APPLEBAUM VS. APPLEBAUM (DIVORCE PROPERTY & ALIMONY)

Key holdings

Practitioner summary

This appeal challenged a February 13, 1978 order reducing arrearages to judgment ($9,000 plus interest and $500 attorney's fees) under a 1972 property settlement agreement. The parties divorced in 1972, remarried in 1973, and divorced again in 1976; in Applebaum v. Applebaum, 93 Nev. 382, 566 P.2d 85 (1977), the court had affirmed the validity of the 1972 agreement and the finding that the wife excused the husband from payments during the second marriage, and the 1976 decree ordered the $9,000 due under the 1972 agreement paid "forthwith." The appellant contended the order was error because the total ordered was not then due and owing. At oral argument appellant's counsel admitted the entire amount awarded in the 1978 judgment was now due and owing. The court therefore did not reach the merits, reiterating that it will not render advisory opinions on moot or abstract questions and that decisions issue only where actual controversies exist. Nev. Const. art. 6, sec. 4; Boulet v. City of Las Vegas, 96 Nev. 611, 614 P.2d 8 (1980). The judgment for arrearages and interest on those arrearages to February 13, 1978, was affirmed. The portion of the order reducing to judgment amounts not due and owing as of February 13, 1978, was reversed and remanded, with directions that the district court recompute and award interest, pursuant to the payment schedule in the 1972 agreement (payments of $1,000 due on the 15th day of every fourth month), on the balance owing but unpaid.

In plain language

Steven and Geraldine Applebaum had a complicated history: they divorced in 1972, remarried in 1973, and divorced again in 1976. In a 1977 decision, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the validity of their 1972 property settlement agreement and confirmed that Geraldine had excused Steven from making the payments due under that agreement during their second marriage. The 1976 decree ordered Steven to pay Geraldine the $9,000 due under the 1972 agreement "forthwith." This appeal was from a February 1978 order that reduced the arrearages (past-due amounts) to a judgment - $9,000 plus interest and $500 in attorney's fees. Steven argued the order was error because, at that time, the full amount had not yet come due. At oral argument, Steven's lawyer admitted that the entire amount was now due and owing to Geraldine. Because of that admission, the court did not need to decide the original question - courts do not issue advisory opinions on moot or abstract questions, only actual controversies. The court therefore affirmed the judgment for arrearages and interest through February 13, 1978. However, the court reversed the part of the order that had reduced to judgment amounts that were not yet due as of February 13, 1978. On remand, the district court was to recompute and award interest, according to the payment schedule in the 1972 agreement (payments of $1,000 due every fourth month), on the balance still owed but unpaid.