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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS


LORI WALTERS, a/k/a LORI ANNE PEOPLES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v BRIAN KEITH LEECH, Defendant, and KENT COUNTY FRIEND OF THE COURT, Intervening Appellant.

FOR PUBLICATION July 22, 2008 9:15 a.m. No. 277180 Kent Circuit Court LC No. 91-071023-DS Advance Sheets Version

Before: Murphy, P.J., and Bandstra and Beckering, JJ. BECKERING, J. Intervenor Kent County Friend of the Court (FOC) appeals by leave granted the trial court's March 15, 2007, order denying its motion to impose a child-support lien against real property owned by plaintiff and her spouse under a tenancy by the entireties. We affirm. I This matter involves a minor child, the parents of whom are plaintiff Lori Walters and defendant Brian K. Leech. The FOC represents that defendant has physical custody of the child, that plaintiff is obligated to pay child support, and that plaintiff has accumulated a support arrearage of $44,977.40. While attempting to recover the arrearage, the FOC located real property owned by plaintiff and her spouse. Plaintiff lives on the property with her spouse and their three children. In November 2006, the FOC filed a motion to impose a child-support lien against the property. A family-court referee subsequently signed a proposed lien order. Plaintiff filed a timely objection to the proposed order and, in March 2007, the trial court denied the FOC's motion for a lien against the property because plaintiff and her spouse own the property as tenants by the entireties. We subsequently granted the FOC's application for leave to appeal. Walters v Leech, unpublished order of the Court of Appeals, entered August 2, 2007 (Docket No. 277180).

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The issue before us on appeal is whether the Support and Parenting Time Enforcement Act, MCL 552.601 et seq., specifically MCL 552.625a and 552.625b, allows child-support liens against property held as a tenancy by the entireties. This is an issue of first impression involving statutory interpretation and a question of jurisprudential significance. II The proper construction of a statute is a question of law, which we review de novo. Washburn v Makedonsky, 271 Mich App 95, 98; 718 NW2d 842 (2006). As this Court stated in USAA Ins Co v Houston Gen Ins Co, 220 Mich App 386; 559 NW2d 98 (1996): The primary goal of statutory interpretation is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the Legislature in enacting a provision. Statutory language should be construed reasonably, keeping in mind the purpose of the statute. The first criterion in determining intent is the specific language of the statute. If the statutory language is clear and unambiguous, judicial construction is neither required nor permitted, and courts must apply the statute as written. However, if reasonable minds can differ regarding the meaning of a statute, judicial construction is appropriate. [Id. at 389-390 (citations omitted).] Statutes that relate to the same subject or that share a common purpose are in pari materia and must be read together as one law, even if they contain no reference to one another and were enacted on different dates. State Treasurer v Schuster, 456 Mich 408, 417; 572 NW2d 628 (1998). "Statutes relate to the same subject if they relate to the same person or thing or the same class of persons or things." Houghton Lake Area Tourism & Convention Bureau v Wood, 255 Mich App 127, 147; 662 NW2d 758 (2003). The object of the in pari materia rule is to give effect to the legislative intent expressed in harmonious statutes. People v Webb, 458 Mich 265, 274; 580 NW2d 884 (1998). If statutes lend themselves to a construction that avoids conflict, that construction should control. Id.; House Speaker v State Administrative Bd, 441 Mich 547, 568-569; 495 NW2d 539 (1993). In construing the language of a statute, courts must also keep in mind that "the Legislature is deemed to act with an understanding of common law in existence before the legislation was enacted." Nation v W D E Electric Co, 454 Mich 489, 494; 563 NW2d 233 (1997). As our Supreme Court stated in Wold Architects & Engineers v Strat, 474 Mich 223; 713 NW2d 750 (2006): The common law, which has been adopted as part of our jurisprudence, remains in force until amended or repealed. Whether a statutory scheme preempts, changes, or amends the common law is a question of legislative intent. . .. Michigan courts have uniformly held that legislative amendment of the common law is not lightly presumed. . . . ***

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The Legislature is presumed to know of the existence of the common law when it acts. [Id. at 233-234 (citations omitted).] Further, "statutes in derogation of the common law must be strictly construed, and will not be extended by implication to abrogate established rules of common law." Nation, supra at 494 (quotation marks and citation omitted). In other words, when an ambiguous statute contravenes the common law, courts must construe the statute so that it results in the least change in the common law. Id. But, when a comprehensive statute "prescribes in detail a course of conduct to pursue and the parties and things affected, and designates specific limitations and exceptions," the Legislature will generally "be found to have intended that the statute supersede and replace the common law dealing with the subject matter." Wold Architects & Engineers, supra at 233 (quotation marks and citations omitted). III Our longstanding common law provides that, when a deed is conveyed to a husband and wife, the property is held as a tenancy by the entireties. Morgan v Cincinnati Ins Co, 411 Mich 267, 284; 307 NW2d 53 (1981) (opinion by Fitzgerald, J.). In a tenancy by the entireties, the husband and wife are considered one person in the law. Id. They cannot take the property in halves. Id. Rather, the property is seized by the entirety. Id. The consequence is that neither the husband nor the wife can dispose of the property without the assent of the other and the whole property must remain to the survivor. Id. Therefore, at the heart of a tenancy by the entireties is the right of survivorship, meaning that when one party dies, the other party automatically owns the whole property. 1 Cameron, Michigan Real Property Law (3d ed),

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