Preview:

Supreme Court No. 2009-159-Appeal. (P 06-869)

Jacalyn Sidell v. Moss Sidell.

: : :

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the Rhode Island Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Opinion Analyst, Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 250 Benefit Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, at Telephone 222-3258 of any typographical or other formal errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is published.

Supreme Court No. 2009-159-Appeal. (P 06-869)

Jacalyn Sidell v. Moss Sidell.

: : :

Present: Suttell, C.J., Goldberg, Flaherty, Robinson, and Indeglia, JJ. OPINION Justice Goldberg, for the Court. This case is before the Court on an appeal by Moss Sidell (Moss or defendant) from a Family Court order in favor of Jacalyn Sidell (Jacalyn or plaintiff), his former wife. The parties were divorced in the Rhode Island Family Court in June 2007. When the decree was entered, the plaintiff and the parties' minor child 1 lived in In 2009, the

Connecticut; sometime thereafter the defendant relocated to Massachusetts.

defendant filed four postjudgment motions about custody and child-support enforcement issues in the Family Court. Upon motion by the plaintiff, these motions were dismissed based on lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. We affirm in part and vacate in part. Facts and Travel As part of a marital settlement agreement (MSA), which was incorporated but not merged in the divorce decree, the parties stipulated that "[t]he State of Rhode Island shall retain exclusive jurisdiction of all matters under this Settlement Agreement, and enforcement or modification thereof, and the laws of the State of Rhode Island will be applied to all aspects
1

The child was born on November 27, 1993. We note that the parties have another child together, who is now past the age of majority and therefore is not subject to these custody or child-support issues. -1-

thereof."

Their agreement also provided that "[n]either party shall bring any legal action

involving the children, outside of the State or Rhode Island." 2 We are informed that Jacalyn and the minor child have lived in Connecticut since approximately April 2007 and that Moss lived in Rhode Island from the time the divorce was granted in June 2007 until July 2008. The record discloses that while Moss remained in Rhode Island, the Family Court heard and decided postjudgment motions filed by Jacalyn. In January 2009, Moss filed two motions in Family Court, the first captioned a "Motion for Instructions and For Miscellaneous Relief" and the second a "Motion to Adjudge Plaintiff in Contempt, For Instructions and For Miscellaneous Relief." The Family Court found that Moss had not effectuated service on Jacalyn, and therefore the motions were passed. Notably, the hearing justice cautioned Moss that, "[y]ou live in Massachusetts and mother lives in Connecticut. I thought everybody agreed after we finished this the last time that Rhode Island really was out of it." She went on to inform Moss that "if [Jacalyn], in fact, did register the orders in Connecticut, that sounds [like] the place you need to go to file your motions." A party may register the orders in another state based on that state's statute paralleling G.L. 1956

Download 09-159.pdf

Rhode Island Law