See Berse v. Langman (In re Langman), 465 B.R. 395, 405 (Bankr.D.N.J. 2012) (noting expanded applicability of § 523(a)(15); elimination of these defenses was intended to reflect Congress' strong policy in favor of protecting ex-spouses and children and to cover any matrimonial debts that should not justifiably be discharged).
. Hon. William Houston Brown & Lawrence R. Ahern III, 2005 Bankruptcy Reform Legislation With Analysis 2d § 7:42 (2006).
. Divorce Decree at 3, in App. 62 ("Defendant’s spousal support obligation shall be ... governed by the terms of § 20-109 of the 1950 Code of Virginia [terminating support when the recipient is shown to be cohabitat-ing with another.]”).
. MSA at 21, ¶¶25, 26, and 27-28, ¶45, in App. at 102, 108-09.
. See In re Busch, 369 B.R. 614, 624-27 (10th Cir. BAP 2007).
. See Chance v. White (In re White), 265 B.R. 547, 560 (Bankr.N.D.Tex. 2001) and Colbert v. Colbert (In re Colbert), 185 B.R. 247, 249-250 (Bankr.M.D.Tenn. 1995) (both holding that attorneys' fees not available in bankruptcy court where there is no provision in the property settlement agreement to shift them).
. See In re Colbert, 185 B.R. at 248 (footnote omitted) ("Under the well-established principle of statutory interpretation expressio unius est exclusio alterius, the inclusion of § 523(d) indicates a congressional intent that each party bear his or her own litigation costs in all other dischargeability actions.”).
. MSA at 21, ¶ 25(b), in App. at 102.
. Id. at 21, ¶ 26, in App. at 102.
. Id. at 27, ¶ 45, in App. at 108-09 (emphasis added).
. Id., at 2 ¶ 6, in App. at 83.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In re Eloisa Maria TAYLOR, Debtor. Matthew E. Taylor, Plaintiff-Appellee-Cross-Appellant v. Eloisa Maria Taylor, Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee
- Cited By
- 24 cases
- Status
- Published