Ratton v. Ratton
Ratton v. Ratton
Opinion of the Court
To modify an order for alimony, a party must meet the requirements of G.S. 50-16.9(a). This section specifically excludes from its application all orders for the payment of alimony “entered by consent” prior to 1 October 1967. A mutually executed confession of judgment, like the one herein involved, is an “orde[r] entered by consent” as described in G.S. 50-16.9(a). This Court has so held in Yarborough v. Yarborough, 27 N.C. App. 100, 106, 218 S.E. 2d 411, 415 (1975). Since defendant’s motion for an increase was predicated on an order for the payment of alimony entered by consent prior to 1 October 1967, defendant’s motion failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
In State v. Camp, 286 N.C. 148, 152, 209 S.E. 2d 754, 756 (1974), the Supreme Court concluded that “[w]here the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous, there is no room for judicial construction and the courts must give it its plain and definite meaning, and are without power to interpolate, or superimpose, provisions and limitations not contained therein.” G.S. 5046.9(a) states clearly and unambiguously that all orders to pay alimony entered by consent prior to 1 October 1967 are excluded from the application of the statute.
The judgment appealed from is
Affirmed.
Concurring Opinion
concurring.
Consent judgments for the payment of alimony were subject to modification in North Carolina before the enactment of G.S. 5046.9(a), depending upon whether the consent judgment sought to be modified rested solely upon contract or was an adjudication by the court. Bunn v. Bunn, 262 N.C. 67, 136 S.E. 2d 240 (1964). If the court merely approved the amount of support which the husband agreed to pay the wife, and set that amount out in a judgment against him, such consent judgment constituted nothing more than a contract and could not be modified simply upon a showing of changed conditions. On the other hand, a consent judgment in which the court adopted the agreement of the parties as “its own determination of their respective rights and obligations,” and ordered the husband to pay alimony in the agreed upon amount, was subject to modification at any time changed conditions warranted. Bunn, supra. With the enactment of G.S. 5046.9(a), the distinction ceased to exist.
The confession of judgment entered into by plaintiff on 13 February 1967 was a consent judgment of the former type, resting upon contract, and was therefore not subject to modification upon a showing of changed circumstances under the law as it existed prior to the enactment of G.S. 5046.9(a). Since that statute specifically excludes “orders entered by consent before 1 October 1967,” neither is defendant entitled to modification under the present law.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.